Wrongful Conviction

In 2009, Michelle Morrison was convicted on a felony murder charge along with aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, and conspiracy over a 2007 shooting that left a man dead. Not only did Michelle not fire the weapon that took the man’s life, but she never even set foot in the house where the shooting occurred. In fact, she didn’t even get out of the car. And yet, Michelle Morrison, at the age of 26, was sent...

On August 6, 1993, Devon “Dog” Brown and Raymondo “Ray” Frazier exited a bodega in Brooklyn, NY, when at least two people fired a slew of bullets from a passing car. Ray was shot in his legs and survived, while Devon was killed. 911 calls came in around 3:03pm describing 2-3 young black men in a Buick Century - a drive by shooting. Primarily on the strength of three questionable eyewitness identifications, Frederick was arrested an...

Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco. Ten new, inspiring episodes of Wrongful Conviction, hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco, that celebrate the potential of human connection to empower ordinary people to overcome extraordinary odds and injustices. Real individuals who unexpectedly became one another’s personal heroes by turning tragedy into triumph.

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On April 28, 2001, two men attacked a woman as she returned home in Cleveland Heights, OH. The men sexually assaulted her and then left with various items, including her cell phone. In the following days, police traced the cell phone to 24-year-old Chris Miller. Chris said that he had just bought the cell phone from someone else, but despite no forensic evidence tying Chris to the crime, the victim identified him out of a photo lin...

On the evening of June 7, 2011, police responded to a shooting at a gas station in Chicago, IL, and found one victim dead and another wounded. Relying on various conflicting statements from eyewitnesses, and questionable incoming tips, police focused on 18-year-old Darien Harris as their main suspect. Some eyewitnesses identified Darien in a photo line-up while others did not. Nevertheless Darien was sentenced to 76 years in prison...

In season three of Ozarks True Crime, host Anne Roderique-Jones returns to her home state of Missouri to report on the case of Sandra Hemme: a person living with mental illness who could soon become the longest-known wrongfully convicted woman in the United States. Anne speaks with journalists, lawyers, and mental health professionals to try and uncover why Sandra was found guilty of a murder, despite no solid evidence that she com...

A fire erupted in the basement of an apartment building in Pittsburgh, PA, on January 17, 1993, killing three people. Arson officials believed the fire was set purposefully, but the case went cold for 13 years. Dan Carnevale was arrested for the fire in 2006 based on the questionable testimony of a man claiming to be an eyewitness. All of the physical evidence in this case had been destroyed so the case against Dan relied solely on...

In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname.

Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers (who all say they are innocent!) turned jailhouse-lawyers. In prison they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away. They set out to turn the tables on Scarcella while...

On March 8, 2016, Officer Nicholas Blake became suspicious of two vehicles traveling together on Interstate 70 toward Manhattan, KS due to their appearance and registration inconsistencies. He suspected they were involved in drug trafficking, with one acting as a decoy. Following a series of stops and surveillances by multiple law enforcement officers, a considerable amount of marijuana and methamphetamine was found in one of the v...

Authorities believe Rafael Martinez, his brothers Lorenzo Martinez, Daniel Martinez and Isidoro Medina-DeLeon killed Jose ‘Chino’ Jiminez because Mr. Jiminez shot Mr. Martinez in 1987 in Washington Heights, NY. However, Mr. Jiminez was never killed and is in fact alive and well to this day. Nevertheless, Rafael was convicted of murder and is presently serving consecutive sentences totaling 213 years.

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The second season of PROOF: Murder at the Warehouse takes Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis to Manteca, CA where they reinvestigate the murder of 18-year-old Renee Ramos. On June 5, 2000, Ramos’ body was found buried under a pile of debris inside the shell of a new Home Depot building. Despite tips hinting at alternate suspects - tips that were ignored until now - Renee’s boyfriend, 18-year-old skateboarder Jake Silva, and Ty Lopes, ...

On December 21, 2002, 17-year-old Brian Carrick, a stock boy at Val’s Foods, a grocery store in Johnsburg, IL, was reported missing by his mother. Police determined that one of the last sightings of Carrick was a day earlier, on December 20, when he went to the store to pick up his paycheck. On December 22, police found blood spatter near a cooler used to store produce and a bloody fingerprint on the cooler’s exterior door handle. ...

In the early morning hours of June 15, 1979, 17-year-old Amer Zada’s truck stalled out near the waterfront in Nyack, NY. While he waited for a ride, Amer discovered the body of Shirley Smith behind a dumpster in a restaurant parking lot. Minutes later, police arrived on the scene. Amer was thrown into the cruiser, arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. Evidence proving his innocence was never turned over to his trial ...

On March 14, 1998, Anthony Galati was found murdered along the side of a road in Rancho Cordova, CA. The case went cold until October 1999, when Israel Septs, an inmate in a California prison, told police that he witnessed the crime. Septs claimed that 23-year-old Jeremy Puckett and 18-year-old Angela Dvorsky killed Galati after they robbed him. Despite having an alibi and no physical evidence linking him to the crime, Jeremy was s...

On the morning of February 19th, 2022, Cassandra Black Elk awoke to find her three-week-old daughter StarLight lifeless beside her. Police insisted the baby had died due to Shaken Baby Syndrome - and that Cassandra was responsible. “They were telling me their story,” Cassandra remembers, “that somebody did something to StarLight…somebody killed her.” Cassandra knew she hadn’t hurt her baby. She asked her lawyer repeatedly - what do...

Two gunmen robbed a liquor store in Edmond, OK, on December 30, 1974. The gunmen fatally shot an employee and left an eyewitness injured. At this time, police were also investigating a series of unrelated crimes and brought 22-year-old Glynn Simmons and his co-defendant in for questioning due to a tangential connection to the suspects in the other crimes. Glynn was put into various lineups and charged with the liquor store crime de...

On March 30th, 2005, police were called to a home in New Orleans, LA. There, they found Renaldo Curley dead of a single gunshot wound. His estranged wife, 32-year-old Catina Curley, told police that she was in fear for her life when she shot Renaldo in self-defense. Police evidence - and the testimony of their children - showed that Renaldo had been physically abusing Catina for years. Yet, she was convicted of second-degree murder...