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Lava for Good Podcasts


Hosted by celebrated criminal justice reform advocate and founding board member of the Innocence Project Jason Flom, Pulitzer prize-winning podcast host and producer Maggie Freleng, and Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, and podcast host Lauren Bright Pacheco, Wrongful Conviction features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they maintain they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others continue to languish, with some even facing execution on death row. Each episode peels back the layers behind the stories of those who have found themselves caught in a legal system gone wrong, with illuminating insights from lawyers and leading experts sharing their in-depth knowledge about each case, from prison visits and courtroom battles to reexamined crime scenes and witness interviews. This gripping series reveals the tragedy of injustice…as well as the triumph that is possible when people step up and demand change.


Wrongful Conviction

On December 5th, 1984, the naked body of Theresa Fusco was pulled out of a wooded area in Lynbrook, NY - the 3rd in a string of recent disappearances, putting pressure on police to find the monster among them. The medical examiner determined that a rape lkely occurred and the cause of death was ligature strangulation. Dennis Halstead had been linked to one of the victims, and in a police interview about Halstead, John Restivo inadvertently mentioned an occasional employee John Kogut. 
 
When police interrogated Kogut for 12 hours, during which interrogators lied to him about his failing a polygraph, Kogut signed a confession that was hand-written by one of the detectives. With the false confession, the trio were convicted and sentenced to 33 and a half years in prison. 
 
John Restivo and Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Nina Morrison joined Jason at the Atlanta Innocence Network Conference to tell this amazing and terrifying tale.
 
To learn more and get involved:
 
https://www.kimlawcrimlaw.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kimlawcrimlaw/?hl=en
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/377-jason-flom-with-tyrone-noling-update/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/335-maggie-freleng-with-charles-jackson/
 
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.

#547 Jason Flom with John Restivo

On October 15, 2015, Quortney Tolliver was attacked with a hammer in her home in Ravenna Township, OH. She woke up from a medically induced coma weeks later with absolutely no recollection of the incident. Nevertheless, Portage County detectives pressed her to identify the person they “found out who did this” – 47 year old David Smith. Ms. Tolliver refused to identify Mr. Smith until she faced her own charges and had a dream with Mr. Smith in it, apparently indicating that he was the perpetrator. Based on Ms. Tolliver’s fraught identification alone, a jury convicted Mr. Smith of attempted murder and sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
 
To learn more and get involved:
 
https://www.kimlawcrimlaw.com/
 
https://www.instagram.com/kimlawcrimlaw/?hl=en
 
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/377-jason-flom-with-tyrone-noling-update/
 
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/335-maggie-freleng-with-charles-jackson/
 
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.

#546 Jason Flom with David Smith

On May 21, 1988, about 5:00 a.m., the victim, after an argument with her boyfriend, left his parked car and walked alone toward her home in St. Louis, MO. Shortly thereafter, three males pulled their car alongside her, jumped out of the car, grabbed the victim by the hair, pulled her into an alley, pushed her to the ground, and tore her dress. Two of the men held her down, while the third man sodomized and raped her. The victim identified the rapist as Fredrico Lowe-Bey. 
 
Fredrico Lowe-Bey was charged and convicted for kidnapping, rape, and sodomy of the woman and received consecutive sentences of 35 years for each sex-offense count and 15 years for tampering.
 
Years later DNA testing has "affirmatively excluded Lowe-Bey", though he remains behind bars today.
 
To learn more and get involved:
 
https://centurion.org/donatenow/
 
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.

#545 Jason Flom with Fredrico Lowe-Bey

Jason Flom sits down for an interview with Maggie Freleng, the Pulitzer prize-winning producer, journalist and host of Bone Valley Season 3 | Graves County. In this special episode, Maggie talks with Jason about her experiences reporting this show from a small town in Kentucky for over 2 years, and how truth and justice can get lost in the pursuit of retribution.
 
Graves County is out now in the Bone Valley feed. New episodes are available every Wednesday. Subscribers to Lava For Good+ on Apple Podcasts can listen to the entire series today.
 
To learn more and get involved, please visit: 
 
http://apple.co/BoneValley
 
https://governor.ky.gov/contact
 
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/541-guest-host-maggie-freleng-with-quincy-cross/
 
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.

#544 Jason Flom with Maggie Freleng on Quincy Cross and Graves County

On April 9, 1997, shortly after midnight in Buffalo, NY, Officers Charles “Skip” McDougald and Michael Martinez were patrolling near Northampton and East Parade in Buffalo’s East Side when they observed what they described as a “suspicious person.” According to police accounts, when they approached, the individual produced a handgun and fired. Officer McDougald was struck in the chest and fatally wounded, and Officer Martinez was shot and seriously injured but survived. Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Parker was convicted for the shooting death of Officer McDougald and the attempted murder of Officer Martinez, and was sentenced to life without parole plus consecutive terms. The prosecution’s case rested heavily on eyewitness testimony and seized items, while Parker has consistently maintained his innocence. 
 
To learn more and get involved, please visit: 
 
https://www.instagram.com/metcalflawnyc/
 
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/159-jason-flom-with-keyontay-ricks/
 
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/s1e1-us-senator-dick-durbin-on-ending-mass-incarceration/
 
Or call: 
 
Steven Metcalf: 631.521.1499
 
StevenAlan@metcalflawnyc.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.

#543 Jason Flom with Jonathan Parker

Maggie Freleng, along with Executive Producers Gilbert King and Jason Flom bring you the first episode of Maggie’s new documentary series, years in the making: Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
In it Maggie takes us to a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, where a terrible discovery on the front lawn of a middle school invites a string of amateur and professional investigators to try to solve a murder. Maggie is the latest investigator to get pulled in. And she’ll take all of us along as she teases out this complicated web of rumors and lies, and perhaps even the truth.
 
In this special preview of Chapter 1, we hear from Victoria Caldwell. Her account of the killing of Jessica Currin would become the driving force in the conviction of Quincy Cross and others for the murder of Jessica Currin. 
 
You can hear Chapter 2 right now in the Bone Valley feed. New episodes of Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY are available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts.
 
Tomorrow we’ll bring you the next, new episode of Wrongful Conviction.
 
Graves County is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing Bone Valley Season 3 | Graves County - Preview

On the night of February 4, 2011, Avalisa Morris was shot and killed at a birthday party in the basement of a two-family home in Queens, NY. The fatal gunshots were fired from outside the party, through the closed door of the entrance to the basement. Even though no eyewitnesses placed Allen at the door with a weapon, he was tried under an acting-in-concert theory, and convicted of second‑degree manslaughter and related firearms charges. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
 
To learn more and get involved, please visit: 
 
https://www.instagram.com/brukky_freewise/
 
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/09/18/tim-pearson-investigation
 
https://jacobin.com/2024/10/timothy-pearson-nyc-asylum-seekers
 
https://www.netflix.com/title/80187052 
 
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.

#542 Jason Flom with Nicholas Allen

In Season 1 of Bone Valley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King tells a story of a man, Leo Schofield, fighting to prove his innocence in the case of his wife Michelle’s murder.
 
In Season 2, “JEREMY” Gilbert King brings us a story about her actual killer, Jeremy Scott, fighting to prove his guilt. The State of Florida does not believe either man.
 
Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY is a new story about a new case. A story that shares many familiar themes with the first two seasons of Bone Valley - an unspeakable crime, a dubious investigation, half-truths that ensnare innocent people, and heartbroken families caught in the middle.
 
GRAVES COUNTY is hosted by Maggie Freleng, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and one of the hosts of Lava For Good’s Wrongful Conviction and is executive produced by Gilbert King.
 
Maggie is going to take us to a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, where a terrible discovery on the front lawn of a middle school invites a string of amateur and professional investigators to try to solve a murder. Maggie is the latest investigator to get pulled in. And she’ll take all of us along as she teases out this complicated web of rumors and lies, and perhaps even the truth.
 
Bone Valley Season 3 | GRAVES COUNTY will be available every Wednesday beginning September 17 wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, starting September 17, subscribe to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts.
 
Bone Valley is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing - Bone Valley Season 3 | Graves County

18-year-old Jessica Currin’s burned and decomposing body was discovered on August 1, 2000 behind Mayfield Middle School in Mayfield, KY. Jessica had lacerations on the back of her head, nose and chin, and stab wounds. The medical examiner also believed she had been strangled but there was no evidence to support this theory. The case went cold for a few years, until a couple of supposed eyewitnesses came forward, motivated by promises of reward money, and told inconsistent stories that they and multiple others had kidnapped, killed, and raped Jessica. They said Quincy Cross was one of the people involved, and that he was the person who hit and strangled Jessica. Based on this unreliable testimony, as well as a jailhouse snitch, and despite a lack of physical evidence connecting him to this crime, Quincy was convicted of the kidnapping, rape and murder of Jessica Currin and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Maggie Freleng talks to Quincy Cross and Miranda Hellman, Quincy's attorney. 
 
To learn more and get involved, please visit: 
 
https://www.change.org/p/free-quincy-cross
 
www.kentuckyinnocenceproject.org
 
Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

#541 Guest Host Maggie Freleng with Quincy Cross

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the US found itself wrapped up in the “Satanic Panic” - a general state of fear revolving around Satanism and satanic ritual, real or imagined. On May 5th, 1993, in West Memphis, AR, three 8-year-old boys—Steven Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing. Their lifeless bodies were found the following day in a Robin Hood Hills creek, naked and hogtied. Christopher Byers had suffered lacerations, and his genitals had been mutilated. Details of the bizarre and brutal scene in Robin Hood Hills brought Satanic Panic to a fever pitch in the largely conservative Christian city of West Memphis. Coming off their first film success with Brother’s Keeper, documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were tapped by HBO documentaries to head down to get the story. Joe Berlinger sits with Jason Flom and recalls his experience of the case, the moments that inspired his fight for criminal justice reform, and the films and events that have helped shape public opinion of wrongful convictions.
 
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.

#540 Jason Flom with Joe Berlinger on the West Memphis 3

On March 25, 1988, Harold Wesley shot and killed Jimmy Calibera in a drug deal gone wrong. The crime occurred in front of the Breukelen Houses estates in Brooklyn, NY where John “Divine G” Whitfield lived with his mother and sister. Divine G was scheduled to turn himself in on drug charges in May of that year, but due to the testimony of an unreliable and incentivized informant, and despite evidence disproving this account, Divine was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 25 to life. 
 
To learn more and get involved, visit:
 
https://chng.it/cX5Fb9vnZk
 
https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/new-york-discovery/
 
https://a24films.com/films/sing-sing
 
https://pen.org/the-whitfeld-files/
 
https://divinegentertainment.com/shop/
 
https://www.instagram.com/divine_g47
 
https://rta-arts.org/blog/sing-sings-john-divine-g-whitfield-clarence-divine-eye-maclin-where-are-they-now/ 
 
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.

#521 Jason Flom with John "Divine G" Whitfield

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