Wade Williamson: Still Arrested: How a Detective Tried to Make Me a Killer | DSH #1601

Summary

Digital Social Hour Episode Summary

Wade Williamson: Still Arrested: How a Detective Tried to Make Me a Killer | DSH #1601

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Wade Williamson
Release Date: November 1, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this raw and compelling episode, host Sean Kelly interviews Wade Williamson, who shares the harrowing story of being charged with murder after a self-defense shooting. Wade details his journey—from the immediate aftermath, legal ordeal, and personal cost, to the eventual dismissal of all charges. The conversation also turns to systemic justice failures, mental health impacts, and Wade’s shift into podcasting to highlight wrongful convictions. This is an episode about the fragility of justice, the heavy weight of stigma, and the resilience required to reclaim one’s life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Incident and Arrest

• Immediate Aftermath:
  Wade describes the mental toll following the incident, especially around family milestones, fearing he’d miss future moments with his children.

  "Every Christmas, is this the last one? ...So it's like you don't even really get to enjoy the moment because you're so worried. Is that going to be the last moment?" —Wade (00:11, 25:00)

• Background:
  The case centered on a self-defense shooting involving a confrontation with his wife’s ex-partner.

  “He looked me dead my eyes and he said, I'm going to kill you.” —Wade (03:13)
  Wade fired in self-defense, immediately called 911, and believed he was within the law.

• Legal Shock:
  Charged with murder and weapons offenses despite South Carolina’s lenient self-defense laws.

  “To see your name on a piece of paper where it's saying the state...versus yourself and life in prison is in the balance...there is nothing that can put things in perspective quicker." —Wade (00:44)

2. The Legal Ordeal

• Bond and Incarceration:
  Bail was set at $150,000 ($100k for murder, $50k for weapons); Wade spent only two days in jail thanks to his attorney’s swift action.

  “I caught a huge break because on a murder case like that, you can't get seen by the, you know, a magistrate...They just happened to be in my county that week.” —Wade (09:28)

• Impact of Resources:
  Discusses disparities in legal representation.

  "That's one of the issues with the legal system. Yeah, you pay for the what you can afford." —Sean (07:05)

3. Flaws and Tunnel Vision in the System

• Detective’s Tunnel Vision:
  The newly promoted detective, Wade feels, constructed a narrative due to inexperience and ambition.

  “She had what's widely referred to as tunnel vision. She tried to spin a narrative that I was trying to...get rid of him because he was with my wife.” —Wade (04:37)

• Lost Evidence:
  A key bullet was missed by the police, found by Wade after his release. The responsible detective was demoted but faced little real accountability.

  “Apparently, that wasn't a hit around the police station. She got demoted from homicide detective down to Property Crimes.” —Wade (34:25)

4. Personal and Social Fallout

• Stigma and Media:
  Even after exoneration, news media and the public didn’t follow up, leaving Wade stigmatized.

  “Not one person reached out when I was dropped...all the local news. And then once it got dropped...nobody reached out to me at all.” —Wade (18:38)

• Losses:
  He lost his longtime job, suffered financially, and endured ongoing anxiety and paranoia.

  “14 years with the company, not guilty of anything, only charged, and they fire me as soon as I get out.” —Wade (10:18)

• Support System:
  His wife (from whom he’d considered separating) supported him fiercely, incurring major legal expenses, and their family ended up staying together.

  “She pulled out two credit cards and charged up 30 grand. Wow. No questions.” —Wade (08:45)

5. The Lengthy Fight and Final Dismissal

• Strategy for Dismissal:
  Wade and his attorney decided to lay out their evidence for prosecutors—at considerable risk—in a dramatic, in-person demonstration at his home.

  “He said, your case is so strong...We can share everything we got...I said, you know what? I'm a gambling man. Let's do it.” —Wade (21:13)

• Moment of Freedom:
  After five years, charges were dropped and the expungement process began.

  “He said, case is dismissed...You can breathe. And, brother, when he said that, I dropped to my knees...I cried and I called my wife, I called my mom, I called my dad.” —Wade (23:05)

6. The Psychological Prison

• Mental Toll:
  Living “free” but under the constant threat of prison was its own kind of incarceration.

  "There's actual physical prison...but there's these mental prisons that could be almost as bad for some people." —Sean (25:13)
  “You're in a mental prison…It's rough, man.” —Wade (25:25)

• Lasting Stigma:
  Even after acquittal, the reputation lingers.

  “People are going to think that's the only reason you beat it when really you were innocent to begin with.” —Wade (18:26)

7. Systemic Issues and Wrongful Convictions

• Other Cases:
  Wade, now a podcaster himself, delves into wrongful convictions, sharing stories such as Andre Brown and Jeffrey Deskovic.

  “[Deskovic] went to jail when he was 17 years old...and, you know, luckily, DNA evidence proved him to be innocent.” —Wade (17:34)

• Statistics:
  Highlights the prevalence of wrongful convictions.

  “The stat is there's probably about 17% of prisoners in the world that are innocent.” —Wade (29:49)

8. Purpose and Path Forward

• Turning Pain into Purpose:
  Wade’s experience shifted his worldview, making him passionate about speaking up for others in similar situations.

  “Just because you are charged and arrested by the police does not mean you're guilty. It just means you were charged.” —Wade (31:13)

• Podcasting Life:
  His show "Crime and Entertainment" features exonerated individuals, former criminals, and diverse guests, aiming to bring nuanced justice stories to light.

  “We interview everybody from mob guys, drug smugglers, writers, actors, authors, wrongfully convicted, you know, wrestler ...We literally interview everybody.” —Wade (39:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the emotional cost:

  “Imagine you go to a doctor...to get tested for terminal cancer...and you don't hear anything for five years. Imagine what that would do mentally.” —Wade (23:24)

• Legal system critique:

  “You pay for the justice you can afford 100%.” —Wade (15:13)

• Stigma after charges:

  “That's the stigma...they’ll always remember that you got charged. They won’t remember...five years later, up now, they said he was innocent.” —Wade (30:16)

• On gratitude for support:

  “Those who step up for you in those times, you will never forget it.” —Wade (33:17)

• On the dangers of narrative bias:

  "They could paint a narrative. Yeah. And that's what's so hard about fighting it..." —Wade (31:28)

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | |---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Wade describes immediate emotional impact after his arrest | | 03:13 | The physical altercation and rationale for shooting | | 04:37 | Detective tunnel vision and charge narrative | | 08:45 | Wife’s loyalty—putting up major funds for his legal defense | | 09:28 | Getting out on bond and initial legal navigation | | 18:38 | How media and social stigma lingered after exoneration | | 21:13 | High-stakes strategy session with prosecutors in his home | | 23:05 | The call: Case dismissed—wave of relief | | 25:13 | Discussion about “mental prison” and ongoing anxiety | | 29:49 | Wrongful conviction statistics and how Wade’s worldview changed | | 31:13 | The lasting stigma of an arrest and importance of supporting the wrongfully accused| | 34:25 | Detective’s demotion and lack of accountability | | 39:27 | Wade’s current work: “Crime and Entertainment” podcast |

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Final Thoughts & Tone

The conversation throughout is unfiltered, deeply personal, and often resonates with both outrage and hope. Sean’s tone is empathetic but probing, while Wade balances matter-of-fact recollection with frustration and gratitude. Listeners are left with a vivid sense of the real human cost of system failures—and reminded that justice, freedom, and reputation can be terrifyingly fragile.

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Where to Find Wade

• Podcast: Crime and Entertainment
• Platforms: YouTube, Spotify, iTunes
• Content: Interviews with a wide variety of guests, especially those affected by the justice system

“Check us out on Crime and Entertainment pretty much anywhere you get your podcast.” — Wade (39:27)

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[Wade]

When I watched my daughter graduate, this is right after it happened, I'm watching her walk across the stage and immediately I'm thinking, am I going to be around to watch my son walk across the stage? And it was. Every birthday is just the last one.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

Every Christmas, is this the last one? Thanksgiving, except. So it's like you don't even really get to enjoy the moment because you're so worried. Is that going to be the last moment?

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And it weighs on you, man. It really, really weighs.

[Sean]

Foreign Chip Williamson here today, one of the craziest stories and journeys I've seen in someone's life. So thanks for coming on, man.

[Wade]

I said a lot coming from you because you talk to a lot of people.

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, your, your life was on the line, right? You were facing a lot of time.

[Wade]

Yeah. Life in prison, essentially. You know, and, and to see your name on a piece of paper where it's saying the state of, you know, wherever you reside versus, you know, yourself and life in prison is in the balance. Dude, let me tell you, there is nothing that can put things in perspective quicker than seeing your name on that piece of paper. And I'm not a criminal. It's not like I've, you know, beat a million other cases or I've been in and out of jail. Like this was the only really time I'd ever been arrested and it was just, it was a big one.

[Sean]

So your first arrest, you were facing life.

[Wade]

Yes.

[Sean]

That's pretty crazy, right?

[Wade]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And it was for basically a self defense case, right?

[Wade]

Yeah, yeah. Self defense shooting. And the, the details behind it are really kind of what convolutes the case is. You know, me and my wife were together and we had decided that we were going to split up. And once we had decided we were going to split up, she went her way, I went mine. We were both doing our own thing. And then a few months later, we were talking around Christmas time, trying to figure out what we're going to do with the kids, because we had kids. And it was obvious there was still a little something there, you know, something we could maybe hold on to. But we still weren't sure if we wanted to jump right back into it. But we did, did make the decision that we were going to reconcile. And what the actual plan was was we was going to go through a divorce, be done with it, date for a little while, kind of restart, you know, restart from the beginning, work our way forward. If it worked, great. You know, if it didn't, then, you know, we could go Our own ways. And ultimately, when she told the guy that she was seeing, he got a little upset. The girl that I was seeing didn't really care, but the guy she was saying got a little upset and he wanted to talk to me, but he, he was clear in his message of like, hey, it's not. I'm not coming over there to, you know, go at you. He was like, I just want to talk man to man. And we did that. And then what had ended up happening was while we were in the middle of talking, you know, everything was going fine. We were actually taught on the subject of tattoos. And I pulled my shirt down to show him this tattoo right here. And you can kind of see it right here. I got an open heart surgery scar. And so when he seen that, he grabbed the bottom of my shirt and like, lifted it up. It was like, wow, that's gnarly. And was like looking at the scar and he's like, you know, under different circumstances, you and I could have probably been pretty good friends. And I'm like, you know, maybe. So, you know, who. Who knows? So he goes to the bathroom, he comes out, and then I'm standing like, with my back to the stove, and he comes straight up to me and boom, Left hand up under my throat. I went. It was so hard. Like, I went up off my feet onto the stove. I managed to get back down. And he looked me dead my eyes and he said, I'm going to kill you.

[Sean]

Damn.

[Wade]

And I told him. I was like, dude, if you don't get off me, I'm going to shoot you. Because I had my gun on me. I'd had it on me from earlier that day. When we went back to my house, we were actually together. And so the way my house is a two story house, but all the bedrooms are upstairs. So I've had all people always ask, why'd you have a gun in your kitchen? That's strange. I had a gun in my kitchen because it was on me when I come in the house. I take it off when I go upstairs, but I never went upstairs because me and him stay in the downstairs area. So when I shot, it was three shots. And then I immediately called 91 1. And they came and it was, it was a wild scenario, man, because, like, they, they could still hear him, like breathing in the background. And they got there and my mind, I'm not thinking I've done anything wrong, you know, he said he was going to kill me. You know, when he had me like that, he swung when he swung I tried to lift my head up just a little bit, so he kind of clipped my chin. And when he clipped it, he let go with that left hand, and that's when I fired. And so in my mind, I'm thinking he threatened to kill me. He assaulted me. He hit me in my home. I've got a weapon illegally. Weapon. I was, like, licensed to carry. I had a cwp. So I'm not thinking I'm doing anything wrong. And, you know, ultimately, that led me being charged with. You know, they were looking to give me life in prison. 25 to life.

[Sean]

And which state was this?

[Wade]

South Carolina.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

Which is odd.

[Sean]

Yeah. That sounds surprising for South Carolina.

[Wade]

Yeah. We're very lenient with the gun rights and gun laws, and we have the Castle law there, self defense, which all these things fell into. But what I think it was, Sean, is there was a newly promoted detective on the case. And, you know, I'm not disparaging women in any means by saying this, but it was a woman, and I was her first murder case. And I think there's women that can be good police. This was just not one of them. She had what's widely referred to as tunnel vision. She tried to spin a narrative that I was trying to, you know, maybe get rid of him because he was with my wife. And I'm like, look, lady, you're. You're six months behind. Like, we have been split up for a while. If this was something I wanted to do, like what you're saying, there was plenty of time to do this. Why would I get her back and then do it? And she just. I think she was just trying to make something where there was nothing. And unfortunately, when she charged me, you know, I was locked up. I had no prior record. So the great thing about it was I was able to get out even with a murder charge. That's not easy.

[Sean]

Yeah. And how much was the bill?

[Wade]

It was 150,000.

[Sean]

Damn.

[Wade]

That was the lowest for everything. So it was 100,000 for the murder, and it was 50,000 for the weapons charge.

[Sean]

Geez.

[Wade]

So that was as low as they could go across the board. And once I got out, you know, you're. You're able to fight stuff a lot better when you get out.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And I got a really good criminal attorney in the area. His name's Andy Savage. And let me tell you, that last name fits like, he. Watching him work was unlike anything I'd ever seen. You know, the day they came, they did not arrest me that day. My lawyer, the current lawyer, That I have, who was at the time. My divorce lawyer called. This happened early Sunday morning. He called me Tuesday after we had given him a statement. We give him a statement on Monday. He calls me Tuesday. He's like, I got some bad news. They're charging you with murder. They want you to be there tomorrow. Turn yourself in at 12 o'.

[Sean]

Clock.

[Wade]

So I started calling around everybody I knew. Who do I need to call? Who, what lawyer? And everybody said, andy. And so I called and they're like, can you be here at 1? I was like, I'm supposed to be in jail by one. And they said, we can't be here at seven. And I was like, I'll, I'll come now. Sleep in the parking lot. I'll be there at seven o'. Clock. And man, as I'm telling him, you know, everything that's going on, kind of like I'm telling you, he's got teams, like we were discussing earlier. He's got teams pulling stuff, pulling records, you know, everything just boom, boom. It was like something out of a movie. So you can see why some of those top notch defense attorneys make the money. They do because they're worth it. And it's just stuff that a public defender can't give you.

[Sean]

That's one of the issues with the legal system. Yeah, you pay for the what you can afford.

[Wade]

Exactly. And that's why most cases, you know, you hear these lawyers say they got a 98% conviction rate or most times they just force people into plea deals. Because even if you have money, they can run you dry money 100%. You know, I mean, you can run your drive money and then if someone doesn't have the money to fight it, if you're looking at 15 years, right, and they can say, we can give you a deal for seven or eight, that's a lot appeal. That's a lot more appealing than possibly doing the 15. So they'll take the, they'll take the time because it's a win for the, you know, the lawyers win for the state. I mean, they don't care. They get to go home there every night and go to bed.

[Sean]

Right.

[Wade]

They don't care that, you know, you're guilty, not guilty or whatever because you're going to, you're going to be in prison for a while.

[Sean]

Who did your ex wife side with?

[Wade]

She side with me because we, like I said, we were getting back together and she knew, I guess I, I didn't know this because I didn't know this gentleman. And it's Actually still current wife. We never went through with a divorce because we were in process of doing it. And when that happened, obviously I wasn't putting no more money into that. It was all going into this. So we're actually still together as a matter of fact. So just to throw that out there. But yeah, she, she knew that he's. His tendencies could get a little out there. And so she was trying to tell them, like, look, you know, I don't know what happened in that case. She wasn't. We were the only two people there. But she said, I don't know what happened in there. But she said, I do know my husband wouldn't hurt nobody unless he absolutely had to. So she, she had my back. 100. As a matter of fact, when the, when it came time to talk about money and how much this case was going to cost, there was like, it's 50,000 to take the case and then another 15,000 for retainers and this, that and the other. And, you know, she pulled out two credit cards and charged up 30 grand. Wow. No questions.

[Sean]

That's a real one right there.

[Wade]

Yeah. And that's, you know, to me, people might say, well, you wouldn't be in a situation. What were her. Look, I was the one that wanted to break up. I. I had some things going on. I had lost a friend, you know, who had unalived himself. I was going through a lot. I thought that was the answer, and I was wrong. So I don't blame her for moving on. Like, we were both seeing, nobody cheated. You know, we were both openly seeing other people. We just decided to reconcile. So I don't blame her for any of this at all. You know, how many times in the, in the spotlight you see, you know, JLO and Ben Affleck, they were together a long time ago. She left a rod, went back to him. I mean, it happens. People break up, they get back together. It happens all the time.

[Sean]

Yeah, I love that man. So how long were you actually in prison for?

[Wade]

So I was only in jail for two days. So they. I had to go. I was supposed to go Wednesday when I went. Met with the lawyer. The stroke that he had with a phone call, he got it pushed back to Sunday. So now it's been a week since the incident. So I go in on Sunday. I caught a huge break because on a murder case like that, you can't get seen by the, you know, a magistrate. You got to get seen by the circuit court. So the circuit court rotates county to county. They just happened to be in my county that week. And so he was like. He said, typically, I don't even like trying to get bond for my clients. Right off the bat, he's like, but in this case, I believe we got a strong argument. So we had bond Monday, they approved it, and I got out on Tuesday.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

I really only had to do slightly over two days.

[Sean]

Not bad.

[Wade]

Yeah. I mean, all things considered, not bad. And then I get out and I go to go back to work. And wouldn't you know it, work fires me. 14 years with the company, not guilty of anything, only charged, and they fire me as soon as I get out. And so that's why I had a gentleman outside I was. I was speaking with, you know, he was like, how did you deal with it mentally knowing that you had to make that decision and it resulted in life being taken? And I was like, I didn't have time to deal with that one thing because you had that happen, you know. Then I find out the neck. I go to give a statement the next day. Then I find out I'm being arrested. Now that I find I've been arrested, I'm looking for a lawyer. Now I'm worried about bond. I get bond, I get out as soon as I get out. Now I got a job. Now I got to find a job. While I'm finding a job, we got to figure out how to fight this case. I never really had a chance to go back and deal with that one incident.

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[Sean]

Even after the you Spent five years fighting this case. Did you want to go back after them after that or so what do.

[Wade]

You mean the, like the state?

[Sean]

Like the company that fired you for wrongful termination?

[Wade]

Well, I'm in South Carolina. It's a right to work state, so it's very difficult. You know, I talked to a few lawyers and, you know, it's a company called Nucor Steel. They got deep pockets and, you know, most of them told me, they said it would be a hard case to. And try to win too, because the right to work, they can really fire you because you're wearing a. A black shirt if they want, and there's not really much you can do about it.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

Yeah. And I called and talked to the people. I was like, look, you know, this case got dropped. He's like, well, you can reapply. And I'm like, what about, you know, seniority? I was there 15 years. He's like, yeah, let's start over. And I was like, you know what?

[Sean]

I'm going to podcast.

[Wade]

Yeah, Yeah. I still do work in that field. I work for a company that actually builds submarines now for the Navy. But the interesting part is, like, I didn't even listen to podcast. You know, I may be a Rogan every now and then. And then once this happened, I got sucked into the rabbit hole of, you know, wrongful conviction podcast because I'm now in a situation where I know I didn't do anything wrong, but I'm staring in prison. Prison time. So I'm looking and I'm like, do innocent people really go to prison? Yes, they do. A lot. A lot more than people think. You know, I started looking at like the Central park five and, you know, the Bronx Six and all these cases. And that really kind of sucked me into the podcasting world. And then I started listening like other mob podcast and, you know, wrestling podcasts and different things. And then when Covid hit, you know, keep in mind, on this time, I'm on house arrest. I can't go anywhere but to work. Church lawyers and doctors visits, and that's it. So I'm very bored. And around that time, the whole world was on house arrest because nobody could leave. So I had this idea to start a podcast. And originally I wasn't going to interview anybody. I was just going to talk about different things. And then it kind of got rolling. I got some legs up under and I started doing in person interviews. And when I started doing that, that's when I really noticed, like, how many people really are, you know, or have Been wrongfully convicted. And then I talk with everybody. You know, you. And I have interviewed a lot of the same people, like John Sarasani, Matt Cox, who's a great friend of mine. Matt was one of the best. One of the first people that I ever told my story on once it got cleared. Because when these people met me, they had no idea I was going through this. You know, I never talked about it because it was still pending. And, you know, they were even giving me access to go to New York and stay for, like, weeks at a time. And so that's. This is the weirdest case I'd ever seen. I got the lowest bond possible. You know, I was on house arrest, but I didn't have a monitor on. I never got an ankle monitor. And, you know, for a while, like, I was just, you know, didn't even know how to. How that happens, because everybody else I've talked to has a monitor on. And then they'll let me go to New York, you know, for two or three days at a time. And, you know, I didn't really have to check in with nobody. It was a very strange case. And I don't know if the lawyer I had had something to do with that, because sometimes I know if you've got public defenders, you got to check in and stuff, but it's just open my eyes to how really crazy and flawed the judicial system is.

[Sean]

I mean, I've lost a lot of faith in that. I firmly believe you pay for the justice you can afford 100%.

[Wade]

That's without a doubt. I just interviewed a guy. Well, I'd interviewed him in 2022. His name was Andre Brown. He got locked up for an attempted double unaliving back in, like, early 2000s. The key thing was his. His leg had been shot, so he's unable to run. The key witness said she seen him running away from the ground. They gave him 40 years. His lawyer, Oscar Michelin, was able to get him out due to ineffective counsel because the lawyer never even used the fact that he could not run. They let him out at the end of 2022. He's been out three years. He worked for a judge. He worked for nonprofits for judicial impacted Youth. I mean, just like a model citizen, productive member of society. End of the year last year, they said they were going to recall him back to prison and do the rest of his 17 years. Jeez, we have been fighting that thing. I actually went to New York, like, two weeks ago because they originally wanted to turn himself in on the 27th luckily, this past Monday, we got the word that Kathy Hoch was a governor, put it down that he got re sentenced to time serve. So they're saying his 27 years served, he don't have to go back to prison. He's still not exonerated. He's going to work on that, but at least you don't have to go back to prison. But that's how crazy this system is, is they were going to put him back in prison after being out for three years and being a good person, like, you know, not being in trouble or nothing like that.

[Sean]

I wonder if that was random or if him speaking out just pissed him off.

[Wade]

Well, he didn't really speak out, like, largely he was quiet. He didn't start speaking out until after they said he had to go back to prison.

[Sean]

And then they probably got a ton of negative PR from that.

[Wade]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, I actually, the studio that I was in, he was interviewing with another podcaster because there was multiple rooms, but it was a former New York City councilman. And when he heard that was my guest, he's like, man, I'm waiting. He's like, I want to talk to him. He's like, we're going to cut a little, you know, clip or a short. I'm going to put some pressure on there. And he was telling the governor and the, you know, the D. A like, look, y' all got to do the right thing here.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

This man is innocent. Y' all already took 20, you know, 23 years.

[Sean]

New York's the highest conviction rate out of any state, right?

[Wade]

Yeah. And most of the time, when you talk to people that's got wrongful convictions, it's from New York, like a guy named Eric Gliston, who was a member of the Bronx Six. He done 17 years, I think wrongfully convicted.

[Sean]

Chase.

[Wade]

Jeffrey Deskovic done another 17 years. He got out and became a lawyer. Once he became a lawyer, Andre, the gentleman I was just talking about, that was the guy that. He's the first person that he helped get out of his legal team. Yeah, Jeffrey's an awesome dude, man. He went to jail when he was 17 years old, you know, basically got hosed by the cops into false confession. And, you know, luckily, DNA evidence, you know, proved him, proved him to be innocent. And he was exonerated. And he got a lot of money. They said he almost bankrupted the county, he got so much money. But I mean, that's good. They deserve that.

[Sean]

17 years, man.

[Wade]

17 years at 17 years old. Those are his prime years. Prime of your life. And now all that's over. And when you get out, you still have that stigma. I still have it even though I didn't necessarily do time in prison, But I still have that stigma as the guy that, you know, shots him or the guy that was charged for this.

[Sean]

Right.

[Wade]

And no matter what, because you get a good lawyer and you beat the case, people are going to think that's the only reason you beat it when really you were innocent to begin with.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And that's the stigma.

[Sean]

You have to always follow you. Right.

[Wade]

Yeah.

[Sean]

There was probably a ton of negative PR about you, too.

[Wade]

Oh, yeah. And, you know, not one person reached out when I was dropped.

[Sean]

Really.

[Wade]

None of them. None of the man I had. It was wild, because when I got out of prison or when I got out of jail, county jail, when I pulled in, there was, like, two news vans right outside my house. There was news vans at the jail, and there was news vans at my house. And, you know, they would. They would stay in there throughout the week, just. Just camped out at the end of the road. And then it finally died off, but everybody run stories on it, you know, all the local news. And then once it got dropped. Now, granted, it was five years later, but once I finally got dropped and dismissed, nobody reached out to me at all.

[Sean]

To be fair, they probably don't get as many views.

[Wade]

Yeah. Oh, no. Those kind of stories don't. They like the. They like the bad ones. And that was, you know, when this thing wound up. You know, I told you I was doing the podcast, doing work, and, you know, mind you, I had to go from, like, a job where I was making like 100,000 a year, plus, depending on over time, you know, it fluctuated down to about 40,000 a year.

[Sean]

Damn.

[Wade]

Because it's. You know, that pending murder charge really kind of dampens your ability to get. And, you know, I had that happen quite a few times where my record got run, and they seen that, and they didn't, you know, they didn't offer me any gigs. I had to take way less money, which is even harder to try to fight this thing, because every time you do something and every time something's got to be done in a case costs money.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

You know, they. Money for this, money for that, money for forensics people. We had a forensics investigator fly down, and he set up, like, the lasers that you see on csi. And it proved that where I told them I was standing was right where I was. And it was a key point because when two of the bullets Entered him. They exited. One stayed in when they exited, one hit a bottle of water, which is right, or a whole 24 pack of water, which is right next to my refrigerator. The other one hit the refrigerator door and ricocheted and hit a wall. I never covered none of that up. I never covered the hole up on the wall. The dent in the refrigerator stayed there. I had a feeling somewhere down the line, all that was going to be really important to this case. And when this thing wrapped up, when it finally ended, my lawyer told me the solicitor changed two or three times. It had been five years. Covid played a part in that because that slowed everything down. But he said, you know, I got a. I got a plan to get this done. He's like, but it's a risk. He said, your case is so strong. He said, we can share. Tell them everything we got. And he said, I think they'll dismiss it. He said, but if they decide they want to fight it, or if they, you know, decide they want to go anyway and just test their luck or try their hand, they know everything we got. And I was like, you know what? I'm a gambling man. Let's do it.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

And we did it. So we brought the head solicitor and his number two and another investigator person from the police. I don't really know who they were. And they actually came to my house, and we stood in my kitchen and we laid everything out. And I told him, I said, they keep trying to say that we were farther apart. That was their whole narrative, is that he was way over here and I was way over here. I said, look, I said, these bullets had a chance to travel and be apart. I said, if he was further back, I said, not only when he fell down, he. He would have been laying up against the refrigerator. Because he's pretty tall, cat, about six two. I was like, he would have been laying up there, not in the floor. I said, because he was closer to me. When they come through, they had the chance to V out, which is why you got one over here in the 24 pack of water. And the one on the right side of the refrigerator, had he been further back, they'd have been side by side, right? And, you know, their evidence was like. Well, he said, there was a struggle, and we didn't see any signs of a struggle. We pulled up the officers arriving, body cam footage. You can see there was knocked over glasses on the ground. It was knocked over glasses on the counter, where when he, you know, first hit me, I knocked onto the counter. But they. They Said there wasn't any signs of that. So we laid all that out for him. And it took about three months. And then that was in was 2022. That was in August. And we didn't hear anything back from for a while. And then finally it was October 30th. My lawyer called me, which is not unusual. He would call me, but, you know, so I didn't think like, oh, this is it. And he calls me. He's like, how you doing? I actually had the flu that weekend. I said, man, I'm not doing good as I'm getting sick. And he said, I got some news going to make you better. He said, case is dismissed. Everything's dropped. You're a free man. They're working on your expungement right now. He's like, it's over.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

You can breathe.

[Sean]

That's crazy.

[Wade]

And, brother, when he said that, I dropped to my knees, and I'm not going to tell you no lie. I cried and I called my wife, I called my mom, I called my dad. I called everybody that was down for me. Because like you said earlier, you find out who's there for you when you. When you're in like that.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And there was a lot of people that surprised me with how they were. But the ones that stuck by me, you know, I called all them and let them know, and it was a. It was a relief like you can't imagine. Because I try to tell people. I'm like, put it like this. You go to a doctor and you say, okay, you know, you're getting tested for terminal cancer, because this is pretty much terminals, 25 to life. I don't even mean you're getting out. And, you know, you go into the doctor, you get tested, and they said, all right, we'll call you. And you don't hear anything for five years. Imagine what that would do mentally.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

You know, you're just going to be waiting, looking, and that's kind of how I was. I'm like, you know, I didn't know whether they were gonna do anything with it or press it. And I'll be honest with you, the more time that goes by, I was worried if they were going to do something to plant evidence or try to, you know, fabricate something. That didn't happen. I mean, it was. It was a word. I mean, I bald now because of it. I had hair when this happened.

[Sean]

Damn, that stress is a hair killer, you know?

[Wade]

It is. It really is. I mean, I probably didn't have a lot back then, but I Definitely have more than I do now. But I mean. And you know, and that affects every other thing or your life. You know, you're. How do you get along with people? How do you get along with your loved ones? How do you treat people? And you know, I couldn't even enjoy a moment. And I feel so bad saying this because I know some people are in prison, they can't enjoy anything. So, you know, I do have to appreciate the fact that I was able to be there for it. But you know, when I watched my daughter graduate, this is right after it happened, I'm watching her walk across the stage and immediately I'm thinking, am I going to be around to watch my son walk across the stage? And it was. Every birthday is just the last one.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

Every Christmas, is this the last one? Thanksgiving, except. So it's like you don't even really get to enjoy the moment because you're so worried. Is that going to be the last moment?

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And it, it weighs on you, man. It really, really weighs on you.

[Sean]

I just had on a guest last week. He was serving a life sentence and he got out. But he was saying there's different types of prisons. Yes, there's actual physical prison that we're talking about, but there's these mental prisons that could be almost as bad for some people.

[Wade]

Oh, 100. I believe that. And you know, that's, I've never really heard that term before, but that's spot on because you're in a mental prison. You know, people's like, everybody will tell you, no, I don't worry about it. You're good. You know, there's. They don't have it. Yeah, you can say that. But you're not the one with this hanging over your head. And it's, it's rough, man. And then like I said, that affects your job, so you can't really get good employment. You know. Luckily the job I went to to start with, I just wanted something to be able to bring income coming in. It was a very low paying job. Luckily I wound up catching with on with another guy who was from Texas and see the first job I had. I didn't tell him about anything. That dude hired me on the spot. No background or nothing. Well, wouldn't you know it, about three months into that job, they got a call to do a sign at my old job where this happened.

[Sean]

No way.

[Wade]

And he's like, you want to go for the install? I'm like, no, I'm good. I'm right here. Sure enough, guy goes out there Gets to talk. And he's like, yeah, we got one of your old employees with us. Who's that? Wade. Oh, wait, how's everything going with his case? Case? Yeah, you know, he had a murder case pending or something like that. So they found out. The dude never. The. The owner never said anything to me, but I knew they knew because whenever anything would come up because where they would send you, like a base, a military base, you had to have a clean record. They would never send me to those. So I know they knew. But even that was like anxiety ridden because I didn't know what day I was going to come in. He's like, man, you should have told me. We're going to let you go. And so I went to work every day with anxiety. I was worried about the case with anxiety. When I was off, it was a constant state of paranoia. So when I finally did leave, they cut back manpower when Covid happened. And so I caught on with this guy who was starting a business. He was from Texas. We talked, we had a good little conversation, and I just told him, I said, look, man, I got to be, you know, straight with you on something off the rip. I said, this is what I got going on. I broke it down for him and I said, so I might have to leave from time to time to go see a lawyer. I was like, you know, there might be a time when I'm gone, period. You know, I don't know how this is going to play out. And he's like, man, he said, it took a lot of balls to tell me that. And he said, I'm from Texas. He said, you didn't do nothing I didn't do. He said, you ain't got no problem with me.

[Sean]

You.

[Wade]

You ain't got to worry about nothing. He said, I. I'm good. I'm cool with it. And, you know, I don't work there anymore, but I'm always going to be indebted to that guy for giving me the opportunity to grow. And I grew in that company. I grew into leadership and management and, you know, he gave me a shot. And he'll forever be in my good grace.

[Sean]

Shout out to him. And that's dope. How's your anxiety these days? Is it gone?

[Wade]

It's. It's definitely settled down, you know, now it's more. It's turned into focus because, like, all together, you know, that that whole incident cost me around about 120, 000, you know, between the. And that's just on financial point. Just with. Between the Lawyer and the bond. That's not even counting the money that I lost, that I, you know, from the job, I went from making, you know, 40, 000 or from making 110 to 40, you know, that's. That's not even counting that. And so when it finally got dropped, now I'm like, all right, I got to get all this back. I got to get back everything I lost, because now I can get jobs that are good, paying what I'm accustomed to making, what my skills bring, you know, allow me to make. And so now it's just kind of turning like a grind. Yeah, a nonstop thing. So I have another job other than podcasts, but I still do the podcast, too, because the podcast was really my way of going and doing things or having these conversations while I was on house arrest. Because I'm a very outgoing person. I love to talk, I love to conversate. So this kind of opened the door for me to meet people, interesting stories, and I loved it. And people thought whenever the case got dropped, I was going to stop it, and I didn't. It's going to keep going. I'm going to keep doing it because I enjoy it.

[Sean]

I bet it feels fulfilling for you because you have on people that are wrongfully convicted, right?

[Wade]

It does. We interview everyone. You know, we've had old gangsters on, old drug smugglers, but we. We do have a lot of people on that have been wrongfully convicted. I had Jeffrey on, whom we spoke about. I had Andre on twice. You know, a guy named Russ Faria that was arrested and did three years. They did a show about him called the Truth About Pam on the Peacock Network. I think, you know, it happens way more than people think. And Jeffrey told me a stat, and I don't remember the exact numbers, but I'll paraphrase. He said, you know, the. The stat is there's probably about 17% of prisoners in the world that are innocent.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Wade]

I think they only have proof that it's like eight, but he said the true number is probably about 17 to 15. He said, but even if you went lower than that, just say 13, go in the middle if third, which nowadays is not far off. But if 13% of the planes are falling out of the sky, are you going to feel safe flying?

[Sean]

Hell, no.

[Wade]

Exactly. So when you put it like that, you know, you think, God, I think before people were so like, well, if they rescue, they must have done something wrong, or if they charge them, they must have.

[Sean]

That's how I used to think when I was Younger.

[Wade]

That's how I used to think, too. And when it. When this happened with me, it changed my whole worldview. I remember, like, two days after I got out, I'm watching tv, and they're looking for a son for. For shooting a dad. And I'm reading these comments on Facebook, and everything's like, I hope they get him. You know, I hope they get this, you know, animal off the street. And I'm like, all right, why did he do it? You know, was he getting beat? Was he getting, you know, was he getting bad stuff done to him? Was bad stuff being done to his sister or his mom? You know, I start. I started thinking outside the box, right? And I never used to do that. Because I want to put this out there. Just because you are charged and arrested by the police does not mean you're guilty. It just means you were charged. You know, most times. A lot of times, cases get dropped, you know, charges get dropped. But that's what puts the stigma on you because people will always remember that you got charged. They won't remember because they've forgotten about you. They don't remember that five years later, up now, they said he was innocent. They dropped the charges. They just remember you were charged.

[Sean]

They just remember the arrest and the charge.

[Wade]

And that's, you know, because that's what makes the spotlight. Exactly. That's what's the headlines. That's the clicks. That's the, you know, the news at 9 or news at 5 or whatever. That's. That's what sells for them.

[Sean]

And it's a lot of power because they. They work together.

[Wade]

I feel like, yeah, oh, 100. 100. They could paint a narrative. Yeah. And that's what's so hard about fighting it, because, you know, you got a cops fight. The cops called me a murderer. The neighborhood that I lived in is called Cane Bay. I heard one person referenced me as the Cane Bay Killer. I'm like, jesus, did I kill nine more people? This is one guy. And I mean, you know, I knew the people in the neighborhood that didn't know me. Like, I. I don't know how well known I was in there, but after that, it seemed like everybody knew me. Everywhere you walked, and it was just, you know, people had different reactions. I don't think I had a trick or treater at my house for five, four years. You know, I didn't even have to worry about buying candy in October. You know, you go to the Publix to go to the, you know, the pharmacy section or something. People just get out of the way. You know, they're looking. You can tell they're talking about you. Damn. And, you know, luckily my son was in a younger grade at the time, so they didn't really grasp the. The level of what was going on. My daughter graduated, like I told you earlier, right after that. So by the time my son got to, like, early teenage years and junior high years, it had kind of been forgotten about, but it would still get brought up from time to time.

[Sean]

How tough was that on the daughter? Did all her friends leave her and stuff?

[Wade]

No, her friends were really supportive. And like I said, this was literally a month afterwards she graduated, and then she actually moved to Seattle, which was her plans anyway, but her stuck by her for the most part. My wife's friend stuck by her too. She. She lost a few, and I lost a few. But, you know, I like to set up thin to her. You know, we know the ones we got now that's been with us through all that. You know, those are the. The ride or dies day, one day ones. You know how it is. And, you know, those people will always hold, Even if I don't talk with them every day or if I don't see them every day, months, years, go back, they're always gonna hold, you know, a special place in my heart because of what they've done for me. Because when you're down and when you're out, those who step up for you in those times, you will never forget it.

[Sean]

100%. What a story, man. I can't believe it.

[Wade]

Well, I appreciate you having me on like, this kind of platform to be able to share this, because that's the thing that I think everybody's under the assumption that it can't happen to you or whatever. But listen, if you have a gun and you choose to defend yourself, I was within my right. I was within my home. I was licensed to carry. That was my own personal gun. I had a cwp. I went through the class. I was attacked. My life was threatened. I was assaulted. Everything laid out. If you was to tell that to a cop, they'd be like, no, he did nothing wrong. I was still charged. And as a tidbit to this, the cop that charged the detective. So one of the bullets that went into the water that we talked about, they never found that, huh? I found that after I got out on bond, I found the bullet. So I had to call them back and say, hey, look, your bullet is. Or my bullet. Your evidence is still floating in a water bottle. If y' all want to Come pick it up. Apparently, that wasn't a hit around the police station. She got demoted from homicide detective down to Property crimes.

[Sean]

Damn.

[Wade]

Then from Property Crimes, she is currently a elementary school resource officer, which is pretty much like the last stop you get before you're out the door. Wow. So you talk about a fall from grace. And actually there's. There's a TV show from my neck of the woods called Southern Charm, and apparently it's pretty popular. One of the ladies from that show actually hit her while she was, you know, doing cross traffic or whatever like that, and she banged her knee up pretty good. And she done an interview with the police or somebody with some sort of news outlet, and she's like, you know, I just can't believe that the police, you know, worked like this. And, you know, I used to. I was a part of them, but, you know, that there's just so much injustice. And I'm thinking to myself, you. You know, the. The. The gall on this lady. But, you know, I think she's. She's where she needs to be. She's not a. She's not a homicide detective. I don't even think she really should be in law enforcement either. But if you got to put her somewhere, maybe elementary school, school resource officer about the best place for.

[Sean]

Did you ever talk to her one on one?

[Wade]

No, never.

[Sean]

She just had it out for you?

[Wade]

I don't even know if she had it out for me or if I was just what she thought was going to be her stepping stone to kind of up her career. Because I didn't know her, didn't know her personally. I did see her right after it got dropped. Me and my son were in a Buffalo Wild Wings right by my house, and this man and woman come in. And I looked at the woman, but I didn't recognize her. You know, I ain't even going to sugarcoat this. She put on a little weight, and I was like, I thought I knew her, but I didn't really know her. You know, it was kind of shaky, but she comes in, she sits down, and like, eight kids come in that have teenagers, high school kids that have these, like, you know, South Carolina police trainees or some shirts on.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Wade]

And I called my wife and I was like, hey, what is this? And she's like, that's a class where they, you know, teach them if they got an interest in law enforcement. And I look back and I locked eyes with her again. I was like, that's the detective. And she was looking dead at me, and she didn't say anything. And I didn't say anything. Like everything one, everything about me wanted to get up and say to them kids, look, if you want to be in law enforcement, God bless you, we need good ones. But you don't need to take training from that one, I'll tell you that right now. But I, I kept it quiet, man. I mean, she's. She's gonna have to deal with what she done.

[Sean]

You're a big man. Because a lot of people would have.

[Sponsor/Host]

Made a scene there, I think.

[Wade]

Yeah, it. Trust me, I wanted to, but then at the same time, I do that, you know, now everybody's talking about it now that, you know, it could blowback on my son. And had I been alone, maybe I might have did it. But he would have been in there with me. And her being a cop, she'd probably tried to arrest me for doing too. So, you know, no telling. But she, she's got her karma, man. And I think it's going to get worse for her. I really do. Because she, the evidence was there for her to look at. The evidence was there for her to go through. She ignored it. She had tunnel vision. She tried to spin and create a narrative that didn't exist. And at the end of the day, she tried to put me in jail for 25 years to life. And she didn't need to.

[Sean]

Wow. I wonder if it was tunnel vision mixed with just. She was new to the job and didn't have experience that.

[Wade]

I think that had a lot to do with it. I mean, common sense ought to tell you, Sean, look here, if I'm. If I shoot somebody, right? There's three entrances and there's two exits. So they're going to be two bullets somewhere in the house. How in the world did they not even see right after that that you only come back with one bullet? They got the bullet that went into the wall. They didn't even get the other bullet. I didn't know where it was, so I figured they got it. You know, I heard after the fact that there was two exit wounds and, you know, three entrance and two X's. How do you miss that?

[Sean]

You might have a case against the police department.

[Wade]

I'm. I'm telling you. How do you miss that?

[Sean]

No, I'm for real. Like, you should look into that. That's crazy.

[Wade]

But in the low country, man, it's. It's hard. You know, you got those, the backwood stuff and, you know, I'm sure you probably heard of the Murdoch case, that was pretty popular about a Year ago, the lawyer and the judge, I mean, they pretty much run the town.

[Sean]

And, you know, it's like that in the small town.

[Wade]

It is like, dennis, man, this wouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily consider this a small town, but it definitely runs on what's referred to as the good old boy system. So not many lawyers want to go up against the police because, you know, they have to work with them, and they don't want to be the ones that, you know, combats it and all that. And, you know, I went with a lot of people, I talked with a lot of lawyers to go up against the police. I did. I talked to probably 10 of them, and every one of them said, you know, the problem with it is they didn't fabricate any evidence. You know, it's. It's more incompetence. And he said, unfortunately, you can't sue somebody for being stupid.

[Sean]

Really?

[Wade]

Yeah.

[Sean]

You think for something like that, where you spent five years, your life finding a case?

[Wade]

Well, like I said, even that one particular thing, like whether she found the bullet or whether she didn't, that wasn't, like, impacting the evidence for me. That's just her being not a good cop.

[Sean]

Got it.

[Wade]

You know, whether it would. Whether she found it, whether she didn't, I was still going to be charged. It just shows that the lack of, you know, good police work that she did. If you're a detective and, you know, you'll be looking for two bullets, why the hell would you even leave that house until you find them for real? You know? So it just showed incompetence. And he told me, he's like, unfortunately, he said, you can't sue for incompetence. He said, if you could, everybody in the world would be rich because a lot of stupid. So I said, well, I get it.

[Sean]

What's next for you, Wade? Where could people watch the pod and keep up with you?

[Wade]

Yeah, so I'm on Crime and Entertainment. It's on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes. We do one a week, at least, if not to. And like I said, we interview everybody from mob guys, drug smugglers, writers, actors, authors, wrongfully convicted, you know, wrestler. We had a few wrestlers on there, had some only fans, ladies on there. We literally interview everybody. And, you know, we shared some of the same guests. Like I mentioned John Sarasani, Matt Cox. I just recently had Janelle Gordon on the show.

[Sean]

Nice shout out to her.

[Wade]

Yeah, she's a very interesting lady. So we're going to probably do some more stuff together. But, yeah, check us out on crime and entertainment pretty much anywhere you get your podcast. And yeah, we appreciate you having me.

[Sean]

Thanks for hopping on, man. Thanks for inspiring people.

[Wade]

Thank you.

[Sponsor/Host]

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe.

[Sean]

It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.