Crime Story Editor

The following stories are the same: 1. A family of three had moved to a small house in the woods after their apartment was burglarized in the city, an incident that traumatized their young son. One brisk morning they return home from gathering mushrooms for a stew and find that their front door is cracked open. Dirty footprints lead inside. The mother and young son stand back as the father opens the door. He sees that their smallest wooden chair is splintered to pieces on the floor. The food leftover from their breakfast has been ravaged. Thick mud has been...

Today we introduce the pilot episode of Jury Duty, a new weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling, news and narrative analysis published by Crime Story Media. The pilot features a discussion between Crime Story, Publisher/Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story Reporter Molly Miller about the stories, themes and issues that have arisen in Molly's coverage of the Los Angeles Criminal Justice System. Thanks for checking it out.

The following piece was first published on the website for the Miller Center, a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history. It was written by the Miller Center’s Director and CEO, William Antholis, who is the brother of Crime Story’s Publisher and Editor, Kary Antholis. Impeachment is the central issue gripping the presidency today.  It has been 10 weeks since Speaker Pelosi announced that she was beginning an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Miller Center scholars have been approaching this momentous inquiry with our nonpartisan mission clearly in mind. As a guide...

“Serial arsonists are known to keep logs of their fires or keep pictures of them and I am sure that they get off on their coverage on the news.” — John Orr, April 1992 January 12, 1992. I was driving to a business breakfast and heard a radio report about a man who was under home detention on suspicion of being a serial arsonist. The reporter said that this man was one of the leading arson investigators in the state of California, a well-respected teacher of other investigators. I thought the report was curious and odd, but did not give...

“Horse trading determines who goes to jail and for how long. That’s what plea bargaining is. It is not some adjunct to the criminal justice system. It is the criminal justice system.” -Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Imagine going to a baseball game. You grab a beer and a $12 hotdog and mosey your way through die-hard fans in face paint, kids stumbling in oversized jerseys down to their knees, and elderly couples marveling at the stadium’s big screen TVs. The buzz of the crowd fills the stadium, the crisp, fresh air pulses with anticipation. You plop down in your...

You’re driving your car at night, going a cool 35mph in a 25mph zone on a residential street. The streetlights are sparse. The roads are cracked and uneven. You yawn and look down to change the music to something that doesn’t sound plucked from the playlist of your dentist’s waiting room. Then you — dog. There’s a dog in the road in front of you. You swerve. And hit a fire hydrant. A small dent disfigures your bumper. When you take your blemished vehicle in for repair, you tense your jaw waiting for a diagnosis from the mechanic. He tut-tuts...