Showing results for "Wrongfully Convicted" in All Categories

The Wrongfully Convicted series consists of stories that highlight the justice system failing many due to prejudice, racism, false confessions and more. In this series, we discuss the many people who have been arrested, tried and sentenced but have done nothing wrong and were later exonerated in the court of law!

Created by 9th grade students at Benjamin Franklin High School for Finance & Information Technology @ Campus Magnet, this podcast series explores the real-life stories of people who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated. Through research, reflection, and storytelling, students break down each case—from who these individuals were before their arrests to what went wrong in the justice system. Told in their own voices, each episode challenges us to think critically about fairness, truth, and who gets heard. These aren’t just stories from the past—these are lessons for today. This ...

In 1945, Erle Stanley Gardner, noted attorney and author of the popular Perry Mason mysteries, was contacted by an overwhelmed California public defender who believed his doomed client was innocent. William Marvin Lindley had been convicted of the rape and murder of a young girl along the banks of the Yuba River, and was awaiting execution at San Quentin. After reviewing the case, Gardner agreed to help - it seemed the fate of the "Red-Headed Killer" hinged on the testimony of a colorblind witness.

At 5:40 a.m. on July 4, 1954, the mayor of Bay Village, a small suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, received a frantic phone call from his neighbor Dr. Sam Sheppard. The news was too terrible to comprehend: Marilyn, Sam's lovely wife, was dead, her face and torso beaten beyond recognition by an unknown assailant who had knocked Sam unconscious and escaped just before dawn. In the adjacent bedroom, Chip, the Sheppards' seven-year-old son, had slept through the entire ordeal. Almost immediately, the police began to suspect Sam Sheppard.