Stuck: Wrongful Convictions in Jamaica with Andrew Wildes

Dr. Nisha Waller is the racial justice lead at the UK legal charity Appeal and co-author of Doubt Dismissed, a report tracing the hidden history of non-unanimous jury verdicts. She explains why “majority verdicts” are not neutral reform but a structural shortcut that makes convictions easier—often at the cost of fairness. Waller’s research focuses on England and Wales, where unanimous jury decisio...

Rebecca Helm breaks down the quiet driver behind wrongful convictions: the pressure to plead guilty—even when you didn’t do it. Helm is a law professor and empirical legal studies researcher at the University of Exeter, working in an evidence-based justice lab. She explains what the data shows about how wrongful convictions happen across common-law systems, and why Jamaica should pay close attenti...

King’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim breaks down how Barbados nearly railroaded an innocent man — even after the victims said police arrested the wrong suspect. Pilgrim has spent 32 years defending the accused and challenging convictions built on shaky confessions. He tells the unbelievable story of Derrick Crawford: two tourist victims went to police and court to say the man charged was not their attack...

Bonus episode today: Bahamian defense lawyer Krista Mason-Smith breaks down a landmark Privy Council wrongful-conviction reversal. She explains how custody abuse and inconsistent confession evidence derailed justice, why prosecutors dropped related charges, and how recordings and early access to counsel are shifting Caribbean policing. A must-listen on reform and accountability. Learn more about y...

When veteran Jamaican journalist Lloyd B. Smith admitted he once pled guilty to a traffic offense he didn’t commit, it sparked a deeper question: why would anyone confess to something they didn’t do? That question sits at the heart of a shocking case from the Bahamas—one that exposed how false confessions can destroy lives. In July 2010, 20-year-old Vincent Ariste was arrested—not because he was a...

A Trinidad attorney raised alarms after a simple conversation sparked a national question: what if innocent people are behind bars? Brent Winter began his career as a prison officer, spent a decade prosecuting cases, and now defends the accused. In 2020, after a friend in Jamaica asked him about Netflix’s The Innocence Files, he wrote to the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday warning that “police can kil...

A Bermuda murder case unraveled under scrutiny. Julian Washington was convicted of killing Stefan Burgess, jurors persuaded that DNA on bullets was more reliable than any eyewitness. Prosecutors told them the odds were “1 in 46 million” that the DNA belonged to anyone else. With no defense expert to question the analysis, Washington was sentenced to life in prison. He spent ten years behind bars b...

A Bermuda shooting turned a young man into a convicted killer overnight. Jurors were told the DNA evidence was stronger than an eyewitness: a 1 in 46 million chance the bullets could have been touched by anyone but Julian Washington. With no defense expert to challenge the science, the prosecution’s narrative prevailed. Washington was sentenced to life, serving ten years before independent review...

A notorious St. James case turned two young men into pariahs overnight. Lawyers wouldn’t touch it, judges hesitated on bail, and even after DNA excluded them, the stigma stuck. Defense attorney Lambert Johnson took the case, pushed for DNA testing, and watched the prosecution’s narrative unravel—yet more than a decade later, the brothers are still awaiting compensation while the state prepares to...

A young Jamaican mechanic—“R.C.”—is caught in the crossfire of a nighttime gunfight. Shot and near death, he’s rescued by a Good Samaritan, taken to the hospital, and wakes up to learn his right leg has been amputated. Instead of care and due process, he’s handcuffed to a bed, charged with multiple gun offenses, and held for weeks before seeing a judge. What follows: years of grueling bail conditi...

Maria Shepherd spent 25 years living under the weight of a wrongful conviction in Canada. In this powerful live interview, Maria shares her journey from being wrongfully accused and pleading guilty to a crime she didn’t commit to her eventual exoneration. We examine how Canada's justice system failed her, the emotional and legal consequences of a false guilty plea, and what her case reveals about...

In this episode of Stuck, host Andrew Wildes sits down with Professor Jessica Henry—attorney, former public defender, Montclair State University scholar, and author of Smoke but No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes That Never Happened. They unpack the startling reality that up to 40 percent of U.S. exonerations involve “no-crime” convictions—cases where police, prosecutors, or flawed forensi...

In this episode, Andrew Wildes engages with Bert Samuels, a prominent Jamaican lawyer, to discuss the pressing issue of wrongful convictions in Jamaica. The conversation begins with a tragic case from 1983, leading to a broader exploration of the systemic issues contributing to wrongful convictions, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, the role of defense counsel, and the harsh condition...

London. Busy, iconic, known for its postcards and palace guards. But for Lescene Edwards, there’s only one building that matters: the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court of appeal. From 4,000 miles away—locked inside one of Jamaica’s toughest prisons—he’s watching, clinging to every word. It’s been nearly 19 years since the mother of his children, Aldonna Harris, was s...

In this episode of Stuck, host Andrew Wildes discusses the complexities of wrongful convictions with Professor Kent Roach, exploring real cases, the role of DNA evidence, the impact of eyewitness testimony, and the systemic issues within the justice system. They delve into the psychological aspects of denial surrounding wrongful convictions and the importance of legal education and reforms to prev...

On Friday, the 5th of September 2003, a single gunshot wound ended the life of Aldonna Harris Vasquez. Immediately, all suspicion fell on the only person who was in the room with her that day: Lescene Edwards.  The police started with suspicion, and the prosecution settled on a story that was salacious and simple: a police officer who killed the mother of his children and staged it to look like a...

It began with a crime that shattered a community: five women and girls, taken from their home in Irwin, Jamaica, and assaulted in a nearby field. The island was horrified. The police promised swift justice. Days later, two young brothers—Kieran and Sheldon Brissett—were arrested and paraded as the face of evil. But there was one problem: they didn’t do it. In this premiere episode of Stuck, host A...

What happens when the justice system gets it wrong? Every week on Stuck, Jamaican lawyer and journalist Andrew Wildes tackles the problem of wrongful convictions in Jamaica.  Hear about the innocent, imprisoned and ignored, the lawyers battling to free them, and the experts demanding change.  Brought to you by The Wave on The Frequency Network. More About Andrew Wildes Explore the work of Andrew W...