Dave Beers, a NY state licensed PI with law enforcement experience ended up working with the Taft Defense.  He tells the story of how the mother of a young child arrived to find her child dead.

Veronica Taft, a single mother with four small children, all under the age of five, was convicted of Murder and Manslaughter for the brutal murder of her two-year-old son Lyric.

For reasons that are unclear, the prosecutors and police focus on Veronica rather than her boyfriend who is the more obvious suspect.

Beers describes the poor quality of the investigation in the small college town of Binghamton, New York.  The use of Taft’s boyfriend, who ends up getting immunity for his testimony despite evidence implicating him in the crime.

After more than five years in prison, Taft was set free after a bombshell Appellate Court decision found the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. The court overturned the theory and evidence used by authorities, including time-of-death, Taft’s alibi, and controversial testimony of a desperate jail-house snitch.

Listen as investigator Dave Beers tells the full story of tragic miscarriage of justice that fortunately an appellate court corrects after five years of wrongful incarceration.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 195: The Veronica Taft Story – Wrongful Conviction

In May, the US Supreme Court granted Richard Glossip a stay of execution after the Attorney General of Oklahoma has gone to believe like many others that Glossip’s conviction is fatally flaw, “unsustainable” and “a new trial imperative.”

Many have argued that new evidence discovered in independent investigations along with problems with the state’s prosecution and the destruction of evidence leads to the conclusion that there was not enough evidence to warrant a conviction, let alone a death sentence.

And yet, as is so often the case, the wheels of the system once rolling have proven difficult to stop.

This week on Everyday Injustice, we talk to attorney and anti-death penalty advocate David Dow about the Glossip case and how it exemplifies problems in the overall system.

David Dow went from a death penalty supporter to founding the Texas Innocence Network and running a death penalty clinic.  He has since written a number of books, including Executed on a Technicality.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 203: David Dow Discusses Death Penalty Problems

In this podcast episode, Nicole O’Byrne talks to Kent Roach about his book, Wrongfully Convicted: Guilty Pleas, Imagined Crimes, and What Canada Must Do to Safeguard Justice, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2023.

In Wrongfully Convicted, Kent Roach raises awareness about wrongful convictions in Canada at a time when DNA exonerations are less frequent, and the memories of most famous cases are fading. Roach exposes lesser-known cases where defendants feel they have no option but to plead guilty, and where people have been convicted of crimes imagined by experts or police that never, in fact, happened. Roach makes a compelling case for better legislative regulation of police and forensic experts and the creation of a permanent and independent federal commission both to investigate wrongful convictions and their multiple causes. Though the issue affects all Canadians, Roach’s work reveals that the burden of wrongful convictions falls disproportionately on the disadvantaged, including Indigenous and racialized people, those with cognitive issues, single mothers, and the poor.

Kent Roach is a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He is also cofounder of the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions, and an award-winning author, who has spent his career documenting flaws in the Canadian justice system. Roach served as volume lead for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report on the Legacy of Residential Schools and, in 2015, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Image Credit:  Canada. Department of Manpower and Immigration. Library and Archives Canada, e010996348 /

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Wrongfully Convicted: Guilty Pleas, Imagined Crimes, and What Canada Must Do to Safeguard Justice

Today we have an audio story for you that has been a long, long time coming. Murray "Bubba" Lawrence Jr was convicted of the murder of Brandon Hastings who disappeared from Foley, Alabama during Spring Break of 2003 and whose body was found a week later near Guitier/Vancleave, Mississippi. The State convicted Lawrence on the word of a co-conspirator, a "Deal With The Devil" according to David Whetstone Baldwin County District Attorney circa 2003. The irony is that then Lt. Huey Mack was the Lead Detective and is now the 5th term Sheriff of Baldwin County and the Judge in the case Robert Wilters is now serving his second term as District Attorney after a 22 year stretch on the bench. You can read along by following the link: https://deal-with-the-devil.com/full-story/ and support the efforts to free him by contributing at http://spot.fund/1t4mwsc. Harry Still is no longer Attorney of Record for Murray Lawrence Jr, his petition for a new trial is being handled by The Maxwell- Tillman Law Firm in Birmingham, Alabama based on this newly discovered Brady Evidence. The Lagniappe Mobile Newspaper article can be found at https://www.lagniappemobile.com/news/advocates-discover-autopsy-never-included-in-baldwin-man-s-murder-trial/article_81ab84a6-6232-11ee-b70f-23cd5b5a2abc.html
"A Verbal Lynching In Alabama" is a copyrighted work by Nancy Koerner and is being shared by Backstory Podcast with her permission.

Backstory Podcast No 166 The Murray Lawrence Jr Project

This week on Everyday Injustice Jarrett Adams – himself exonerated of a wrongful conviction – is seeking to undo a massive injustice in Virginia.

Despite the fact that a jury found Terrence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne not guilty of murder, a judge was able to sentence them to life in prison.  They have currently spent 22 years behind bars, but Jarrett Adams is trying to free them, having recently argued before the Virginia Supreme Court.

“The Court’s decision to sentence Terrence and Ferrone to life in prison despite being found not guilty robbed due process of its very meaning,” said Jarrett Adams.  “The U.S. Supreme Court must do away with its ruling in U.S. v Watts, which gives a judge the discretion to make a jury’s finding meaningless, and prevent further miscarriages of justice from occurring like the one we see in this case.”

Listen to Adams describing this remarkable and unthinkable injustice in the criminal legal system.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 228: Exonerated Attorney Seeks to Undo Massive Injustice

Episode one will break down Stephan's life: his childhood to his conviction, specifically as it relates to his mental illness and eventual schizophrenia diagnosis.

Season One, Episode One: Who is Stephan?

Today on Everyday Injustice, we revisit a case that has haunted the justice system for nearly half a century—the case of Chief Douglas Stankewitz. Back on the show is attorney Alexandra Cock, who has devoted years to fighting for Chief’s release. Her legal work has uncovered a disturbing pattern of official misconduct, evidentiary irregularities, and racial bias that cast deep doubt on the integrity of the conviction. As someone who was just five years old when Chief went to prison—and is now over 50—I find it unconscionable that this case is still unresolved.

We first covered Chief’s habeas hearings in 2024, which raised compelling questions about forensic evidence, trial testimony, and lost or mishandled evidence. Despite these serious concerns, the judge ultimately denied the habeas petition—mischaracterizing key facts and offering little accountability. With the habeas route closed, Chief’s legal team is now turning to a full re-sentencing hearing and two Racial Justice Act motions that may finally open the door to his release. These motions highlight the deeply racialized context of the prosecution and trial, including the removal of the only Native American juror and inflammatory rhetoric used during sentencing.

In this episode, Alexandra walks us through the latest legal developments and the broader implications of this case. From questions about prosecutorial overreach to the sheer human toll of decades in solitary confinement, we examine what it means when a justice system refuses to correct its mistakes—even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Alexandra’s insights also touch on Chief’s life behind bars, his extraordinary resilience, and the powerful support network rallying for his freedom.

This conversation is not just about one man’s fight for justice—it’s about what kind of society we are willing to be. It asks whether courts are capable of acknowledging past wrongs, and whether political expediency will once again override moral clarity. As we prepare for a critical re-sentencing hearing, this episode serves as both a legal update and a call to action. Because after 47 years in prison, the question isn’t whether Chief deserves freedom—it’s what excuse the system will offer next for denying it.


Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 283 - Still Seeking Justice For Chief Stankewitz

Anna Vasquez on Everyday Injustice

On the latest episode of the Everyday Injustice podcast, host David Greenwald speaks with Anna Vasquez, a survivor of wrongful conviction and now Director of Outreach and Education for the Innocence Project of Texas. Vasquez was one of four women—collectively known as the San Antonio Four—who were falsely accused and convicted in the 1990s amid a wave of homophobia and “Satanic panic.” Now exonerated, she dedicates her life to helping others avoid the same fate.

Vasquez recounts the harrowing experience of being accused of sexually assaulting two young girls, an accusation rooted not in evidence but in hysteria. The case was fueled by homophobic stereotypes, flawed forensic testimony, and a social climate gripped by fear of devil worship and child abuse. A pediatrician’s now-discredited interpretation of supposed trauma and vague allusions to Satanic influence helped seal their fate. “It didn’t matter that we weren’t even there when they said it happened,” Vasquez explained. “It was all part of the panic at the time.”

The podcast delves into the broader implications of junk science in wrongful convictions. Vasquez highlights how unproven medical theories—like the belief that hymenal “scarring” indicated abuse—were accepted as fact in courtrooms, despite no scientific foundation. “That wasn’t science. It was a belief,” she says. Her case mirrors countless others where lives were destroyed by outdated or erroneous forensic assumptions.

Despite spending more than a decade behind bars, Vasquez emerged not only free but determined to make change. She shares the emotional journey of rebuilding trust—first with a filmmaker whose documentary Southwest of Salem helped raise awareness, then with legal advocates who fought for her release. Her story is a powerful reminder of the human cost of wrongful convictions—and the extraordinary courage it takes to keep fighting for justice.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 294: Wrongly Convicted and Powerfully Resilient

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HR2 CONC: Ryan Routh Case Continued; John Huffington Pardoned After 32 Years; Baldoni and Wayfarer Sued By Insurance Company

In the latest episode of Everyday Injustice, Tony Viola, a former Cleveland real estate professional, shares his story of being wrongly accused and convicted in what was billed as the nation’s largest mortgage fraud case. Viola was indicted in both state and federal court, accused of stealing $46 million, and cast in the media as the architect of a massive scheme that he says never existed.

Viola described how prosecutors pressed forward despite banks stating they suffered no losses and despite evidence showing he had no connection to the companies at the center of the case. He said the government relied on informant testimony, pursued a faulty narrative, and engaged in intimidation and misconduct. Missing evidence, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and the destruction of key materials made it impossible for him to mount a fair defense, he said.

The case shifted when Dawn Pella, a staffer inside the prosecutor’s office, came forward with evidence of misconduct, including emails that showed prosecutors knowingly relied on false testimony. Viola used that material to secure a victory in a second trial, though he spent 10 years in prison before being released. Pella, who was expected to testify on his behalf, later died under suspicious circumstances, and her computer containing key documents disappeared.

Now exonerated, Viola has turned his experience into advocacy, calling for accountability and an end to prosecutorial immunity. He said his case highlights how systemic misconduct in the justice system is not limited to street-level crimes but extends to complex financial cases as well. “If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone,” Viola said. More information is available at FreeTonyViola.com and JusticeForDawn.com .

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 297: Tony Viola Details Ordeal of Wrongful Conviction

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Davis Vanguard Podcast will be covering criminal justice reform, mass incarceration, wrongful convictions, and more.

New tracks tagged #Wrongful Conviction