Original subtitles

This is just a bad dream.

What do you do?

I'm absolutely innocent.

I'm American.

I did not do this. I live in California.

I've never tortured an American before.

You're on death row?

Obviously they said American.

They got drug smugglers. They got murderers and rapists in there.

I just want a fighting chance to go home. That's all I need.

I

was

born in Beverly Hills.

I grew up in the Valley, and Northridge.

Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to be in the limelight.

I'm the youngest of six boys.

All my brothers basically grew up with their dad.

I grew up with my mom.

I was only 20 years old when I filmed Dude With My Car.

Acting for me was no longer a dream.

I felt like it was just a matter of time before I was going to get my big break.

See you then.

Between jobs, I was a personal trainer.

I loved working out. I loved being in shape.

I was the kind of guy that loved to get in trouble, and I loved to push the

envelope.

I was dating up a storm.

It was good times.

I met this one girl. She was an actress.

She had a great sense of humor. We got along great.

I thought I was in love with her, you know?

Out of nowhere, she decided to drop me for someone else.

And that really hurt.

People knew something was wrong.

Hey, Harry!

Ray is this Armenian guy, and I was training him three, four times a week.

He'd become a really good friend of mine.

What's going on?

You know, my girl broke up with me.

That's fine.

It was obvious that I was pretty sad.

He told me, you know, look... You should really make a trip for me.

He was having people travel around the world importing expensive leather goods.

I don't get it.

Why don't you just mail it back?

By sending someone over?

Claiming it as their own clothing?

Or we're beating the 55 % import tax?

Beating the import tax back into the U .S. isn't a big crime at all in my eyes.

Will I go to jail if I do this?

Nothing will happen to you.

They'll probably confiscate the goods, and maybe we'll find them.

And I'm like, and you pay us to do this?

Yeah, of course. You get $800.

Free holiday, $800.

Sounds good to me.

All right.

I thought it would be something fun, adventurous.

I wanted to be part of it.

I got the big thumb.

The thing about Turkish drivers, they love that horn.

They had no idea what to expect.

All I knew was which hotel to go to.

Just behind this hotel is a big grand bazaar.

I love walking up and down those streets and just seeing all the sights and the

history and the culture.

First time I've ever been abroad and it was a great experience.

The morning before I leave, Ray had his contact meet me at my hotel.

Guy didn't speak a word of English.

Everything looks fine.

Get to the airport.

There was a drug sniffing dog.

I never had any suspicions, so I had nothing to worry about.

Then the dog sniffed my bag.

I didn't go, my God, there's drugs. No, not at all.

Now it's come this way.

And I'm thinking maybe it smells like leather goods.

What was your

business in Turkey?

I tell them I was sent to Turkey to pick up leather goods.

I never at all thought I was doing anything other than that.

What do you do?

I'm an actor. I work in the States.

Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was in Seventh Heaven, Bounce, Dude Worth My

Oh, I love that movie.

Nice.

They didn't find anything.

All right.

And I get through customs with no problem.

Ray was there waiting for me and gave me a ride back to my house.

He says to me... See?

totally was going to be fine like i was dumb for worrying at all no you're right

i thought to myself you know what it was no reason to worry because i absolutely

trusted this guy i was depressed when i left i was happy and upbeat when i got

back so you want to do another trip for me what about next week huh i just

didn't have time you know i was acting a lot i definitely want to keep this

opportunity open so i encourage this trip to my friends my family

How you doing, buddy?

My brother Peter wasn't doing very well, so I introduced my brother. Hey, Peter.

Fancy making the trip for me?

Yeah, that'd be great.

Good. I like that.

Hey,

Peter.

My brother calls me up and says, I'm not going. Peter, what do you mean you're

not going?

And he goes, it's not to Turkey, it's to Pakistan.

Daniel Pearl literally just got kidnapped a couple days before.

No one wants to go to Pakistan.

Don't worry, I'm going to call him right now.

Peter won't go.

You need to get your brother to do it.

You recommended your brother.

You vouched for him.

And now it's just going to cost me a lot of money.

Peter won't do it.

You're putting me in a bad place, Eric.

I'm not a pushover at all, but I definitely don't like to let people

Okay. I took his place.

I'll do it.

I'll go.

Believe me, Eric.

You'll have a great time.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have killed Ray.

I would take that man's life and not feel any regret about it whatsoever.

I get into the airport, and there's a guy there, and he's holding a sign that

says, Eric I. Dale. Like, he just drew it on a napkin, basically.

Hey. How you doing? Good.

The first words out of the guy's mouth was, Ray messed up.

He says, we would have had a great time. But now we need to go to Karachi to

bring all those jackets back.

And I'm like, when are you guys coming back?

When are you leaving?

Friday. Yeah, we'll be back by Friday.

Ray told me that I was going to be shown around, I was going to be introduced to

girls, and not going to be introduced to anyone.

Everything I was told to get me to Pakistan is not going to happen at all.

I definitely don't like knowing that I'm going to be stuck in a hotel for five

days.

So I'm thinking to myself, this is a damn homeless shelter.

What up?

You guys are leaving me here?

You're going to be fine. You'll love it. No, no. You're taking me to a nice

hotel.

Just one more thing.

Stay in your room.

Okay?

They tell me, stay in your room. This place is not safe at all for Americans.

Daniel Pearl was really big in the newspapers at the time.

All I know is that I'm not scared of anything. I'm going to go out and do

want.

So I'm jogging through the streets of Pakistan, and I see three cute girls.

They got the scarves on, but I can still see their faces.

I'm like, how you ladies doing? My name's Eric. I'm from Hollywood. Big

My God, your eyes are beautiful.

They don't speak any English, but you don't need that.

Speak a language that's still a flirt.

So what are you girls doing tonight?

Huh? You can all come back with me. You can introduce me to your family, you

know. Also, I've heard I'm not that hard on the eyes. Some guy comes out of one

of the shops.

Your brother?

Yeah.

And I'm like laughing. I'm like, oh, what is this guy going to do?

Put your hands on me. I'm just saying.

Put your hands on me one more time.

I let my bag drop.

Hey,

this guy actually pushes me a little hard.

People started stirring, so I let them go.

Where's my bag? And my bag is gone.

My bag.

Where's my bag?

That quick.

My damn bag, man.

Like, suck!

And I'm thinking to myself, I'm the biggest idiot on earth to be on the

of Pakistan.

Thursday morning, phone rings.

My ride with the luggage is here.

The guy brings up one suitcase.

It

only

had seven jackets in it. This is definitely off. This doesn't seem right.

There's only one suitcase.

Why is it so little?

That's just the first trip.

We see how it works, and we'll take it from there.

Blood. Ray got a very good deal.

One suitcase?

It doesn't make sense.

Are you ready?

Let's go.

Yeah.

The truth was, I was counting the minutes until I could get out of

The guy's like, sorry about the inconvenience. Make a time with me. Do

Go out, have fun, pick up chicks.

Yeah, sure, that sounds great.

Next time I come.

No intention of ever coming back to Pakistan.

Get to the airport.

I always think back to that moment because those were my last few minutes

freedom.

Everyone was in on it, knowing full well what I was being used to do.

But not one of them ever tried to let me know or warn me.

Not one of them.

I'm walking through the airport.

I get to the back of the line.

And the guys that see me in the back, they wave me to the front. I'm like, all

right. I don't have to wait in this line. Cool.

I never had any suspicions, so I had nothing to worry about.

The guy says, Business talk, Richard.

And I said, well, pleasure is my business.

So stupid.

Open. Yeah, sure.

This guy doesn't even bother with my backpack or my luggage. He just goes

through the suitcase with all the leather goods.

Really didn't seem interested in it at all.

So I zip it up, and this guy grabs my arm.

And he says, I didn't think there was anything illegal in the case. I really

didn't.

These guys are like, you've got to come with us.

So they take me to one waiting room.

And all I'm thinking about is I haven't done anything wrong.

There's no need for you to be doing this.

They really need to let me get going, you know, keep the suitcase, I don't

I want to get on my flight.

What is this?

Why are you showing me this?

This is opium.

I knew immediately.

that I'd been used, I knew immediately.

Ray had set me up.

Everything he had told me was a lie.

This guy that I'd known for a couple years now and considered my friend...

Believe me, Eric, you'll have a good time.

...had just set me up to unknowingly smuggle drugs for him.

I felt like such an idiot.

I need to speak with the American Embassy.

This little guy says to me, Embassy can't help you.

We're going to hang you up to the five o 'clock prayer.

I'm terrified at this moment.

I can't believe this is happening to me.

Someone tells you they're going to kill you. Can we put the handcuffs on you

now? No one there even had a chance to hold me down.

Stop him! All I heard was a gun being fired.

I wasn't trying to escape. I was trying to find a phone.

I hit the ground and just crashed through a door at the end of the hallway

started barricading furniture in front of that door.

I was full well expecting them just to turn that door into cheese whiz and just

shoot it all up.

I figure if I'm going to die, I'm going to make my life worth something.

And I'm just going to warn others.

This is my last day on earth.

I've got to make my life count.

I was dialing 099, 911, 411, anything.

It was pointless.

Outside in the hallway, I hear, I said, I want to speak to someone from the

embassy.

I hear an American voice, and he says, You want to talk to an American?

Are you from the embassy?

Says DEA. You want to come talk to us?

Come talk?

Hell no, I'm not coming out there. They said they were going to hang me.

And then he, like, cleared his throat. He says, uh.

They were kidding.

They were kidding.

Wow.

Wow. I was like, how are you going to kid about something like that?

Please, come with us, Mr. O'Day.

I'm thinking, now that the DEA is here, they're going to help me.

I really believe that as long as we could get Ray arrested, that I'll be

released. And a real drug smuggler will be, you know, punished.

You want a cigarette?

No, I don't smoke.

Just a little marijuana, right?

No, I don't do drugs.

I've never even touched a drug. He's like, you don't do pot? Everyone smokes

pot. I'm like, no, that's just you.

So, Eric.

What happened? Why are you here? A friend of mine, Ray, sends me out here

Pakistan to pick up leather goods.

I had no idea it was drug related.

They were not buying my story whatsoever.

The guy on the right, he goes, You know, they don't give you the death penalty.

They're going to give you at least 20 years.

Man, your heart's beating so fast. Are you scared or something?

One guy tells me they're going to hang me.

I've just been arrested.

Of course I'm scared.

You know, you think you're a tough guy.

This country's going to show you how weak you really are.

He's all yours.

In their eyes, I was guilty.

Enjoy your time here.

They weren't trying to help me with anything.

I can't believe this is happening to me.

Here I am, thinking I'm going to get on the flight.

Next thing I know, I'm in a jail cell.

There's guys everywhere.

They're all long beards, little caps.

Someone said something.

I don't understand a word he's saying.

And then I hear someone else say, What country?

America.

Rob.

The wrong words to say.

Back up! What the hell?

Hands off! Step back!

Hands off!

Step back!

I wasn't scared because of these guys.

I'm scared about what's going to happen to me now.

This girl from the embassy finally shows up.

How are you doing?

I go, great.

Ever better.

She went... Really?

No.

What's going to happen to me?

They're going to decide how many days to give you for physical remand.

Physical remand.

They figure if they can't get you to tell them the truth, that they can beat

out of you.

You're going to be tortured.

They wanted 10 days.

I asked for three.

Going to be tortured.

Wow.

It just keeps getting better and better.

I'm being led through, like, the dirtiest corridors and dungeons.

Lots of screams coming from that hallway.

A lot of pain in that hallway.

There's, like, a basement, and it's completely dark down there.

Now, this is scary.

He asked me simple questions. Who are you? What do you do?

Where are you from?

I'm American.

I live in California.

Hmm. He says to me, I've never tortured an American before.

I'm going to look forward to this.

It would start with my feet.

Who gave these drugs to you?

I don't know.

And beat the bottom of my feet.

What's their number? Where do they live?

I don't know.

Where did you get the drugs?

They were given to me at the hotel I was staying at.

Who gave you these drugs?

I don't know.

Where are they?

Where do they live?

Having the bottom of your feet whipped again and again and again and again

your feet swell up.

It's so excruciating.

Eventually it numbs out on itself.

When I was in third grade, I was run over by a school bus.

Where are they?

I had my pelvis shattered like a glass jar.

I don't like pain, but I'm used to it. It's nothing new for me.

I can scream and look weak, or I can just take it

until it passes.

What can you do when someone

knows a different truth than you?

Where are they?

I fell

hopeless.

I fell completely small.

I'd never felt small before. I felt... I couldn't believe this was happening to

me.

On the third day, they wanted me to admit the drugs were mine.

Just admit the drugs were yours.

Just admit it. It'll all be done.

All I had to hold on to was my innocence.

I never even came close to admitting anything.

I get taken on like an hour road trip to Central Jail.

It's in Rawalpindi.

It's the biggest prison in all of Pakistan.

6 ,000 prisoners.

It's a huge prison. These big monster doors in the middle.

And it feels like they're the doors to Mordor.

And I hear all kinds of people yelling and screaming.

I'm like, wow, this is really where I'm going into.

What they do is they humble you before you get into that prison.

One guard kind of motions to me. He goes,

I knew what was on the other side of that door was not

good because it was chanting.

Like everyone was in on it.

My whole mentality is I'm going to be John Wayne up in this mud.

If I'm going to be a Executed, I'm going to walk up the steps with a little

flagger, flip the hangman a nickel, and go down with both thumbs up.

All the frustration from the days leading up to that, thinking about Ray

me up, getting tortured and humiliated.

They're going to know my name by the end of that afternoon.

That's for damn sure.

I'm not in prison with them. They're in prison with me.

I'm body slamming these guys. I'm landing shots. I'm making it count.

I've never been beaten.

And I've been in a lot of fights.

Trust me, I would not want to lose the end of this.

These guys were unprepared for me.

Bring it on, baby! Who wants some?

one of those guys were my woman that day.

It felt good to know that I was so much stronger and faster than these guys. And

it felt good to dish it back for once.

I pushed somebody over the balcony, and they fell onto the crowd below.

And I realized right then and there, I messed up so bad.

I got taken to death, bro.

And I still hadn't even been sentenced yet.

I'm like, I'm on death row.

Death row is where the gallows are.

The cell that I was in was facing it.

I was clinging to knowing that I'm innocent and that once they find out...

Find Ray and arrest him. Then I'll be relieved.

I just want a fighting chance to go home. That's all I need.

October 1st year, I'm in jail.

And one DEA guy comes.

Hey.

Do you... recognize...

Any of these photos?

Immediately, I say, that's Ray.

I go, that's Ray Gazarian.

Ray's been arrested.

This is great.

This is my steps towards freedom. Well, now that you guys know that I'm

innocent, what are you doing to get me out of here?

Sorry.

There's nothing we can do.

What do you mean? You got the guy. Why am I still in prison?

What are you talking about?

You got the real guy. Why am I still in jail?

There's nothing we can do.

Even knowing that I was innocent, they still could not get involved.

What the... But you're the Drug Enforcement Agency!

And here I am facing a possible death sentence, and they can't do anything for

me.

And I hated them for that.

I remember being...

really down, you get really sad, you get really hopeless, and you just get

really depressed, and regardless of what's going on, you know, it's just

not to feel down sometimes.

I started learning the language.

Go get me some fruit. I'll give you a hundred root.

My mom was...

She sent me money for the embassy.

TK, return.

TK.

And that's where it started.

Gotcha.

He's like, do you need anything else?

I started asking for bigger things, KFD chicken, go get me some ice cream.

Eventually, I told the guard, Papa's got a cell phone. I want a cell phone.

He's like, I can do that.

It cost me 12 ,000 rupees.

I was taking a huge gamble.

I always had the fear that he might try to wrap me up.

And I would get beaten within an inch of my life.

I contacted my mom from my cell phone the very next day.

Mom.

Mom, it's me.

And the first thing I say is, Mom, I didn't do this. She goes, Eric, I know

didn't do this. I'm really sorry this happened.

My mom was crying on the phone.

She's like, how are they treating you?

She says, Eric, don't worry. We're going to get you out of there.

Look, I got to go. I don't have a lot of minutes.

I love you. I'll talk to you later, okay?

It felt good to hear a familiar voice. I wasn't locked off from the rest of the

world.

It felt good.

It's January 3rd, and I'd gone to court a whole bunch of times in a short amount

of time.

Eric? My lawyer said, Eric, you're going to be going home soon.

We arranged a really good deal for you. You're going to pay the judge $1 ,000.

It's going to give you a two -year prison sentence.

And because of the time you've already spent, you should be able to go home

within the next four months.

Yes, that's wonderful. Let's do this.

Okay.

You just have to plead guilty, and he'll give you the two years.

Plead guilty?

I said, why do I have to plead guilty? I didn't do this.

That's how it's done here.

You plead guilty, you pay the judge some money, and go home.

And I was left with the hard choice.

Plead guilty for a crime you didn't commit and live the rest of your life

looking in the mirror and just being disgusted with what you see.

By this time, I lost my house, I lost my money, I lost my life, I lost

everything that I had to look forward to.

The only thing I had left at this point was my pride.

How do you plead?

My lawyer actually made me make my decision. He says to me, Eric, what's

more to you?

Your pride or your freedom?

I knew right then and there.

I didn't do this.

I did not do this.

And I did not want to plead guilty for a crime I did not commit.

My pride is worth a hell of a lot more to me than my freedom.

Your Honor.

Not guilty.

Everyone's, like, just shocked.

Judge says, prosecution has proven its case against you. I'm like, of course

they did.

He says, seven years.

If I pled guilty, I would have gotten out.

But because I fought it and I was innocent, I got seven years.

A lot of people think I'm an idiot, and they think my pride is probably my

downfall, and it might be, but at the end of the day, I got to look at myself

the mirror, and I like what I see.

Before I went to jail, I had everything. I never appreciated where I was at

life.

Never content with how much money I had.

or what I had in the fridge to eat.

Prison let me know exactly how wonderful every single little thing in my life

really is.

Walking out into a cold night, walking back into a warm house, getting under

blankets and flipping on the television.

Being able to just walk and talk and run, those are all luxuries that I never

ever knew how precious they were before I went to jail.

Usually monsoon season was during July and August.

Cockroaches would come out because of the water rising.

I started feeling like I had toothaches in the side of my head.

My ears became infected with fungus.

I can take...

A lot of pain, but when you've got something inside your ear that you can't

scratch, it's like there's a bug in your head and it just keeps gnawing at you.

They brought these quack doctors.

I don't know what's wrong, man. My ears are killing me right here.

I can't sleep. I can't do anything. I can't think. I can't read.

What is it? What is that?

And here's where it gets really worse.

Popped both my eardrums.

Hurt so damn bad.

I couldn't think. I couldn't sleep.

I could barely eat.

The only time I ever contemplated suicide was because of my ears.

I would tell myself, just five more minutes.

Just hang in there five more minutes. My goal every day was just to live five

more minutes.

One of the days that was really bad, we had Goldie in charge of ourselves.

He was famous for having prisoners beat until they agreed to buy him Goldie's

cigarettes.

He was even more famous for having had over a couple hundred prisoners beat to

death. He had no conscience whatsoever.

And I'm in no mood to be messed with right now.

Give me 500 rupees.

I said to him, go to hell.

What? Go to hell. Go to hell!

He has his little cane. He thinks he's about to hit me.

I remember grabbing his hand and hitting him with his own hand.

and I just lost control of myself, and I beat that man worse than anything.

You can mess with the other guards. You can mess with the prisoners, but you

don't mess with Goldie.

I dragged him like luggage out of my room.

And I lock myself in my room to do two things.

Prepare and pray.

First time I've ever prayed, I've never really been religious, but I'm like,

God, if you can get me out of this right now, that'd be real cool.

I said, thank you so much for this being me.

Thank you so much for not being my brother or one of my friends.

Tell my family I love them.

Just give me the strength to take as many of these guys out with me as you

I'm inside putting tissue paper up on my gums. I got a beanie on now.

And I'm ready to go to war.

I just wanted everyone to know that I didn't go out without them.

I couldn't kill myself.

So I was going to let these guys do it for me.

That day, every guard left their station to come have a piece of me.

I didn't give up fighting. My body did. I was so tired I couldn't even scream.

I couldn't even cry. I was so tired.

I'm shocked I can still see out of my left eye.

My ribs were killing me.

My shoulder felt like it was collapsed.

I was being held out like this, and my right hand was broken each finger one by

one.

I remember thinking to myself, just let it end.

Let it end.

What happened here?

I hear the superintendent's voice.

Goldie's telling them they found drugs on me, that I attacked them.

I'm scared about what's going to happen to me now.

He's lying.

He's lying.

What happened?

This guy wanted 500 rupees from me. I told him to go to hell.

They're robbing me. I'm gonna die.

He's lying.

Enough! Just leave.

He fired Goldleaf right then and there.

If the superintendent hadn't arrived, I would have been killed.

I would have been dead. I wouldn't be here today.

As long as I'm here, you will live alone.

After that, it was like night and day for me.

Everyone was so grateful for having gotten rid of a monster like that.

I went from being the most hated prisoner there to one of the most

It's amazing because when I went into that prison, I went in swinging.

It was a good turnaround because I never changed.

They all changed.

I always remember thinking to myself, I maintained my innocence, and I got to go

out of that jail with my head high.

I was beyond happy and it was a huge relief.

My mom's very important to me. I love her.

This is the greatest thing in the world. I thought I'd never see him again and

he's home. He's home and he's safe. Oh my God, it's great.

It was a really good feeling to see so many people and so many familiar faces

soon as I got back.

It was a real good feeling to realize how much all these people cared about

What was it like in there? What have these three years been like for you?

I'll talk about that stuff later.

But I'm lucky to be here right now in America, so I'm never going to take

advantage of that again.

I'm glad it happened to me.

I'm just glad it happened.

Welcome home, Eric.

Welcome home.

The whole experience

made me appreciate what's important in life.

And I have to sometimes remind myself just how great everything in life really

is.

I needed to go to jail to know just how lucky I am.