Examined: The Backfire Effect

Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee are the hosts of a podcast called Murder Sheet. They have been releasing episodes on the conviction of Temujin Kensu. But they do not believe he is innocent. Josie Duffy Rice tries to find out why.

If you are interested in further reading, here are books written by people featured in this series: 

• The Man No One Believed The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders by Joshua Sharpe 
• Our Friend, Temujin: The Wrongful Conviction of Temujin Kensu by Joy Marie Mann
• Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland by Áine Cain Kevin Greenlee.

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For Temujin Kensu to have a chance at leaving prison, his legal team would have to convince courts that another person killed Scott Macklem. There are theories pointing to at least three suspects. Can any new evidence emerge after so many decades? And what does it do to the criminal legal system when it insists on punishment at any cost?

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Note: This episode contains descriptions of rape and sexual assault.

With his state and federal appeals almost exhausted, Temujin Kensu turns to the work of private investigators like Herb Welser, who’ve managed to uncover new evidence in his case. But the law still has a problem with Temujin, a problem that concerns not whether he's innocent, but whether he’s good.

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or at ⁠Pushkin.fm/plus⁠. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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The trial of Temujin Kensu had happened quickly, just six months from arrest to verdict. What came next was unbearably slow. And with every year that passed, his odds of getting out of prison would go down. But then, one judge decided to rule in his favor. Was this his chance? 

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or at ⁠Pushkin.fm/plus⁠. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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At trial, Temujin Kensu’s defense is simple — he was across the state when the crime occurred. In court, he brings multiple witnesses to testify that they saw him in the Upper Peninsula, more than 400 miles from Port Huron. But then prosecutor Robert Cleland pulls an unusual Hail Mary.

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or at ⁠Pushkin.fm/plus⁠. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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In November 1986, Robert Cleland was the head prosecutor in St. Clair County, Michigan. The morning after Cleland lost a statewide race for Attorney General, Scott Macklem was murdered. Cleland decided to prosecute the case himself, depicting the defendant as a dangerous ninja out for revenge.

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ or at ⁠Pushkin.fm/plus⁠. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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Temujin Kensu spent much of his youth wandering, mainly in his home state of Michigan. In 1986 he and his then-fiancée moved to a cabin outside Port Huron, where he briefly dated someone else. A few weeks later, he and his fiancée moved again, more than 400 miles away, to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He says he was there on November 5, 1986. But that didn’t stop police from accusing him of a murder he said he could never have committed.

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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On the morning of November 5th, 1986, students at a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, heard the sound of what many thought was a car backfiring. It was a gunshot, and it killed a student named Scott Macklem. The murder would leave the community shocked, and police baffled. Until they found a suspect: a young man who lived across the state.

You can hear the entire season of Examined: The Backfire Effect, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

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In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Eight days later, a suspect was arrested. But now, almost 40 years later, reporter Josie Duffy Rice is re-examining this case. Has the wrong man been in prison this whole time?

New episodes drop September 14. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season, ad-free. Find Pushkin+ on the Examined show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

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Lost Hills has been quiet for a bit, so we've decided to do something different: turn this feed into a home for a new kind of story, told fresh each season. Starting this fall, this feed becomes Examined — a show about overlooked cases that never got the real investigation they deserved and need to be unpacked. These are stories about crime, punishment, and the people caught inside the criminal legal system. Every season, a new host will dig into one of these stories with the kind of in-depth reporting you’ve always heard in this feed. First up: Examined: The Backfire Effect, coming September 14, a story of police misconduct and prosecutorial zeal, and about a very complicated man.

Don't worry — previous episodes of Lost Hills will still stay on this feed so you can return to them at any time. One last thing: we want to hear from you. What overlooked cases have stuck with you — the ones you think about, the ones nobody's really told right? Email us at [email protected]. Thanks for staying with us.

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