Wrongful Conviction Podcasts

In the early morning hours of April 27, 1982, 35 year old JoAnn Tate was stabbed in the chest and sexually assaulted while in her apartment in St. Louis, MO. Her 7 year old daughter, Melissa, was stabbed several times, and her 4 year old daughter, Renee, had her throat cut. The girls survived the attack, but their mother did not. For a while, Melissa had said that a man named Bill was the attacker...

In December of 1988, 18 year old Londoner Raphael Rowe was living with 5 other men in social housing, when four violent robberies shocked Southeast England, leaving eight victims in their wake. One was killed and another was severely injured. The assailants' MO was to steal the victims' cars, ditch them at the next crime scene, and repeat the process. Twelve people in the area of the first abandon...

On February 12th, 1990, a tragic accident occurred in which it is believed that Kathy Middleton mishandled a gun in her left hand, accidentally shooting herself one time in the head. The state turned this tragedy into a homicide investigation, sending her husband Ken Middleton to prison for life plus 200 years. In 2004, Ken had an opportunity to present to his motion trial court evidence of ineffe...

When 43 year old bowling alley manager Ken Wyniemko ejected an off duty cop from his establishment for drunk and disorderly conduct, he didn't think it would lead to a wrongful conviction. On April 30th, 1994, a woman was blindfolded and raped by a masked man in her home in Clinton Township, Michigan. The  composite sketch was deemed only 60% accurate, but nonetheless, was made available to the me...

At 18, Clinton Young was the youngest and newest member of a group of four acquaintances after he was released from juvenile prison in 2001. One of the four men killed two people and went to the police to control the narrative. The other two joined the murderer's story, throwing Clinton under the bus. Despite evidence pointing away from Clinton, the 3 men's false testimony was enough to get Clinto...

Successful businessman and Ecuadorian-American immigrant Nelson Serrano was in Atlanta on December 3rd, 1997, when 4 people were murdered execution stye at his Bartow, Florida factory. It is believed that the intended target was his business partner, Phil Dosso’s son Frank who worked for the business while also involved in drug trafficking. After 3 years of cooperating with an investigation that t...

On Saturday, June 4, 1983, three members of the Ryen family, as well as their neighbor’s son, Christopher Hughes, were brutally murdered in the Ryen home. 8 year old Joshua Ryen survived horrifying injuries, including a hatchet wound to the head and a slashed throat. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office immediately targeted Kevin Cooper because he had recently fled from the California Instit...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 11. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. Record Industry promoter and manager Bill Underwood was given a life sentence for some old charges under the newly minted draconian laws of the war on drugs. His daughter Ebon...

In 1988, 16 year old Felix Valentin was shot in his car in an alley on the West Side of Chicago. Before slipping into a coma and eventually death, he was able to identify his shooter and the getaway driver, 2 members of the Imperial Gangsters. An 11 year old eyewitness named Orlando Lopez initially identified Jacques Rivera, a member of the Latin Kings. Shortly after, Lopez realized his mistake, b...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 10. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. James Anderson and Jason discuss the shortcomings of public defense, sentencing disparities, and the RAND Corporation's work on racial equity in our criminal legal system. htt...

On November 27, 2005, Catherine Woods was found viciously stabbed to death in her Upper Eastside apartment. At the time, her ex boyfriend David Haughn stayed on her couch while she was romantically involved with Paul Cortez. When David discovered this other man, he was jealous and upset, yet Haughn did not become the prime suspect despite damning evidence against him. A confluence of racism, a fal...

As a 30 year veteran of the Michigan Department of Corrections, Andy Potter has gained invaluable experience doing one of the toughest jobs in the country. After years of putting this knowledge to work through his leadership in the Michigan Corrections Organization, Andy founded his own organization. One Voice United incorporates corrections officers and other frontline staff into the discussion o...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 9. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. Katie Schaffer teams up with Jason to discuss penal education programs, bail reform, and making our carceral system more humane. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://...

43 year old Jerome Loach was performing in a play at a church in South Philadelphia, PA on the evening of January 10, 2009. At the same time, police responded to a home invasion, in which three women were confronted at gunpoint by men posing as pizza deliverers. Two men were arrested, but a third man was implicated – Jerome. While the incriminating statement was recanted before trial, it was prese...

Chris Redlitz, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, has made a career of capitalizing on emerging technologies, but a visit to San Quentin made him recognize another great investment, the vast untapped human talent languishing in our nation's prisons. The Last Mile was co-founded by Chris in 2010 as an organization with the goal of breaking the cycle of incarceration by providing educatio...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 8. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. Kris Brown, President of Brady United chats with Jason about the impact of gun violence, the NRA and the legacy of Jim and Sarah Brady. To learn more and get involved, visit: h...

Stephanie Spurgeon was a married mother of two who had been running a daycare facility from her home for 15 years. On August 21, 2008, Stephanie took care of 1 year old Maria Harris for the first time. Maria’s grandmother picked her up that day, but soon noticed Maria was unresponsive. After 8 days in the hospital, Maria passed away. Since Stephanie was the last supervisor of the child, she was ac...

Record Industry promoter and manager Bill Underwood was given a life sentence for some old charges under the newly minted draconian laws of the war on drugs. His daughter Ebony Underwood eventually made it her life's work to gather the voices of other survivors of parental incarceration to affect change. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.wegotusnow.org/donate   https://www.ebonyun...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 4. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. Alex Duran joins Jason to share with us his transformation from inmate to criminal justice reformer. He now manages a $20 million annual fund on behalf of Galaxy Gives dedicate...

On August 10th, 1994, a man and a woman were in a van in West Philadelphia, when two males approached. One blocked the passenger door, while the other shot the man before he could get out of the van. The witness identified 16 year old Johnny Berry from a photo, but rescinded the ID at a preliminary hearing. Inexplicably, Johnny was re-arrested and sent back to juvenile detention, where he met Tauh...

James Anderson and Jason discuss the shortcomings of public defense, sentencing disparities, and the RAND Corporation's work on racial equity in our criminal legal system. https://www.rand.org/ https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava For Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

On July 28th, 1999, Julius Jones was playing monopoly with his family and soon to be a sophomore on an academic scholarship at the University of Oklahoma. That night, a man named Paul Howell was shot for his GMC Suburban in the nearby suburb of Edmund, Oklahoma. A few days later, Julius was taken into police custody even though the eyewitness description should have excluded him as a suspect. 3 wi...

One look at the usual dysfunction of our criminal legal system drew the attention and weight of this driven financier and philanthropist to engage and strategize for the biggest return on investment.  To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.galaxygives.com/ https://lavaforgood.com/righteous-convictions Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom is a production of Lava For Good Podcasts in as...

The is a re-release of Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Season 2, Episode 4. New episodes drop every Tuesday on the Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom feed. Please search and subscribe to be the first to hear them. DeRay McKesson joins Jason to talk about his journey from school administrator to activist. His work with Campaign Zero is bringing real reforms to police departments all over...

On October 11th, 1990, former New Haven, CT alderman Ricardo Turner and his lover were shot dead in their bed. Detective Vincent Raucci knew just who to pin it on, a small-time dealer named Scott Lewis. To make the case, Raucci attempted to extract false testimony from Scott’s friend Stefon Morant. When Stefon refused to go along with the scheme, Raucci pinned the murder on Stefon as well, even th...