Wrongful Conviction

Josh Dubin explores Gunshot Residue Evidence with Joanna Sanchez from the Wrongful Conviction Project at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. Of all the many faulty forensic sciences, Gunshot Residue certainly has some truly startling and scary issues that began almost a century ago. Learn more and get involved. www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/junk-science Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science &n...

Four honorable men volunteered to fight for their country, but ended up fighting for their own freedom. Hosts Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin, co-directors at Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions and central figures in the smash hit Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer, tell us about not one, but four U.S. Navy sailors who falsely confessed to murdering another sailor’s wife. Wr...

After being wrongfully convicted for the first time as a child and paroled from juvie, Keyontay Ricks got involved with mentoring at risk kids, including a 14 year old weed dealer named Kurtel Walker. Kurtel and one of his customers conjured up a plot to settle a drug debt through the customer’s workplace, and their combined behavior got pinned on Keyontay when a racist cop decided to abuse...

Approaching midnight on April 11th, 1989, 18 year old single mother Sabrina Butler found her 9 month old, Walter, not breathing. A genetic kidney disorder sent a series of events in motion that took Walter’s life and nearly his mother’s along with it. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/ https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom Wrongful C...

In June 1986, Kevin Dykes witnessed the attempted murder of 2 people and the actual murder of a 3rd person in his neighborhood in Compton, CA. Kevin decided to go to the police, partly out of fear of reprisals by the killers who knew he witnessed the murder. The prosecutors then used his knowledge of the crimes that he witnessed against him and charged him with all 3 crimes. Learn more and get inv...

Josh Dubin discusses Fingerprint Evidence with Mary Moriarty, Chief Public Defender of Hennepin County in Minnesota Contrary to what pop culture has ingrained in the American conscience, matching known fingerprints of a suspect to prints left at the scene of a crime is not an exact science. It’s entirely subjective. So how did fingerprints become so widely accepted and thought of as the gold...

On May 2nd, 1992, Marilyn Mulero was out with a friend and someone whom they had just met, Jackie Montanez, mourning the death of another friend at the hands of the Latin Kings, when they happened to meet 2 members of that very same gang. Montanez’s murderous gang life ambitions put her friends’ lives and freedom in jeopardy when they all collided with 2 of Chicago’s most corrupt...

Josh Dubin speaks with Bill Osinski, journalist and author of “Guilty By Popular Demand.” Even when done correctly, impression analysis of evidence, like shoe prints and tire tracks, is purely subjective. Many experts recognize its limitations. But one so-called “expert” in particular pushed the limits of this forensic discipline to produce horrific outcomes. Learn more and...

In the spring of 1985, a rapist with a very specific M.O. was on the loose along a stretch of Roswell Road between the city of Atlanta and Fulton County. Somehow it did not matter to the less than scrupulous district attorney when the attacks continued after a composite sketch nabbed the wrong man. Learn more and get involved at: https://nacdl.org/ https://www.georgiainnocenceproject.org/ https://...

Josh Dubin speaks with Vanessa Antoun, Senior Resource Counsel at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to learn about Hair Microscopy Evidence. Even when examined under a microscope, the similarities that can be observed between two hairs are open to wide interpretation, there are no definitive traits that can prove with any scientific certainty that a suspect’s hair...

In the early morning hours of June 30th, 1995, 21 year old mother Kristine Bunch awoke in a carbon monoxide haze to the decimation of her entire world - only for junk science and the false testimony of an actual scientist to make matters worse. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.justis4justus.org/ https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/podcast/s11e16-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-ar...

At the tail end of the 1980’s, Randal Padgett was living an idyllic rural life of farm and family, when admittedly he made his biggest mistake that began with a skinny dipping joke. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.questforjusticethebook.com/ https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom Wrongful Conviction  is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in asso...

Josh Dubin sits down with Barry Scheck, Co-Founder of the Innocence Project to discuss Arson Evidence. Built on a foundation of conjecture and best guesses that were never adequately tested and confirmed according to any valid scientific principles, what Arson Evidence experts and prosecutors have been telling juries for decades, that one can definitively determine that a fire was intentionally se...

On January 24th, 2004, a party at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple devolved into violence, resulting in one man’s death. Before the violence erupted, an overserved young man left the party into the care of his new girlfriend - only to become the murder suspect on the word of his jilted ex. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.change.org/p/brooklyn-district-attorney-eric-gonzalez-free-james...

Josh Dubin, civil rights and criminal defense attorney, and Innocence Ambassador to the Innocence Project in New York explores bloodstain pattern evidence with Pamela Colloff, senior reporter at ProPublica and staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. Bloodstain pattern experts falsely claim that they can identify the culprit of violent crimes by examining the shape and distribution of bloodsta...

In the summer of 2007, Jamal Trulove was an aspiring rapper from San Francisco’s Sunnydale projects. He had hoped that scoring himself a role on a reality television show would help his music career. Instead, his appearance on television would help police pin a July 27 murder on him. Over 30 witnesses, including Jamal himself, would not snitch, but someone had to go down for it. His most mom...

Introducing Josh Dubin, civil rights and criminal defense attorney, and Innocence Ambassador to the Innocence Project in New York. On the debut episode of Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science, Josh explores bite mark evidence. Like other forms of junk science used in criminal trials, bite mark evidence does not benefit crime victims or their loved ones. So why is it treated like credible science? It...

On the night of April 25th, 1976, a wealthy, 54 year old widow was burglarized and raped in Concord, North Carolina. What happened next paints a stark picture of American policing and race relations that arguably remains unchanged to this day. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.change.org/p/demand-nc-governor-to-commute-ronnie-long-s-sentence-immediately https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodc...

In 1996, Hulon Howard was allowing competing crack dealers to operate out of the front porch and basement of his home in West Philadelphia. He and his girlfriend, Lena Laws, enjoyed the fringe benefits until the usual trappings of the drug trade claimed Mr Howard’s life along with the freedom of a man with an unfortunate nickname. Learn more and get involved at: https://tlewisfoundation.com/...

On May 5th, 1985, a group of friends were bar hopping around Clearwater, Florida, when they ran into their drug dealer’s 14 year old daughter, Shelly Boggio. She tagged along for a night of fun that tragically ended in her death and an innocent man spending over 3 decades on Florida’s death row. We are joined by James Dailey’s attorney, Josh Dubin, who has had a hand in freeing m...

On April 15th, 2011, an Oakland, CA drug dealer lost his iPod, and an addict lost his life. 5 weeks later, the questionable word of another addict derailed the promising musical career of a young man whom he had never met. Learn more and get involved at: https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-justice-for-pierre-rushing-wrongfully-convicted/u/25484884 https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.c...

This is an updated episode that originally aired on August 13, 2018. Since his release in April 2018 and the ultimate end to his legal troubles in August 2019, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill is using his voice to fight on behalf of those entangled in the many trappings of the criminal legal system. He is joined by his friend, e-commerce billionaire, and co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Michael R...

Terrel Barros and his friends thought they were just going out clubbing until a tragic encounter changed all that. Then, authorities compounded that tragedy by sending an innocent man to prison and setting the confessed killer free. Learn more and get involved at: http://www.change.org/freeterrelbarros https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQPNFwumJQ https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason...

Tim Howard and Brian Day were best friends with drug habits to match. Brian did some deals to support his habit, ending up in debt to some nasty characters. When Brian and Shannon Day are murdered, and their 7 month old boy, Trevor, is left for dead in a duffel bag, authorities get a case of tunnel vision for the Day’s only black friend. Learn more and get involved at: http://www.proclaimjus...

On Thursday June 11, 2020, justice advocate and philanthropist Jason Flom moderated a forum on Facebook Live with four extraordinary leaders in civil rights, justice, and advocacy: Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors; prison industry expert Bianca Tylek; Drug Policy Alliance executive director Kassandra Frederique; and civil rights lawyer and author Alec Karakatsanis. The goal of this e...