Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom

Wrongful Conviction Podcasts' Jason Flom speaks with some of today's most prominent and active thought leaders and change makers in a new interview series from Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No 1.

Some of his guests include Senator Dick Durbin, Rabia Chaudry, Representative Jim Clyburn, Seth Godin, and many more.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One July night in 1995, Deputy Sheriff William G. Hardy was shot behind the Crown Sterling Suites hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. At the same time as the murder, at least ten people saw Toforest Johnson four miles away, at a popular nightclub called Tee's Place. But detectives zeroed in on him as a main suspect in Deputy Hardy’s murder anyway, ultimately resulting in Toforest being tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. For over a quarter century, Toforest has been confined to a 5’ by 8’ cell on Alabama’s death row.

In 2019, investigative journalist Beth Shelburne began covering the case, going down a disturbing rabbit hole revealing many unsettling facts that cast grave doubts about Toforest’s guilt. The facts she found tear at the very foundation of the American criminal justice system: No eyewitnesses or physical evidence tied Toforest to the murder; the state tried to convict a different man for the same crime; and perhaps most disturbing of all, Toforest’s conviction relied on an ‘earwitness’ – a woman who claimed to have eavesdropped on an incriminating phone call, a woman whom prosecutors paid for her testimony, in secret. That payment was not disclosed to the jury, Toforest, or his lawyers until after he had been on death row for 17 years.

From the team behind the award-winning hit podcast Bone Valley, Lava for Good’s Earwitness is an 8-episode docuseries that asks the question, “How did an innocent man end up on death row — and why is the state still trying to execute him over the objection of the prosecutor who put him there?” Shelburne’s unprecedented access to key players—the lead detective, lead prosecutor, witnesses, jurors, and the earwitness herself— illuminate a story filled with disturbing twists, frustrating ambiguities, and shocking admissions. The story of Toforest Johnson and the state's enthusiasm for the death penalty in the face of such troubling evidentiary flaws brings to light the failings of a criminal justice system run amok.

https://link.chtbl.com/uvmXtbob

Earwitness will be available every Tuesday beginning September 19 wherever you get your podcasts. To hear episodes 1 week early and ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts.

Earwitness is a production of Lava for GoodTM Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the production team that brought you Righteous Convictions with Jason Flom, Bone Valley, The War on Drugs, and the Wrongful Conviction series, here is Episode 1 of our new podcast: Earwitness. If you like what you hear, you can listen to episode 2 right now wherever you get your podcasts or by clicking this link:

http://lavaforgood.com/earlanding

Journalist Beth Shelburne meets with former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, who explains why he is deeply disturbed by the wrongful conviction of Toforest Johnson for the murder of Deputy Bill Hardy. Through her reporting on the case, Beth, like Baxley, is convinced that Toforest has no connection to the murder. She sets out to conduct an in-depth investigation into why detectives targeted him in the first place, how he was convicted, and why the State of Alabama is still seeking his execution today.

Earwitness will be available every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. To hear episodes a week early and ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good+ on Apple Podcasts.

Earwitness is a production of Lava for GoodTM Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is episode one of the new podcast called The War on Drugs from Lava for Good Podcasts. If you like what you hear you can find and follow The War on Drugs wherever you listen to podcasts.

https://lavaforgood.com/wodlanding/

Our co-hosts Clayton English and Greg Glod, along with guest Johann Hari discuss the long-forgotten mastermind behind America’s War on Drugs: Harry Anslinger - the infamous head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics toward the end of Prohibition. Desperate to justify his agency, and secure funding from Congress, Anslinger, by all accounts a virulent racist, fabricated stories about the dangers of drugs by demonizing minority communities four decades before Richard Nixon's declaration of war on drugs.

The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for GoodTM Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special episode of The War on Drugs, Grammy and Oscar award winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge joins our hosts Clayton English and Greg Glod for a personal and thought-provoking conversation about advances in plant-based medicine in treating conditions such as depression, PTSD, opioid withdrawal, and addiction.

To learn more, visit:

https://www.etheridgefoundation.org/

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for GoodTM Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.