Wrongful Conviction
Hosted by celebrated criminal justice reform advocate and founding board member of the Innocence Project Jason Flom, Pulitzer prize-winning podcast host and producer Maggie Freleng, and Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and podcast host Lauren Bright Pacheco, Wrongful Conviction features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they maintain they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others continue to languish, with some even facing execution on death row. Each episode peels back the layers behind the stories of those who have found themselves caught in a legal system gone wrong, with illuminating insights from lawyers and leading experts sharing their in-depth knowledge about each case, from prison visits and courtroom battles to reexamined crime scenes and witness interviews. This gripping series reveals the tragedy of injustice…as well as the triumph that is possible when people step up and demand change.
Episodes
Early on the morning of January 18, 1989, a security guard found the body of Michael Francke lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the North Portico of the Dome Building of Oregon State Hospital in Salem, OR. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a stab wound to the heart. Michael Francke - who had a background as a military man, former prosecutor and judge, and then head of the New Mexico Dept. of Corrections where he ro...
In the early morning hours of July 14, 2004, 19 year-old Adrian Payan and 18 year-old Emerson Bojorquez were ambushed at a nightclub in Houston, TX. A man named Jason Wooley fired the first shot of the shootout, and a man waited outside in a Cadillac, wearing a blue shirt and firing shots from an assault rifle. Bojorquez was killed, but Payan survived. Witnesses noted the Cadillac’s license plate number and police traced it t...
On July 9, 2006, at Club Crystal in Waterloo, IA, an individual later identified as Tonye Jackson was shot multiple times and killed on the property. The shooting occurred during active nightclub hours, with multiple patrons present at the scene. Three gunshots along with Jeff Smith’s nickname were audible on a recorded Black Hawk County Jail phone call contemporaneous with the incident. After a trial lacking physical evidenc...
On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winn...
In August 1987, the body of 44-year-old single mother of two, Sandra Lison, was found in the Machickanee Forest in Green Bay, WI. She went missing from her bar the night prior. An autopsy showed that she was strangled and evidence suggested she was raped. Investigators interviewed the bar’s patrons, including brothers, 32-year-old David Bintz and 31-year-old Robert Bintz. No evidence suggested their, or anyone else’s in...
On November 22, 1975, a mother reported her three-year-old son missing after seeing him roaming in the vicinity of a wooded area behind their apartment complex in Richmond, VA. His body was found in the river nine miles from his home four days later. The murder garnered tremendous media attention and public outrage, yet the police failed to find a lead or suspect. 20-year-old Marvin Grimm Jr. lived across the hall from the family a...
On March 14, 1998, 16-year-old Benjamin Urias was shot in the Pico-Union neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. The shot was not fatal, but Urias was hospitalized for two days. Urius was member of the 18th Street Gang, and told investigators that the shooter walked with a limp and shouted “Burlington Locos,” the name of another Los Angeles gang. Four days before the shooting, Oscar Eagle turned 18 years old. And two days befo...
Six 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.
Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco will be available every Thursday beginning November 13 wherever you ge...
Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco is back November 13th with all new episodes. So today, we’re revisiting one of the most memorable episode from her last season, episode #454, James Soto:James “Jimmy” Soto was wrongfully convicted at age 20 for a 1981 double homicide in Chicago’s Little Village despite no physical evidence and multiple al...
On September 19, 1988, drug dealer Richard Valdez and his pregnant girlfriend Sharon Condon were shot in their house near Scottsbluff, NE. Police quickly focused on Jeff Boppre based on a purported “dying declaration” that Valdez, after being shot multiple times, wrote parts of Boppre’s name in engine grease on the ground next to him. The investigation was built against Boppre and he was convicted of two counts of...
On December 5th, 1984, the naked body of Theresa Fusco was pulled out of a wooded area in Lynbrook, NY - the 3rd in a string of recent disappearances, putting pressure on police to find the monster among them. The medical examiner determined that a rape lkely occurred and the cause of death was ligature strangulation. Dennis Halstead had been linked to one of the victims, and in a police interview about Halstead, John Restivo inadv...
On October 15, 2015, Quortney Tolliver was attacked with a hammer in her home in Ravenna Township, OH. She woke up from a medically induced coma weeks later with absolutely no recollection of the incident. Nevertheless, Portage County detectives pressed her to identify the person they “found out who did this” – 47 year old David Smith. Ms. Tolliver refused to identify Mr. Smith until she faced her own charges and ...
On May 21, 1988, about 5:00 a.m., the victim, after an argument with her boyfriend, left his parked car and walked alone toward her home in St. Louis, MO. Shortly thereafter, three males pulled their car alongside her, jumped out of the car, grabbed the victim by the hair, pulled her into an alley, pushed her to the ground, and tore her dress. Two of the men held her down, while the third man sodomized and raped her. The vict...
Jason Flom sits down for an interview with Maggie Freleng, the Pulitzer prize-winning producer, journalist and host of Bone Valley Season 3 | Graves County. In this special episode, Maggie talks with Jason about her experiences reporting this show from a small town in Kentucky for over 2 years, and how truth and justice can get lost in the pursuit of retribution.
Graves County is out now in the Bone Valley feed. New episodes are av...
On April 9, 1997, shortly after midnight in Buffalo, NY, Officers Charles “Skip” McDougald and Michael Martinez were patrolling near Northampton and East Parade in Buffalo’s East Side when they observed what they described as a “suspicious person.” According to police accounts, when they approached, the individual produced a handgun and fired. Officer McDougald was struck in the chest and fatally wound...
Maggie Freleng, along with Executive Producers Gilbert King and Jason Flom bring you the first episode of Maggie’s new documentary series, years in the making: Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY.
In it Maggie takes us to a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, where a terrible discovery on the front lawn of a middle school invites a string of amateur and professional investigators to try to solve a murder. Maggie is ...
On the night of February 4, 2011, Avalisa Morris was shot and killed at a birthday party in the basement of a two-family home in Queens, NY. The fatal gunshots were fired from outside the party, through the closed door of the entrance to the basement. Even though no eyewitnesses placed Allen at the door with a weapon, he was tried under an acting-in-concert theory, and convicted of second‑degree manslaughter and related firearms ch...
In Season 1 of Bone Valley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King tells a story of a man, Leo Schofield, fighting to prove his innocence in the case of his wife Michelle’s murder.
In Season 2, “JEREMY” Gilbert King brings us a story about her actual killer, Jeremy Scott, fighting to prove his guilt. The State of Florida does not believe either man.
Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY is a new story about a n...
18-year-old Jessica Currin’s burned and decomposing body was discovered on August 1, 2000 behind Mayfield Middle School in Mayfield, KY. Jessica had lacerations on the back of her head, nose and chin, and stab wounds. The medical examiner also believed she had been strangled but there was no evidence to support this theory. The case went cold for a few years, until a couple of supposed eyewitnesses came forward, motivated by ...
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the US found itself wrapped up in the “Satanic Panic” - a general state of fear revolving around Satanism and satanic ritual, real or imagined. On May 5th, 1993, in West Memphis, AR, three 8-year-old boys—Steven Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing. Their lifeless bodies were found the following day in a Robin Hood Hills creek, naked ...
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The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden 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. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
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Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom