Crime Story Editor

Paul Butler is a Consulting Editor to CRIME STORY. He is also a Professor at Georgetown Law, a frequent contributor to MSNBC and the author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men. You can find his contributions to CRIME STORY here. THUGS! That is the word the President of the United States used to describe a group of mostly black protesters in Minneapolis. The protests began after a Minneapolis Police Department officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by using his knee to pin Mr. Floyd’s neck down to the ground.  “Very fine people” was Trump’s description of white nationalist and neo-Nazis...

Editor's Note: Noura Jackson's horrific story is told in Emily Bazelon's ground-breaking and prize-winning book Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (2019). “Justice hasn’t been served yet”: An Interview with Noura Jackson In 2005, 18-year-old Noura Jackson was wrongly convicted of stabbing her mother to death, despite the fact that no physical evidence linked her to the crime scene and instead indicated two to three unidentified perpetrators. In 2014, her conviction was vacated, but Jackson remained in prison while the district attorney considered trying her again. Eventually, the district attorney offered Jackson the controversial Alford...

In March, 1984, 23-year-old paratrooper Dennis Maher was wrongly convicted of a spree of rapes that took place in Middlesex County, Massachusetts several months earlier. In 2003, after 19 years of proclaiming his innocence, DNA evidence exonerated him of each and every one of the rapes attributed to him, and Maher was freed. Today, Maher is a 60-year-old essential worker ― a diesel mechanic for the Massachusetts Department of Sanitation ― where he daily risks exposure to COVID-19. Amanda Knox  How are you dealing with quarantine? Dennis Maher  I've been working. They cut down on hours. That's about it. We're isolated from the...

CRIME STORY’S Sean Smith continues his weekly analysis of the news stories aggregated in CRIME STORY DAILY related to COVID-19 and our carceral system. By reconsidering early reporting on the crisis in the light of subsequent developments, CRIME STORY hopes to point out trends in the narrative of COVID-19 and the prisons. You can find links to each of Sean's analysis pieces here. This article covers the week beginning March 29.  WEEK THREE (March 29- April 4) Virginia, Maryland, Arizona and Tennessee issued stay-at-home orders on Monday, March 30, and Pennsylvania and Florida followed suit on April 1. More than half the...

“The disease, you just have to fight it”: An Interview with Scott Lewis Amanda Knox In 1995, 29-year-old Scott Lewis was wrongly convicted of a 1990 double homicide based on the testimony of an incentivized informant. Despite having an alibi for the time of the killings, Lewis was convicted and sentenced to 240 years in prison, later reduced to 120 years. He spent two decades fighting to prove his innocence, and his conviction was finally overturned in 2015 after a detective came forward testifying that a dirty cop had coerced a false statement from the informant. Today, Lewis is a real estate...

In 1986, 27-year-old Clay Chabot was wrongly convicted of a rape and murder and sentenced to life in prison. Twenty-two years later, newly tested DNA evidence excluded Chabot and identified the real rapist and murderer. Chabot’s conviction was vacated, but instead of acknowledging the mistake, prosecutors were only willing to offer him a deal: plead guilty and be sentenced to time served. Chabot, afraid he might be wrongly convicted yet again, took the deal.  Today, Chabot lives in Florida and operates a small business that has been directly impacted by quarantine. Amanda Knox  Could you briefly describe the story of your wrongful...