Based in Fact

Lisa and Kyle return for Season 2, Episode 10, Notable Supreme Court Cases, Part 1, which includes some of the cases that have been mentioned in the context of state and federal post-conviction litigation for Rodney Reed, Richard Glossip and the West Memphis Three, among others. Today, they talked about cases decided between 1923 and 1984, including Napue, Brady, Gideon v. Wainwright, In Re: Winship, Giglio, Miranda, Furman, Gregg and Strickland. We’ll look briefly at the background of each case, the issues raised by the Petitioners and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Episode 9, Lisa and guest co-host Robb Chadwick took a look at Oklahoma v. Anthony Sanchez . In July, 2004, Sanchez was linked to the December 20, 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of OU graduate Jewell "Juli" Busken via a cold case DNA hit. They discussed the evidence against Sanchez, his trial, direct appeal and state and federal post-conviction claims, including his recent actual innocence claim, pointing the finger at his deceased father, Thomas Glen Sanchez, who allegedly began confessing to the murder in July, 2020 and continued making inculpatory statement until his April, 2022 suicide.

Lisa and Kyle continue their review of the case against Richard Glossip, who was convicted of the 1997 murder-for-hire of his boss, Barry Van Treese.  In Part 2, they talked about the 2022 propaganda campaign being waged by his advocates in the media and his 2022 state post-conviction claims.  They continued their discussion of the two writs currently pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, the result of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s “independent” investigation that we learned was directed by Reed Smith and, by extension, Don Knight and the disposition of Glossip’s 2023 state post-conviction application, the shenanigans involved in that process, Glossip’s clemency hearing and his challenge to those proceedings in the Oklahoma County district court. Finally, they talked about Glossip’s 2nd writ pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Episode 7, Oklahoma v. Richard Glossip: Update, Part 1, Kyle and Lisa talked about Glossip’s state post-conviction claims, including his 2015 claims and the 1st and 2nd claims filed in 2022, including the supplemental findings of Reed Smith.

In Episode 6, Lisa and Kyle talk about State of Texas v. Rodney Reed, including Reed's state court litigation seeking DNA testing, the agreed DNA testing outside Chapter 64 and the results and Reed's federal challenge to the state court DNA procedures, which included U.S. Supreme Court opinion that returned Reed’s challenge to Texas’ DNA testing statute to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. They also talked about what that development really means and the DNA evidence underlying Reed's conviction for the murder of Stacey Stites.

In Episode 5, Lisa and Kyle look at the case of State of North Carolina v. Molly Martens Corbett and Thomas Michael Martens. Martens, a former FBI agent, and his daughter are awaiting re-trial for murder in North Carolina. In the early morning hours of August 2, 2015, Molly's husband, Jason Corbett was beaten to death with a paver wielded by his wife and a child's bat wielded by his father-in-law, Martens. Their self-defense claims were quickly rejected by investigators, who presented the case to a grand jury that indicted the pair for 2nd Degree Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter. Kyle and Lisa talk about the evidence against Molly and Martens, their initial trial and state appellate claims and the appellate court decisions that granted their new trial requests.

In Part 3, Lisa and Kyle conclude their discussion of the 1994 murder-for-hire of Farah Baquer Fratta, a mother of three gunned down in her garage in Humble, Harris County, Texas. In Parts 1 and 2, they talked about the case against Farah’s estranged husband, Robert Fratta, who was executed on January 10, 2023 and Joseph Prystash, a felon and gym rat who acted as Fratta’s middleman. In this episode, they talk about the case against Howard Paul Guidry, the trigger man. They talk about the case against Guidry, his first trial and conviction, which was vacated by a federal judge in September 2003, his re-trial, direct appeal and state and federal post-conviction claims, which concluded with the denial of Guidry’s petition to the United States Supreme Court in 2022.

In Part 2, Lisa and Kyle continue discussing the 1994 murder-for-hire of Farah Baquer Fratta, a mother of three gunned down in her garage in Humble, Harris County, Texas. In Part 1, they talked about the the case against Farah’s estranged husband, Robert Fratta, who was executed on January 10, 2023. In Part 2, they look at the case against the middleman, Joseph Prystash, a felon and gym rat with Fratta at the President and First Lady Health Club in Harris County. They talk about the evidence against Prystash, his capital murder conviction, direct appeals and state and federal post-conviction claims.

In Part 2, Lisa and Kyle continue discussing the 1994 murder-for-hire of Farah Baquer Fratta, a mother of three gunned down in her garage in Humble, Harris County, Texas. In Part 1, they talked about the the case against Farah’s estranged husband, Robert Fratta, who was executed on January 10, 2023. In Part 2, they look at the case against the middleman, Joseph Prystash, a felon and gym rat with Fratta at the President and First Lady Health Club in Harris County. They talk about the evidence against Prystash, his capital murder conviction, direct appeals and state and federal post-conviction claims.

In Part 1, Lisa and Kyle talked about the 1994 murder-for-hire of Farah Baquer Fratta, a mother of three gunned down in her garage in Humble, Harris County, Texas. In Part 1, State of Texas v. Robert Alan Fratta, they examined the case against Farah’s estranged husband. They talked about the evidence against Fratta and his initial conviction, as well as his 2009 re-trial, direct appeals and state and federal post-conviction claims. Finally, they talked about the last-minute claims made in an unsuccessful effort to stop his execution on January 10, 2023.