In March 1988, Steven Barnes was arrested and charged with the rape, sodomy, and murder of 16-year-old Kimberly Simon in upstate New York. He was tried by a jury in Utica beginning on May 15, 1989. Questionable eyewitness identifications and three forms of unvalidated forensic science were used against Mr. Barnes at trial. He was convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Nearly two decades later, on November 25, 2008, DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project proved his innocence and Steven Barnes walked out of the Utica courthouse a free man.
" ["episode_id"]=> string(36) "1c10ff7e-cae1-47b4-9a16-35fd932a70f7" ["show_id"]=> NULL ["episode_audio"]=> string(70) "http://rss.art19.com/episodes/1c10ff7e-cae1-47b4-9a16-35fd932a70f7.mp3" } [1]=> array(6) { ["title"]=> string(96) "S6E2: The Story Behind Empire On Blood: Calvin Buari’s Trial By Ambush And Two Decades In Hell" ["datetime"]=> string(13) "June 11, 2018" ["description"]=> string(2299) "Calvin Buari served 22 years for a double murder in the Bronx, even though someone else confessed to the crime. In the early 1990s, Calvin Buari was a well-known crack cocaine distributor in the Bronx, and authorities blamed him for a spasm of bloodshed there; the press reported that he practiced "black magic" and was a murderous thug. In 1992, a disgruntled drug associate who had recently shot Mr. Buari implicated him in the murder of Elijah and Salhaddin Harris, who were parked when a gunman walked up and fired about a dozen rounds into their car. Mr. Buari was charged with the double murder and six rival drug dealers testified against him at his 1995 murder trial. No physical evidence connected him to the crime. A jury took only two hours to convict Mr. Buari of murder, and he was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Calvin Buari never stopped fighting for his freedom, and the case took a turn with a 2003 affidavit from the key witness against him, Dwight Robinson, who confessed to the crime, stating that he “pinned this double murder on Calvin Buari because of a dispute between Calvin and me, and because I wanted complete control of my drug spot.” Journalist Steve Fishman followed Mr. Buari’s story for seven years and eyewitnesses, first interviewed by Fishman, testified in court in 2015 that Mr. Buari was not the murderer. By May 2017, a judge overturned the conviction and ordered 46-year-old Mr. Buari freed. In this episode, Calvin Buari is joined by Steve Fishman, who chronicles his journey for justice in the hit podcast Empire on Blood.
Follow Calvin Buari and Steve Fishman on social media and check out their businesses:
Steve on Twitter: @stevemfishman
Calvin on Facebook: Teambuari
Calvin on Instagram: @ryderz_van_service, and @teambuari.
Company websites:
www.ryderzvanservice.com and www.blackmagicstudio.com.
Read more on Cal's new business at this article
" ["episode_id"]=> string(36) "2fe9dbf0-303d-4ba1-88df-a884fae86950" ["show_id"]=> NULL ["episode_audio"]=> string(70) "http://rss.art19.com/episodes/2fe9dbf0-303d-4ba1-88df-a884fae86950.mp3" } [2]=> array(6) { ["title"]=> string(60) "S6E1: Trailer: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom Season 6" ["datetime"]=> string(13) "June 07, 2018" ["description"]=> string(53) "Premieres Monday June 11, 2018
" ["episode_id"]=> string(36) "59fb9d26-223e-43dc-9100-b4ee2c64d42f" ["show_id"]=> NULL ["episode_audio"]=> string(70) "http://rss.art19.com/episodes/59fb9d26-223e-43dc-9100-b4ee2c64d42f.mp3" } [3]=> array(6) { ["title"]=> string(186) "S5E11: A Gruesome Murder, An Impossible Scenario And A Sloppy But Ultimately Successful Frame Up: The Terrible Saga Of Andre Hatchett's 25 Years Behind Bars For A Crime He Did Not Commit" ["datetime"]=> string(12) "May 14, 2018" ["description"]=> string(467) "Andre Hatchett spent half of his life in prison for a murder he did not commit largely due to inadequate defense, a single unreliable witness, and exculpatory evidence that was not disclosed to the defense. He was the 19th person to be exonerated under Brooklyn D.A. Ken Thompson's Conviction Integrity Unit. Andre Hatchett is joined by Senior Staff Attorney at the Innocence Project Seema Saifee and his brother Jerry Hatchett in this episode.
" ["episode_id"]=> string(36) "cfb04b19-5c7a-4480-806c-ddf71c5d0fbf" ["show_id"]=> NULL ["episode_audio"]=> string(70) "http://rss.art19.com/episodes/cfb04b19-5c7a-4480-806c-ddf71c5d0fbf.mp3" } [4]=> array(6) { ["title"]=> string(136) "S5E10: Tortured By Police, Failed By The Justice System & Locked Up In Hell On A Putrid Prison Ship: Angel Cordero’s Fight For Freedom" ["datetime"]=> string(12) "May 07, 2018" ["description"]=> string(2411) "Angel Cordero was convicted in 1999 of attempted murder and robbery of then-Boston University freshman Jason Mercado, who was attacked and stabbed by strangers while walking in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Four plainclothes Bronx Gang Unit cops driving by the scene observed the tail end of the assault and quickly arrested five men out of the crowd, including Angel Cordero, who at age 26 had no prior criminal record, and his brother, Ramon Rivas. Three of the five young men pleaded guilty in exchange for lesser sentences, but Angel Cordero and Ramon Rivas refused to plead guilty and went to trial. At trial, multiple people testified that a man named Dario Rodriguez had committed the stabbing. In addition, the three confessed assailants also told police that Mr. Cordero and his brother were not involved. Both brothers were found guilty of second-degree attempted murder, robbery in the first degree, and assault in the first degree, and they were both sentenced to 15 years in prison. Ramon Rivas won his appeal due to judicially inappropriate actions made by the court and was released 6 years into his sentence. Angel Cordero served 13 years in prison despite numerous statements from witnesses that he was not involved, as well as the 2007 confession of longtime drug dealer Dario Rodriguez, who admitted he actually committed the crime. Mr. Cordero was released on parole in 2012, and he is still fighting for exoneration with his attorneys at the Innocence Project. In this episode, he is joined by his biggest supporter, his wife Michelle Cordero, who married him while he was still in prison.
Welcomehomepictures.com
http://angelcorderoisinnocent.com/
Please tag Michelle and Angel as follow:
Angel:
https://www.facebook.com/angel.cordero.9400
Michelle:
https://www.facebook.com/michelle.cordero.9803
In December 1979, a triple murder shook the small town of St. Albans, West Virginia. John Moss III was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison, and he has since served 38 years for this crime that he did not commit. Jason Flom teams up with Georgetown University Professor of Government and Law, Marc Howard, and his student, Jessica Scoratow, to interview John Moss from behind bars in West Virginia and unravel the saga behind this tragic miscarriage of justice. On December 13th, 1979, in St. Albans, West Virginia, twenty-six-year-old Vanessa Reggettz and her two young children, Paul Eric and Bernadette, were strangled to death by electrical cords. The murders were gruesome–Vanessa was brutally beaten and stabbed with scissors, Paul Eric was left in a bathtub, and Bernadette was hung from a door. Paul Reggettz, the husband of Vanessa and the father of Bernadette and Paul Eric, was immediately taken into custody and after being interrogated for hours, he confessed in graphic detail and reenacted the crime for investigators. Reggettz was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder and held in pre-trial detention for eleven months. Charges were dropped, however, when John Moss, a 17-year-old former neighbor, was arrested for the murders instead. In October 1980, West Virginia State Police investigators traveled to interview John Moss in Ohio, where he was being held in juvenile detention for an unrelated crime. Mr. Moss denied any involvement in the murders, and the troopers took a blood sample from him without his parents’ consent or a court order. They returned to pick him up five months later to take him into custody. The policemen in the car claimed that Mr. Moss confessed to the murders. He then gave a tape-recorded confession. The police stated that Mr. Moss confessed again a third time, but there is no recording or written record of the confession. Mr. Moss maintains that he was coerced, beaten, and threatened during interrogations. Armed with these confessions, however, Kanawha County, West Virginia authorities charged John Moss with three counts of first degree murder and brought him to Charleston to stand trial for the Reggettz slayings in 1985. Importantly, there was blood at the scene of the crime that did not match any of the family members, and the blood was found to match Moss’s blood type. The blood sample was tested by Fred Zain, the infamous lab technician later convicted of falsifying blood evidence in over 134 cases spanning decades, and later destroyed after the conviction. Zain also testified at Mr. Moss’ trial, but the West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that any testimony given by Zain should be discounted. On April 30, 1983, John Moss was convicted of the murders after fourteen hours of jury deliberation and sentenced to three life sentences without the possibility of parole in 1985. He was convicted again in 1990 after his first trial was thrown out for judicial errors in jury polling and prosecutorial misconduct. John Moss has been incarcerated in West Virginia for 38 years, filing numerous appeals alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and challenging Fred Zain's testimony, the validity of his confessions, and arguments about the purportedly stolen items. His appeals have thus far been unsuccessful, and without new evidence, his options for further appeals are limited.
For more information visit https://www.justiceforjohnmoss.com
Please link to his social, website and petition on our social channels:
Website - www.justiceforjohnmoss.com
Facebook - Justice for John Moss
Instagram - justice_forjohn
Twitter - justice_forjohn
Change.org petition link: https://www.change.org/p/charles-t-miller-free-john-moss-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder-38-years-ago?recruiter=391384965&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom
About the Show
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a podcast about tragedy, triumph, unequal justice and actual innocence. Based on the files of the lawyers who freed them, Wrongful Conviction features interviews with men and women who have spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit – some of them had even been sentenced to death. These are their stories.
Recent Episodes
Jason Flom
Jason Flom is the CEO of Lava Records and Lava Music Publishing. Flom previously served as Chairman and CEO at Atlantic Records, Virgin Records, and Capitol Music Group and is personally responsible for launching acts such as Kid Rock, Katy Perry, and Lorde. He is a nationally recognized philanthropist and an expert on criminal justice issues. Flom is a founding board member of the Innocence Project and serves on the boards of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, The Drug Policy Alliance, The Legal Action Center, the NYU Prison Education Program, and VetPaw.