On the morning of August 4, 1992, a man and his wife discovered the body of 31-year-old Vernon Huggins while walking their dog in Toledo, OH. He had been savagely beaten to death. Toledo police investigated the crime but after three months, the case was labeled inactive. In December of that same year, the case was reopened after a call was made to Crime Stoppers. The police interviewed members of a gang called the Bishops and one of those gang members implicated Eric Misch in the killing of Huggins. Misch, while being recorded by police, said that Louis Costilla Jr. took part in the killing along with three other young men. He immediately recanted but it was too late. Louis was charged and convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

To learn more and get involved, visit:

https://opd.ohio.gov/law-library/innocence/wrongful-conviction-project

https://www.ohiodefensefirm.com/

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On July 23rd, 1991, Carlos Torres and Charles Rivera were shot and killed while in a car in North Philadelphia, PA. One witness who later recanted identified Pedro Reynoso as the shooter. Despite 2 alibi witnesses, travel documents and pictures showing that Pedro was in the Dominican Republic at the time of the shooting, he was charged, convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

To learn more and get involved, visit:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-pedro-reynoso
https://www.change.org/p/nearly-3-decades-in-prison-for-a-crime-he-couldn-t-have-committed-help-us-demand-justice-and-bring-an-innocent-man-home
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/509-jason-flom-with-manfred-younger/
http://www.pa-criminal-appeals.com/

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing a new show from host Maggie Freleng: Join "Up and Vanished" creator Payne Lindsey and Maggie on Up and Vanished Weekly. Each week, Payne and Maggie, along with special guests, take a fresh look at some of the most puzzling crimes, and shine a spotlight on the cases that have stumped investigators and law enforcement for far too long. From the team at Tenderfoot TV, this is Up and Vanished Weekly.

Up and Vanished Weekly is available now. Follow the show here. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Saturday, June 16, 2007,  Adrien Jackson and Tierra Pressley where shot multiple times outside of the Off Broadway Lounge in Camden, NJ at around 2:30am. Adrien survived but Tierra died at the hospital that same night. Initially, Adrien Jackson could not identify the assailant. But almost a year later, he speculated that Manfred “Baby J” Younger might have been shooter. Despite no physical evidence and based on primarily on tis unreliable eyewitness testimony, Manfred Younger was charged and convicted of murder and sentenced to 78 years in prison.

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One day in May of 1992, 19-year-old Eron Shelman was driving around Detroit, MI with three of his buddies. Eron was at the wheel with his friend Antonio Knight beside him when suddenly, a shot rang out, and Antonio fell over, dead. “I almost crashed the car,” Eron recalls. “I had my dearest friend laying in my lap, bleeding out the back of his head.” Despite someone else confessing to the shooting, Eron was convicted of Antonio’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. 

Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 18, 1995, 38-year-old Denise Raymond, a Federal Express executive, was found dead in her Bronx, NY apartment from two gunshot wounds to the head. Less than 24 hours later,  43-year-old Baithe Diop, a driver for New Harlem Car Service, was fatally shot on a nearby street in what police said was an apparent robbery. Police then found two women who told police that they had heard six young men discussing the murder. Eric Glisson was one of these men; the Bronx Six as they came to be known. Eric was ultimately charged and convicted of second degree murder in the death of Baithe Diop and sentenced to 25 year to life in prison.

To learn more, check out Dan Slepian’s podcast Letters from Sing Sing:

​​https://www.nbcnews.com/letters-from-sing-sing-podcast

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early morning hours of September 14, 1982, a man broke into a home in Newport News, Virginia and beat 30-year-old Jesse Perron to death with a crowbar. Then, over several hours, the attacker sexually assaulted Perron’s 22-year-old wife, Teresa, leaving bite marks during the assaults.

Teresa and Jesse Perron’s home was located near the shipyard where the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was harbored and where Perron worked as a welder. Over several months bite mark impressions were taken from hundreds of sailors on the Carl Vinson. Police had no suspects at that time.

Keith Harward had been among those whose teeth were examined in the immediate aftermath of the investigation, but he had been ruled out as the source of the bitemarks on Teresa by a civilian dental consultant working with the Newport News City medical examiner. When Harward came to court, Teresa was there, but could not identify him as the attacker. 

After police asked Harward to submit to a second procedure to perform bite mark analysis, they determined that Keith’s bite marks matched the ones found on Teresa. Harward was subsequently convicted of capital murder, rape, robbery and burglary and sentenced to life in prison.

To learn more, visit:

https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/388-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-bite-mark-evidence-update/

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 

On August 4, 1991, at a nightclub in New York NY, some teenagers began taunting each other and words escalated to punches. When the teenagers came out of the club prepared for a fight, a man shot and killed16-year-old Raymond Blount.

Police showed mug shots of several men to a group of Blount’s friends who initially identified a former classmate nicknamed “Wool Lou”  as the shooter. After some deliberation, some of the witnesses identified 21-year-old Fernando Bermudez as the shooter. One of the witnesses later made a deal with the prosecution to identify Fernando Bermudez as the gunman in return for not being charged in the case. Fernando, who passed a polygraph examination and presented alibi witnesses in his defense, was charged and convicted with second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. 

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Halloween night in 2012, shots rang out at a party on the campus of the University of Southern California. Four people were injured and no one died. Prosecutors went after 19-year-old Brandon Spencer for the crime. Despite the fact that Brandon had no criminal record and was known for his involvement in sports and community activities, prosecutors claimed he was seeking revenge in a gang feud and charged him with attempted first degree murder. They relied heavily on witness testimony that was later found to be flawed. Yet and still, he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years to life.

To learn more and get involved:

https://www.instagram.com/freebrandonspencer/?hl=en

The Innocence Center

https://theinnocencecenter.org/about-us/

Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since releasing the 500th episode of Wrongful Conviction earlier this month, we thought it appropriate to spotlight some episodes from the very first season of Wrongful Conviction.

On the afternoon of November 4, 1986, the body of an African-American woman was found lying under a blanket near a busy highway in Brooklyn, NY. She had been strangled to death. A witness told Detective Louis Eppolito that he had been jogging on the day of the crime and had seen a white man and a black woman sitting in a gray car parked by the highway. The man said he then watched the white man walk to the passenger side of the car and pull out a body, lay it on the ground and place a blanket over it. Eppolito learned that Barry Gibbs knew the victim and closed in. Barry was charged and convicted of second-degree murder primarily on the testimony of the jogger who later recanted. Jason Flom, Barry Scheck (Co-Founder of The Innocence Project) and Vanessa Potkin (Director of Special Litigation for The Innocence Project) sit down with Barry Gibbs as he details his unfathomable odyssey.

To learn more, visit:

https://innocenceproject.org/cases/barry-gibbs/

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.