11: John Brookins

11/12/20 • 45 min

2 Listeners

On December 20th, 1990 26-year-old John Brookins went to his friend Sheila Ginsberg's house to help her clean. Sheila was an older woman, 58, and actually the mother of his on and off again girlfriend Sharon. When John arrived he says he found Sharon standing over her mother's dead body, stomping scissors into her chest. The crime scene was brutal. Sharon fled and then John, a young black man standing over a dead white woman, panicked and also fled the scene. Months later he was convicted for the murder of Sheila Ginsburg, based on Sharon's statements. But multiple people came forward saying Sharon actually confessed to the murder and was known to have a violent history with her. The case is also riddled with police misconduct, ineffective council, and DNA that still needs to be tested.

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10: DeMarco Wilson

On February 1, 1997, Charles Newsome was shot while driving his car in a parking lot in West Memphis, AR. Newsome was a known gang member and according to witnesses there was gunfire between him and people in the parking lot. A passenger in his car, Frederick ‘Tyrone’ Ellis, gave a statement about the shooters. He changed his statement multiple times until he said the three defendants who were there: DeMarco Wilson, Antonio Williams, and Kendric Gillum. Ellis was facing criminal charges at the time and they were dropped with his testimony. Two jailhouse informants also got lesser sentences for their testimony. One has recanted and said the prosecution forced him into it. DeMarco also had a solid alibi. The three were convicted in Judge David Burnett’s courtroom who also presided over the infamous West Memphis 3 case. Jason Baldwin, one of the WM3, is working to help secure DeMarco’s freedom with his organization Proclaim Justice.

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12: Nikki Zinger

On March 10, 1991 Nikki Zinger's mother Linda Holley was found dead in her Magnolia, AR, home. The crime was brutal. She was stabbed 12 times, bludgeoned and left for dead. A month went by with no arrests, and then out of the blue 28-year-old Nikki and her boyfriend 24-year-old Daniel Rischer were arrested and convicted for her mother's murder. The prosecution said the motive was Linda's $90,000 life insurance policy. However, decades later new DNA evidence busts holes in the prosecution's theory. And circumstantial evidence is brought into question. It also turns out there was a similar murder that happened five days after Linda's that could point to the real killer.
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