When a young scrap-metal thief named Korey Kauffman vanishes, local police do not immediately show great interest. Then a parolee named Big Mike Cooley tells a story that gets their attention: Kauffman was last seen venturing onto Frank Carson’s property to steal some pipes. Authorities confront Carson and work to build a case against him.

If you like podcasts like Dirty John, Detective Trapp and The Trials of Frank Carson, subscribe to the L.A. Times. Subscribers will get exclusive bonus episodes of The Trials of Frank Carson that share the story behind this podcast. We will share interviews with experts who will weigh in on the case and play extra tape that sheds light on important parts of our story. Subscribe today to listen. Go to latimes.com/exclusive-podcasts. Thanks!

Introducing Frank Carson, Stanislaus County’s most controversial defense attorney, famous for his high-profile courtroom victories and take-no-prisoners style. A longtime nemesis of local law enforcement, he is representing homicide defendants in the very courthouse where he is on trial for murder himself. 

If you like podcasts like Dirty John, Detective Trapp and The Trials of Frank Carson, subscribe to the L.A. Times. Subscribers will get exclusive bonus episodes of The Trials of Frank Carson that share the story behind this podcast. We will share interviews with experts who will weigh in on the case and play extra tape that sheds light on important parts of our story. Subscribe today to listen. Go to latimes.com/exclusive-podcasts. Thanks!

From Christopher Goffard, the Los Angeles Times reporter and host behind the hit podcasts Dirty John and Detective Trapp, comes a new eight-episode true crime podcast, The Trials of Frank Carson. The Trials of Frank Carson is a story of power, politics and the law in California’s Central Valley. Frank Carson was Stanislaus County’s most controversial defense attorney, a wizard with juries and a courtroom brawler with an unapologetically caustic style. He racked up legal wins for decades. He was the terror of police and prosecutors, often accusing them personally of corruption. When a small-time thief disappeared, police — some of them Carson’s longtime adversaries — launched a massive investigation into a spectral underworld of street hustlers, junkies and snitches. Carson was charged with murder, accused of masterminding a conspiracy. It would be one of the longest criminal trials in California history, with the flinty veteran of so many courtroom wars on trial for his life.