Crime Story Editor

Finding New Appreciation: An Interview with Josh Kezer In 1994, 19-year-old Josh Kezer was convicted for a 1992 murder, though no physical evidence linked him to the crime scene and alibi witnesses placed him hundreds of miles away. He spent 16 years in prison before his conviction was overturned and he was released. Today, Kezer lives half the year in Columbia, Missouri, and the other half in Southeast Asia, where he studies martial arts and combats the sex trafficking industry. I reached out to him to ask how his own wrongful conviction and his connection to sexual assault survivors are...

Governor Grants Clemency to Four California Innocence Project Clients Governor Newsom’s Outbreak of Mercy  By Amanda Knox with Christopher Robinson On March 27, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom granted clemency to 26 Californians, four of whom were clients of the California Innocence Project (CIP): JoAnn Parks, Suzanne Johnson, Rodney McNeal, and David Jassy.  These CIP clients are each middle-aged or senior citizens who have spent decades behind bars. JoAnn Parks, 67, has been in prison since 1993 for allegedly starting a fire that killed her three children. The CIP presented evidence in 2015 that discredited the state’s theory of arson. Suzanne Johnson, 75, has...

For people of color who want to left alone by the cops, the public health emergency represents the best of times and, potentially, the worst of times.   The silver lining in the coronavirus cloud is that it has altered policing in urban areas.  The rough treatment that many minority group members routinely experience – random stops and frisks, arbitrary arrests, excessive force- is on the wane.  The police are chilling out not because their regular methods are unconstitutional or bad for their relationship with the community, although both of those are true.  Cops are keeping their hands off people...

“These are creative times”Obie Anthony, Founder, Exonerated Nation By Amanda Knox with Christopher Robinson Social distancing and self-quarantine are difficult measures for everyone, but especially for the formerly incarcerated. Having your ability to gather restricted and being forced indoors is triggering. With the necessary cancellation of the annual Innocence Network Conference, many exonerees are feeling adrift and alone. I reached out to Obie Anthony, founder of Exonerated Nation, a nonprofit organization that assists exonerees in reintegrating into society, to talk about how he’s facilitating community in these uncertain times. Amanda Knox How are you holding up? Obie Anthony Oh, I'm holding up good. Just taking...

Like so many memories, this one is jogged by a photograph.  Deputy DA John Lewin projects an image of a preadolescent Kathie Durst onto the courtroom’s over-sized video monitors. From his seat in the witness box, James McCormack, Kathie’s 76 year old brother, turns to consider it.  LEWIN: DO YOU RECOGNIZE WHO’S IN THAT PHOTO? MCCORMACK: YES. LEWIN: AND WHO IS THAT? MCCORMACK: THAT IS MY BABY SISTER KATHIE SITTING IN THE ROWBOAT THAT MY DAD BOUGHT AND THE MOTOR THAT I BOUGHT. LEWIN: AND, ANY IDEA WHEN APPROXIMATELY THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN? MCCORMACK: UH, EARLY SIXTIES. I HAD GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL.  EARNING SOME...

Kary: This is The Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where stories of crime and justice are told. On today’s podcast I am joined by Vince DiPersio executive producer of Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project which airs Sunday, April 5 on Oxygen. During the course of his 30+ years as a filmmaker, Vince has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards and has won multiple Emmys. I first got to know Vince back in the early 1990s when we worked together on documentaries for HBO. Our conversation covers the evolution of his career as an audio visual storyteller, and culminates with a focus...