Episode 9: "The Final Appeal" – Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files

In the powerful finale of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, Roger Warstone hands the torch to a formidable new legal team—and watches as The Client’s fight for freedom ascends to the highest court in the land.

After exposing coerced testimony, mismatched ballistics, and a pattern of police misconduct, Roger’s on-the-ground detective work becomes the foundation for a historic appeal. With the unwavering support of a determined pastor and a brilliant attorney who tracks systemic corruption like a forensic map, the case rockets through Pennsylvania’s appellate courts—and against all odds, lands before the United States Supreme Court.

Only 1% of petitions are accepted by the Court. This one made the cut. Now, as briefs are filed and oral arguments loom, the nation waits in silence for a decision that could not only free an innocent man—but expose a dangerous flaw in America’s justice system.

This isn’t just about one conviction. It’s about truth, accountability, and what happens when ordinary people refuse to look away.

As Roger reflects on his role in this journey—and prepares to share his own story of military injustice in the next chapter—he leaves listeners with a challenge: If you see injustice, will you act?

The gavel hasn’t fallen yet. But the final appeal has been made. And history is watching.

Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files

In the final episode of this season, “The Witness Locked Up,” host and private investigator dives deep into his last and most crucial task: interviewing "Victim 2," the very man whose testimony helped convict his client. This person is now also incarcerated, serving a murder charge, but a face-to-face meeting with him is the last piece of the puzzle needed to prove his client's innocence.

For months, the host has been meticulously dismantling the prosecution’s case, exposing every lie and inconsistency—from the flimsy alibi of the key witness to the scientifically impossible bullet timeline. Now, with the new evidence in hand, the host has to go see the only witness who can provide the definitive proof to exonerate his client.

Join the host as he recounts the high-stakes journey and reveals the shocking truth that was hidden from the beginning. With the final piece of evidence now secured, the case is handed over to a new legal team, but the fight for freedom is just beginning. This episode is not just about a case; it's a testament to hope, perseverance, and the belief that the truth, no matter how deeply buried, will always find its way to the surface.

In this episode of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, the investigation shifts from auditing the past to fighting for the future. I meet with the pastor and a new lawyer to present my findings. We expose the scientific impossibilities of the prosecution’s case—a contact wound that doesn't match the alleged gun and a bullet that doesn't match the caliber. With a new legal team now armed with undeniable evidence, our fight for justice officially begins.

n this episode of Locked Up, host Roger Warstone recounts the most disheartening moment of the case: the jury's verdict. Despite overwhelming physical and forensic evidence pointing to The Client's innocence, the jury ignored the facts and delivered a guilty verdict, sentencing a man to life in prison. The episode details the prosecution's desperate and emotionally-driven closing arguments, which focused on unreliable witness testimony rather than evidence.

Warstone describes how the jury’s short deliberation wasn't based on the facts on paper but on their perceptions and biases about The Client's character and environment. He explains that they saw a man who admitted to being at a chaotic scene with a gun and concluded that was "guilty enough."

The episode takes a sharp turn as Warstone reveals two crucial pieces of new evidence he uncovered in the case files: a letter from the key witness, JW, confessing that he lied in his testimony, and a forensic detail about the bullet found in the victim's lung. Warstone discovered that the bullet's weight was inconsistent with the .40 caliber gun the police claimed was the murder weapon, suggesting a different firearm entirely. This newly discovered evidence, buried in the appeal documents, gives The Client a new chance at justice. The episode closes with Warstone's determination to build a new team and present his findings to a pastor and a new lawyer, setting the stage for the next phase of the fight.

In this episode of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, we open the court transcripts and go inside the courtroom. As a detective, I’ve already exposed the lies and impossibilities in the police investigation. Now, we'll see how the prosecution convinced a jury with a case built on nothing but a story. The evidence was there, but it was never shown. This is how a wrongful conviction happens in plain sight.

In this episode, we follow the one piece of evidence that can't lie: the victim’s body. We go inside the autopsy report of Victim 1, the deceased, to find the answers no witness would give. But the truth is also found in the smallest details, like the bullet fragment a mother recovered from her surviving son, Victim 3. What does the forensic evidence—from the specific wounds on the deceased to the fragment recovered from the other victim—tell us about the nature and direction of the attack? We examine why this critical physical information was buried by the police and prosecution because it didn't fit their narrative. We look for the truth that no witness ever spoke.

In this episode, we follow the physical evidence—or the lack of it—that should have been central to the case. We dig into the story of the alleged murder weapon, a gun that was reportedly stolen six days after the shooting. We examine the police’s failed attempt to connect it to the crime through a bullet fragment given to them by a victim’s mother. The entire narrative of the crime, built on contradictory witness statements and a flawed timeline, starts to unravel. We show how a case can be built on a foundation of contradictions and a lack of forensic evidence, and how a man can be convicted when the most important piece of the puzzle is missing.

In Episode 1, we looked at the crime scene, the vehicle, the victims, and the arrest.

Now, in Episode 2: The Story That Didn’t Add Up — I’ll show you how the prosecution built its case on a single witness… whose story contradicts the evidence, the timeline, and even the reality of North Philly street life.

This is Locked Up. Let’s begin.”

On December 24, 2003, at 11:32 PM, a shooting occurred at 2100 N Franklin Street in North Philadelphia. Three men were shot — one fatally. They arrived at Temple Hospital in a silver Oldsmobile Alero, its passenger-side windows shattered, the interior stained with blood.

No gun was recovered.

No forensic evidence linked anyone to the scene.

Yet one man — known only as “The Client” — was charged with murder, based almost entirely on the testimony of a close friend who claimed he was the shooter.

In this episode, a former Military Police Officer turned private investigator takes on the case. With 20 years of law enforcement experience, a Bachelor’s in Business, and an MBA, he doesn’t start with surveillance or assumptions — he starts with the file.

He reviews the discovery packet, court transcripts, and police reports — and begins to uncover serious gaps:

- A crime scene with shell casings and glass, but no trajectory analysis

- A vehicle preserved but never tied to The Client

- A victim who died from a gunshot to the back, found nude upon arrival at the hospital

- And a case built on one uncorroborated story

This is Episode 1: The Truth Is in the File — the beginning of a 9-part investigation into whether justice was served… or simply closed.