Crime Story Editor

Links to all of CRIME STORY'S coverage of the Robert Durst trial are here. Episode 10: Let's Talk About the Dismemberment Episode Synopsis Dick DeGuerin continues his opening statement to the jury on behalf of Robert Durst by reprising his assertion from the trial in Texas that Durst killed Morris Black in self-defense and then - in a panic - dismembered Black's body. DeGuerin then tries to counter the prosecution's presentation of Durst's own incriminating interviews with the filmmaker's of The Jinx and with Deputy DA John Lewin by positing that Durst was manipulated into making these ill-advised statements. You can listen now...

Sean Smith presents Part 15 of his week by week analysis of the news stories aggregated in Crime Story Daily related to COVID-19 and our carceral system. You can find links to each of Sean’s analysis pieces here. This article covers the week beginning June 21. WEEK 15  (JUNE 21-27)  At his Tulsa, Oklahoma campaign rally on Saturday, June 20, President Donald Trump disputed the efficacy of mass testing for the coronavirus. “Here’s the bad part,” Trump confided. “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow...

Prison Letters: An Interview with Paul Alan Smith and Carl Weathers By Amanda Knox with Christopher Robinson Tiyo Attallah Salah-El was a decorated Korean War veteran and jazz musician who, in 1975, was sentenced to life in prison for murder. While incarcerated, he earned a BA in African American history, a MA in Political Science, worked as the Director for the Prisoner Education Program, and founded the Coalition for the Abolition of Prisons.  A new book, Pen Pal: Prison Letters From a Free Spirit On Slow Death Row, is a collection of letters written by Attallah Salah-El over a decade to his...

The Imperfect Alliance Between Law Enforcement and Feminism: An Interview with Aya Gruber By Amanda Knox with Christopher Robinson Aya Gruber is a law professor at the University of Colorado who teaches and writes about feminism and criminal law.  Her new book, The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration, documents the history of feminist efforts to strengthen criminal law responses to gender violence. Her analysis reveals how those efforts have contributed to mass incarceration and offers an alternative perspective for how feminist activists and lawmakers can oppose gender violence without relying upon the criminal justice...

The Narrative: How Two Acquitted Men Were Sentenced to Life  by Amanda Knox with Christopher Robinson Jarrett Adams   Narratives are powerful things, Amanda. And you know that. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. Narratives are powerful things. The narrative that has been created is these guys are cop killers and drug dealers. And if they're not cop killers, then they're still drug dealers. Amanda, they're neither of them. They're neither. Amanda Knox (Narration) That’s Jarrett Adams, a criminal defense attorney representing Terrence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne of Waverly, Virginia, who were sentenced to life for a 1998 crime they say they...

Links to all of CRIME STORY'S coverage of the Robert Durst trial are here. Episode 9: Bob Doesn't Make Good Decisions Episode Synopsis Dick Deguerin begins the opening statement in the defense of Robert Durst against the charge that he murdered Susan Berman. DeGuerin's opening in many ways telegraphs a reprise of his three-pronged strategy in defense of Durst the charge of murdering Morris Black in Galveston, Texas: 1) make the jury feel empathy for Durst with what he once called a “Poor Little Rich Boy” narrative; 2) blame the Media (in this instance the makers of The Jinx) and an aggressive...