This is a re-release of an episode that originally aired on October 2, 2019.

In 2006, 16 year old Wisconsin special education student Brendan Dassey gave a videotaped confession to the murder of a young woman named Teresa Halbach.  Brendan recanted his confession immediately, but was still convicted and sentenced to life in prison even though there was no evidence connecting him to the crime and the confession is widely recognized as false and coerced. In this episode, Laura Nirider, acclaimed attorney and host of Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions, arranges Brendan Dassey's only interview from behind bars with Jason Flom. Listen in as Laura and Jason dissect the false confession to the crime that is the subject of the Netflix hit Making a Murderer.

https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On November 6th, 1991, William Catlett was shot and killed on a street corner in West Philadelphia. Nearly all eyewitnesses identified a man named Edward “P-nut” Johnson as the shooter; however, instead of following those leads, investigators coerced a man named Shawn Stevenson to blame Catlett’s friend, Eric Riddick. Eric was told about Stevenson’s 1999 recantation four years late in 2003, when he was procedurally barred from using it. It took the support of Meek Mill, NBC'S Dan Slepian, Georgetown’s “Making an Exoneree,” Philadelphia Councilman David, Oh, and the election of Larry Krasner as DA for justice to finally be served in May 2021.

Learn more and get involved at: 

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

19 year old Anthony Klann was stabbed to death in Cleveland, Ohio in September of 1988. Two men who had a lot to gain worked with detectives to spin a narrative, claiming two other men, Joe D'Ambrosio and Michael Keenan, committed the murder on September 22nd; however, Anthony Klann was still very much alive the following night.

Learn more and get involved at: 
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/urge-governor-dewine-to-end-executions-in-ohio
https://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3 Chicago teenagers went to a party at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where embarrassment turned a consensual encounter into a far-fetched gang rape accusation wrapped up in well-worn racist tropes. Three radically different outcomes for each young man only served to underscore the absurdity of this tragic failure of our justice system.

Jarrett Adams’ book Redeeming Justice: 

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anthony Sims is going into the 24th year of a 25 to life sentence based on a narrative constructed by his former friend Julius Graves. The only witness that was neither a friend nor family member of Graves continues to tell the story of Anthony’s innocence (and Graves’s guilt) to this day.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes when detectives can't get a confession they'll settle for a something else

Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin explore the story of Emerson Stevens, a fisherman from Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. When a young mother was found murdered, it seemed all the evidence pointed to Emerson, until the case fell apart when a key witness was convicted of lying about the case and a forensic test technique was debunked and discredited.

Since the initial release of this episode, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam heard our voices, reviewed the case, and issued a pardon based on actual innocence. Emerson Stevens is finally free. 

Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Learn more and get involved at https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/false-confessions

A portion of this podcast series’ proceeds will be donated to the Center on Wrongful Convictions. To donate, learn more, or get involved, go to http://www.centeronwrongfulconvictions.org/

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In this live audience recording at ComplexCon Chicago 2019, Patrick Pursley tells us how a purposely false identification, a coerced and immediately recanted false statement, and false expert testimony led to his wrongful conviction. Amazingly, Patrick Pursley changed a law from inside prison in order to obtain the ballistic testing necessary to set himself free. His fight continues on the outside for his Certificate of Actual Innocence, as the state refuses to admit what is clearly true. His hearing is set for August 27th, 2021.

Learn more and get involved at: 
https://www.iamkidculture.org/
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On July 28th, 1999, Julius Jones was playing monopoly with his family and soon to be a sophomore on an academic scholarship at the University of Oklahoma. That night, a man named Paul Howell was shot for his GMC Suburban in the nearby suburb of Edmund, Oklahoma. A few days later, Julius was awakened and dragged out of bed, barefoot and shirtless, and taken into police custody as a murder suspect even though the eyewitness description should have excluded him as a suspect. 

3 witnesses (and counting) have come forward with sworn affidavits claiming that Julius’ former friend and co-defendant Chris Jordan has often taken responsibility for Paul Howell’s murder - while Julius awaits lethal injection. 

Julius’ attorney Dale Baich, his mother and sister, Madeline and Antoinette Jones, as well as special guest Kim Kardashian join Jason Flom to discuss Julius’ case and the race to right this wrong before it's too late. 

Learn more and get involved at: 
https://www.justiceforjuliusjones.com/
https://www.change.org/p/julius-jones-is-innocent-don-t-let-him-be-executed-by-the-state-of-oklahoma
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/podcast/s12e64-wrongful-conviction-with-jason-flom-richard-glossip
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an updated episode that originally aired on September 14, 2020.

In June 1986, Kevin Dykes witnessed the attempted murder of 2 people and the actual murder of a 3rd person in his neighborhood in Compton, CA. Kevin decided to go to the police, partly out of fear of reprisals by the killers who knew he witnessed the murder. The prosecutors then used his knowledge of the crimes that he witnessed against him and charged him with all 3 crimes.

Learn more and get involved at: 

Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1 and PRX.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James King has been sitting in prison for almost 25 years for a rape that he adamantly maintains he did not commit. His conviction strongly relied on the inconsistent and contradictory word of a then 13-year old girl who was allegedly hiding her inappropriate relationship with a neighbor twice her age. Despite the lack of material evidence, changed testimonies for the prosecution, and the credible rebuttal of the state’s expert’s absurd findings, King remains incarcerated, desperately working to establish his innocence.

Learn more and get involved at: 
https://www.change.org/p/gavin-newsom-free-james-eddie-king
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.