Episode 23: The Lawmas Book Club: Framed: Inside the Shocking Norfolk Four & Ellen Reasonover Cases

In this first book club episode, hosts Lauren and Lacey discuss two cases from John Grisham's book "Framed." The book examines wrongful convictions, jailhouse informants and the failures of the justice system.

Lauren covers the Norfolk Four case, where multiple military men were wrongfully convicted of a rape and murder despite DNA evidence only matching one person. The police continuously added suspects to their theory when DNA didn't match, eventually claiming seven men were involved in what they called a "gang rape" despite physical evidence only pointing to one perpetrator. The real perpetrator, Omar Ballard, even confessed, but authorities maintained their flawed theory. Four innocent men spent 10-15 years in prison before receiving conditional pardons from Governor Tim Kane.

Lacy discusses the Ellen Reasonover case, where a single mother was wrongfully convicted of murdering a store clerk based solely on testimony from jailhouse informants with long criminal histories who received deals for their testimony. Ellen had initially come forward as a witness after seeing suspicious individuals near the store. The prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence—recordings of Ellen maintaining her innocence—violating Brady disclosure requirements. Ellen was eventually exonerated but missed her daughter's entire childhood, from age 2 to 18.

Both cases highlight serious issues in the criminal justice system: tunnel vision by investigators, Brady violations, the unreliability of jailhouse informants, coercive interrogation tactics, and potential racial bias. This is the first of a multi-part series of the book. Email the Lawmas at [e-mail] if you have questions or comments! Subscribe, follow, like, share and review us!

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