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True-Crime Podcasts With Real-World Impacts
2 True-Crime Podcasts That Had Real-World Impacts FROM PODCAST TO PROSECUTION
‘IN THE DARK’ Season 2 of this popular true-crime podcast centered on Curtis Flowers, a man from Mississippi who’s been tried six times for the murder of four Winona residents at a local furniture
How Americans have long loved murder mysteries, whether they’re fictional plays performed on stage or true stories told on television. So, it’s no surprise that as podcasting has skyrocketed in popularity, so have true- crime podcasts. While there is some debate about whether gruesome crimes should be aired for entertainment value, the best shows in the genre are supported by high-quality investigative journalism — and some are having real-world impacts. ‘SERIAL ’ One of the best-known and most popular true-crime podcasts of all time, “Serial” first aired in 2014. Season 1 focused on the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend in 1999. “Serial” called into question whether Syed’s trial was fair and if there was enough evidence to convict him. The groundbreaking series helped bring Syed’s case back to life. In 2018, a Maryland appeals court ruled that Syed should be granted a new trial based on “ineffective legal counsel” who failed to call a witness to testify who would have corroborated Syed’s alibi, according to The New York Times. Though this was a triumph for Syed, the ruling was appealed, and a year later, the Maryland Supreme Court refused to hear the new case. Syed and his counsel continue to appeal to higher courts.
store. Despite very little evidence linking Flowers to the murders, he was convicted and sentenced to death
in 1997. “In the Dark” investigated Flowers’ four overturned convictions and two mistrials and uncovered an indisputable pattern of racial bias in prosecutor Doug Evans’ jury selection process. Flowers’ case was eventually appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019, which overturned the latest conviction. While Evans contemplated bringing a seventh trial against Flowers, he did not. All charges were eventually dropped, and Flowers was freed in late 2019 after spending 23 years in prison.
These two podcasts show that good journalism and strong storytelling can not only captivate an audience but also help bring long-delayed justice.
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