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 on the specifics...

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon Anne Andersen-Doyle has traveled to Los Angeles from North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Brisbane, Australia, where she volunteers teaching indigenous children to read. When asked by Prosecutor Habib Balian whether she was eager to come testify in the trial, Andersen-Doyle replies:  ANDERSEN-DOYLE: CONSIDERING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MATTER, I THOUGHT I OWED IT TO...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This was a light publishing week for us, as we worked to adjust our editorial calendar and plan around the new realities created by the coronavirus crisis. More about those plans a bit later in this newsletter. Early in the week I was invited to be a guest on Seema Iyer's Court TV program. Seema and I discussed the Robert Durst trial, and specifically focused on the stunning testimony offered by Durst's brother Thomas. You can watch that clip here.

Last week, Opening Arguments began in the California case of The People vs. Robert Durst. After a two and a half day opening statement by The People, the Defense will present their opening argument today beginning at 9am. They expect it to last about 4 hours. Crime Story has published 14 installments in a series of pieces about the events surrounding Durst’s trial for the murder of his longtime friend, Susan Berman. We present all of them below. As our collection of stories grows, we will update this list. You may click on...

We have added a podcast reading to this story that we published last week. John Lewin, the lead prosecutor in the trial of Robert Durst appears to be on a mission that goes beyond convicting Durst for the murder of Durst's long-time friend Susan Berman. With his opening statement in the trial, Lewin seems to be laying the groundwork for a story that he hopes will be so compelling, with a presentation of evidence so persuasive, that he will convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week, as the COVID-19 overwhelmed human consciousness, opening arguments concluded in the trial of Robert Durst and the beginning of witness testimony was marked by a stunning emotional moment. The week concluded with the Durst trial and all other cases in Los Angeles suspended for at least 30 days amid concerns about the courtrooms and courthouses becoming Petri dishes for the virus.  This week we published a story by Sean Smith about Prosecutor John Lewin's art of working...

Deputy DA John Lewin’s opening statement in the People v. Robert Durst ran for three captivating days. In a weekend blog discussion subsequent to Days One and Two, CRIME STORY teased out the cinematic trappings of Lewin’s presentation (The Prosecutor’s Cinematic Opening in The People vs. Robert Durst, March 7, 2020). On its third and final day, however, Lewin’s opening statement revealed an added layer of complexity. What had already been a dramatic, binge-worthy summary of the evidence against Durst suddenly took a highly personal turn. Having spent the previous two days tracing...

Jurors in the trial of Robert Durst for the murder of his friend Susan Berman were startled by two intense outbursts during the testimony of Durst‘s brother Thomas. Thomas Durst arrived in court appearing frail, walking on a damaged leg and wearing surgical gloves. For most of his testimony, he spoke softly and timidly with little inflection in his voice. He related that he was not there voluntarily but because he had been subpoenaed, and that he was terrified of his brother. Much of Thomas’ testimony —...

Team Crime Story: Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week we saw the culmination of two stories that we at Crime Story have been covering for many months; the L. A. District Attorney primary was on Tuesday and opening arguments in the trial of Robert Durst began on Wednesday. On Monday, we presented all of our coverage of the L.A. District Attorney election on the eve of the final day of primary voting. When the polls closed and the returns started coming in, it quickly became...

Crime Story has intently covered the candidates and issues surrounding Tuesday's election for Los Angeles District Attorney. We have covered two of the candidate debates, including the only forum that all three candidates attended. We dedicated an an entire episode of our Jury Duty podcast to a discussion of one of those debates. We have also conducted interviews with two of the candidates, Rachel Rossi and George Gascón. We invited incumbent D.A. Jackie Lacey to sit down with us, but we received...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week on Crime Story we continued our coverage of two stories: the upcoming trial of Robert Durst, and the L. A. District Attorney election and, and dug deep into one of the big issues of that race. On Monday, we presented a new episode of Jury Duty, our weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling news and narrative analysis. This week’s episode ​offered a conversation with Paul Butler about Progressive Prosecutors​. Butler offered insight into the way that...

Kary Antholis: This is Jury Duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling, news and narrative analysis presented by Crime Story Media.  This episode features a discussion between yours truly, Crime Story, Publisher/Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story Consulting Editor, and Georgetown Law Professor, Paul Butler.  In our chat, Paul and I discuss the national movement to elect progressive District Attorneys. Welcome, Paul Butler. Thanks for joining me. Paul Butler:

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week we have four stories that explore aspects of the movement to reform our criminal legal process, and we conclude with a final piece summing up our reporters’ pre-trial experience in our coverage of the prosecution of Robert Durst for the murder of Susan Berman. On Monday, we published The Real Target of The Jussie Smollett Charges Is A Progressive Prosecutor in which Paul Butler argues that while Jussie Smollett faces new charges by a special prosecutor that he...

This episode of Jury Duty features the conclusion of our exclusive interview with George Gascón, candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney. In Part Two, Mr. Gascón answers questions - from Crime Story Publisher and Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story reporter Molly Miller - about his tenure as Police Chief in Mesa, Arizona and his conflicts with legendary xenophobe, Sheriff Joe Arpaio; his transition to Police Chief of San Francisco and subsequently to District Attorney in that City. We discuss his role as one of the architects of Proposition 47; how he might...

This is Jury Duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling news and narrative analysis brought to you by Crime Story Media. This episode features part one of our exclusive interview with George Gascón, candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney. In Part One, Mr. Gascón answers questions - from Crime Story Publisher and Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story reporter Molly Miller - about his early life, his education, his business career and his years with the Los Angeles Police Department. You can find a...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. We dedicated this week at Crime Story to Amanda Knox, the legacy of her story, and the work that she has pursued as a voice for compassionate and restorative justice with her partner, Christopher Robinson, since she was exonerated by the Italian Supreme Court from any responsibility for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Since August of last year, Amanda and Chris have contributed four pieces to Crime Story. Each offers a unique perspective on how our...

On today’s podcast we have the second part of a two part interview with Crime Story contributors and producers and writers of the podcast series The Truth about True Crime, Amanda Knox and Christopher Robinson. In part two of the interview, Amanda expresses her perspective on the tabloid journalists who covered her story, and where she takes inspiration for her own journalism. Amanda and Chris discuss how they approach their work on The Truth about True Crime, particularly the podcasts that they wrote and produced about the murder of Jessica...

On today’s podcast we have the first part of a two-part interview with Crime Story contributors and producers and writers of the podcast series The Truth about True Crime, Amanda Knox and Christopher Robinson. I met Amanda and Chris through Brian McGinn, one of the producer-directors of the Amanda Knox documentary that premiered on Netflix. I was very much interested in Amanda‘s perspective on the criminal justice system as an exoneree, a journalist and a public speaker. In part one of the interview, Amanda and...

Today’s podcast is part two of a two-part interview with Brian McGinn, Executive Producer and Director of the Netflix series Chef's Table and, our primary our primary focus in today’s conversation, the feature documentary Amanda Knox. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand the values and aims of storytellers in the world of crime and justice.

Today’s podcast is part one of a two-part interview with Brian McGinn, Executive Producer and Director of the Netflix series Chef's Table and, our primary focus in today’s conversation, the feature documentary Amanda Knox. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand the values and aims of storytellers in the world of crime and justice.

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week we dedicated much of our attention to our continuing coverage of the Los Angeles District Attorney Election. But we began the week with one of our periodic features on the idiosyncrasies of the Los Angeles criminal legal system. On Monday we presented Molly Miller’s Third Floor Madness, a look at the part of the L.A. Criminal Courts Building where many pre-trial hearings take place or as Molly calls it, “the busiest waiting room in...

This is Jury Duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling news and narrative analysis brought to you by Crime Story Media. This episode features our exclusive interview with Rachel Rossi, candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney. Ms. Rossi answers questions about her views on the issues, her life, and her career from Crime Story Publisher and Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story reporter Molly Miller. You can find a full transcript of our interview here.

This is the seventh episode of jury duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling news and narrative analysis brought to you by Crime Story Media. This episode features a conversation between your truly Crime Story Publisher and Editor Kary Antholis and Crime story reporter Molly Miller. Today we focused on Molly‘s recent reporting on the Los Angeles District Attorney race as well as our coverage of the second Los Angeles District Attorney debate. During the discussion we reference Molly’s article on the...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. Last Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This past week, Crime Story commemorated that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday (link here) and Tuesday (link here), we presented a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and...

This past Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This week, Crime Story will commemorate that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday (link here) and Tuesday (link here), we present a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the creators of the Emmy and...

This past Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This week, Crime Story will commemorate that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday (link here) and Tuesday (link here), we present a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the creators of the Emmy and...

This past Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This week, Crime Story will commemorate that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday (link here) and Tuesday (link here), we present a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the creators of the Emmy and...

This past Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This week, Crime Story will commemorate that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday (link here) and Tuesday, we present a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the creators of the Emmy and Golden Globe...

This past Saturday, January 25, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of oral arguments in the trial of The People v O.J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This week, Crime Story will commemorate that anniversary by presenting a series of special interviews related to the way the historical narrative of the trial has been preserved for posterity. On Monday and Tuesday, we present a two-part interview with Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the creators of the Emmy and Golden Globe winning limited...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. Before we dive into our posts for this week, I would like to direct your attention to this piece which appeared on the Nieman Lab site. It’s a comprehensive interview that I did with Hanaa' Tameez, and covers in substantial detail the provenance, aims and ambitions of Crime Story. Also, I appeared on the Josh Marshall Podcast this week. We discussed impeachment, the 25th anniversary of the OJ trial, jury nullification and William Barr’s interest in retributive justice storytelling. You can to listen to that...

This the second part of a series of articles about my relationship with John Orr. You can find part one of the series here. It was May 1, 1992 and Los Angeles was on fire. As I drove to the home of John Orr — a widely respected arson educator and investigator with the Glendale Fire Department — the air held a deep brown tint. And while most of the 1,750 fires burning during the LA riots were caused by arson, John Orr had an alibi...

This is the fifth episode of jury duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling news and narrative analysis brought to you by Crime Story Media. This episode features a conversation between your truly Crime Story Publisher and Editor Kary Antholis and Crime story reporter Molly Miller. Today we focused on Molly‘s recent reporting on the Los Angeles District Attorney race as well as her conversation with a veteran Los Angeles Public Defender.  

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week at Crime Story we presented an exclusive and insightful look into the criminal legal process through the eyes of a long-serving public defender. We also continued our in-depth coverage of two ongoing Los Angeles stories: the pre-trial developments in the People vs. Robert Durst, and a debate of the issues in the upcoming election for LA District Attorney. There is a stark contrast between the bottomless resources expended on the Durst trial and the quixotic quest by two DA candidates and a...

This is the fourth episode of Jury Duty, a weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling, news and narrative analysis presented by Crime Story Media.  This episode features a discussion between yours truly, Crime Story, Publisher/Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story Editor at-large Sean Smith, focused primarily on our coverage of the pre-trial hearings in the prosecution of Robert Durst for the murder of Susan Berman. Durst's trial is scheduled to begin in early March.

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. Crime Story hit the ground running this first full week of the new year. We continued our coverage of two ongoing Los Angeles stories: the pre-trial developments in the People vs. Robert Durst, and the debate of the issues in the upcoming election for LA District Attorney. We began the week with Tim Kontje’s piece contemplating the way a jury processes the limited information that gets through the admissibility screening process. In Rose Colored Glasses in the Litter Box...

Robert Durst has - for the first time - acknowledged that certain audio recordings made by the producers of the HBO documentary series The Jinx are “true and accurate,” including the now infamous recording of Durst muttering to himself, “Killed them all, of course.” The defense’s acknowledgement came to light in an examination by Crime Story reporters of stipulation documents filed jointly by defense and prosecuting attorneys as part of pre-trial motions on December 10, 2019. Durst’s trial for the murder of Susan Berman is scheduled to begin in March.

This is the third episode of Jury Duty, a new weekly podcast forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling, news and narrative analysis presented by Crime Story Media.  This episode features a discussion between yours truly, Crime Story, Publisher/Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story Consulting Editor, and Georgetown Law Professor, Paul Butler.  Before the conversation, we re-present Butler’s reading of his recent opinion piece for Crime Story about a fatal flaw in the film Queen & Slim that feeds a myth promoted by right wing...

Happy New Year! Welcome to an abbreviated version of our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. We will resume with a full newsletter review of Crime Story events on January 11. But I wanted to offer a quick review of what we presented over the Holiday break. On New Years Eve, we called attention to a New York Times Story reporting that lawyers for Robert Durst (whose story was told in the HBO documentary series The Jinx) acknowledged in court documents that Mr. Durst was the author of a note directing the Beverly...

Tonight, the miniseries Chernobyl (HBO) won the Golden Globe award for Best Miniseries. Actor Jared Harris, who was himself nominated for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his performance as Valery Legasov, accepted the award on behalf of the producers. In this special re-podcast of an article from last year, Harris reads excerpts from the idiosyncratic Closing Statement of attorney Vincent Oliver in the rape trial of his client Wyaunte Cousin. This article was first published on August 21, 2019. As I walk into...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. After the debut of each presentation, you can go to the page with the podcast and the transcript of the presentation that interests you by clicking on the desired interview listing...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 12: a conversation with David Chase, Creator and Showrunner of The Sopranos, which is listed by Rolling Stone as The Greatest TV Show...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is day 11: our conversation with Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the filmmakers of the documentary series, Making a Murderer. During part one...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 10: a conversation with Pam Veasey, Showrunner of two of the four series in the CSI franchise: CSI: New York and CSI: CYBER.

Original piece 1:40pm, December 31, 2019: In a New York Times article posted to the Times website this afternoon, Charles V. Bagli reports that Robert Durst, whose trial for the murder of Susan Berman is scheduled to begin in February, now admits to having written the note notifying the Beverly Hills Police that there was a "cadaver" at the address of the home belonging to Berman. Officers following up on that note discovered Berman's lifeless body. The story became an international sensation after Durst participated in the breakout HBO True Crime documentary...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 9: A conversation with Hank Steinberg, creator and showrunner of Without a Trace. Hank and I discuss his path...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 8: a conversation with Tom Fontana, ground zero in the explosion of this golden age of television. Tom served as executive producer of St....

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. Following on my interview with the Creator of The Wire, David Simon (which you can find a link to here), this is Day 7: a conversation with...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 6: a conversation with David Simon.  David and I met when he came in to HBO to pitch The Corner as...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 5: a conversation with Jonathan Tropper. Jonathan and I met when he pitched me an idea for a Cinemax show called Banshee. We worked...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. Today’s is Day 4: a conversation with Steve Zaillian. Steve won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for Schindler’s List and won a Directors Guild Award for his...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 3: This is a two-part conversation with the co-creator of Third Watch and Executive Producer and founding showrunner of Criminal Minds,...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. This is Day 2: Our conversation with Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of one of the great series in television history, Breaking Bad and one of...

Over the twelve days from Monday, December 23 and concluding on Friday, January 3, we will present special Re-Podcasts of my Crime Story Podcast interviews with storytellers in the world of crime and justice. Each interview will be presented in its entirety, and so interviews that were previously offered in multiple parts can now be accessed in one download or streaming session. Today’s podcast is a conversation with longtime members of the team at This American Life and co-creators of the podcast series Serial - Sarah Koenig and Julie...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. FYI, this will be our last newsletter of the year. We will resume with a fresh newsletter review of Crime Story events on January 11. This week each of our pieces, in its own way, reflects the cumulative power of Crime Story’s reporting in exploring the areas where crime, justice and storytelling meet. Monday: Jury Duty – New Podcast Series – Ep. 2 – Covering Robert Durst On Monday, we presented the second...

This is the second 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. This episode features a discussion between Crime Story, Publisher/Editor Kary Antholis and Crime Story Reporters Molly Miller and Sean Smith about the stories, themes and issues that have arisen in both reporters’ coverage of the Los Angeles Criminal Justice System. We pay particular attention to Sean’s coverage of the hearings leading up to the trial of Robert Durst for the murder of Susan...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This week we published a number of exciting and unique pieces on the site, and thereby demonstrated how innovative Crime Story can be in exploring the areas where crime, justice and storytelling meet. On Monday we introduced the pilot episode of Jury Duty, a new Podcast Series which is intended be a fun, lively, up-to-the-moment and free-ranging forum for the discussion of crime and justice storytelling, news and narrative analysis. The pilot features a discussion between Crime Story Reporter Molly...

Last night, the first Candidate Debate for the 2020 Los Angeles District Attorney race, held at the California African American Museum, attracted a standing room only crowd and was replete with emotional moments that served to underscore how personal and intensely followed this election will be. Only two candidates appeared at the event: Former San Francisco DA George Gascon, and former federal and county Public Defender and former US Senate aide, Rachel Rossi. LA Deputy DA, Richard Ceballos, dropped out of the race the previous night, and Current District Attorney, Jackie Lacey did not...

On July 12, 1997, Oz premiered on HBO, ushering in the new era of uncensored and on interrupted one hour drama to the television landscape. Since that time, HBO has produced some of the most groundbreaking and influential crime TV series of all time, and the creators of four of those series have been guests on the Crime Story Podcast. On today’s episode, we take a look at why those creators believe that HBO was such a special place for them to work. We...

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.

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. This was another banner week for powerful and provocative pieces. On Monday and Wednesday, Molly Miller continued her look into the power dynamics and economic dysfunctions woven into our justice system with pieces about the some of the arbitrary economic calculations that go into determining whether a crime is a felony or a misdemeanor (Felon-omics) and about how plea bargaining works and how it dominates the judicial landscape (How Is a Plea a Bargain?). You can hear...

“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...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. During the first few days of Thanksgiving week, the Crime Story Podcast took a look back at some of the themes that have emerged in the posts at crimestory.com.   On Monday our focus was “wobblers.”  According to the Nolo online legal dictionary: “A “wobbler” isn’t a misdemeanor, nor is it a felony. It’s both. Prosecutors have the choice of whether to charge a wobbler as a felony or a misdemeanor. But even...

During the first few days of this Thanksgiving week, the Crime Story Podcast is taking a look back at some of the themes that have emerged in the posts at CrimeStory.com. Today we look at the origins of three great Crime Dramas.  The list of "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" was published in October 2016. It was based upon a tally of ballots cast by entertainment industry professionals. The top three shows on that list were Crime Dramas. Breaking Bad was third on the list,...

During the first few days of this Thanksgiving week, the Crime Story Podcast is taking a look back at some of the themes that have emerged in the posts at CrimeStory.com.  Today we offer a special reprise presentation of the two interviews that kicked off crimestory.com and The Crime Story Podcast. In one podcast episode, we present my interviews with Attorney General William Barr and Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler, who offered his thoughts on AG Barr's responses to my questions. To me justice is the right outcome... I...

During the first few days of this Thanksgiving week, the Crime Story Podcast is taking a look back at some of the themes that have emerged in the posts at CrimeStory.com.  Today our theme is “wobblers.”  In an editorial that we posted on October 8, Molly Miller and I wrote:  “Our dedication to examining systemic inequities in the criminal justice system drew us to defendants, their defenders, and their collective Sisyphean struggle against the power and the practice of powerful prosecutors. We were prepared — by the...

Welcome to our weekly review of the events at crimestory.com. We begin in the heart of the week. On Wednesday and Thursday, we presented my two-part conversation with David Chase, Creator and Showrunner of The Sopranos, which is listed by Rolling Stone as “The Greatest TV Show of all time.” In the first part of our chat, David talks about his development into adulthood and his path to becoming a professional storyteller with a particular focus on the projects that he worked on that were related to...

Today’s podcast is part two of a two-part conversation with David Chase, Creator and Showrunner of The Sopranos, which is listed by Rolling Stone as The Greatest TV Show of all time. In this second part of our chat, David talks about the origins of the idea for The Sopranos, making a gangster show in the shadow of The Godfather and Goodfellas, how it landed at HBO and the process of getting it to the screen, ending the series and the impact and legacy of the Sopranos.

Today’s podcast is part one of a two-part conversation with David Chase, Creator and Showrunner of The Sopranos, which is listed by Rolling Stone as The Greatest TV Show of all time. In this first part of our chat, David talks about his earliest memories of storytelling; his family life growing up, particularly his relationship with his mother; the development of his view of the world and specifically morality and religion; his appreciation of gangster movies; and his path to becoming a professional storyteller leading up to The Sopranos, with...

“Right now young men who sing and rap and rhyme are suffering for their ability to say what they want to. We all benefit from the artists who push the boundaries of speech, and so as a country we should see a collective interest in protecting them. This is especially true for artists who criticize the state, because once the state — which is supposed to be a representation of the people — is above reproach, we are entering Orwellian waters. That scares the shit out of me.” Excerpt From...

Welcome to our round up of the week's events at crimestory.com. Our continuing coverage of crime and the criminal legal process offers us the opportunity to identify themes that we plan to explore and reflect upon in the weeks and months ahead. The week began on the Tuesday after Veterans Day with Molly Miller's Tiny Evil, Rap and Gang Conspiracy, a piece that kicks off our exploration of the way that gang conspiracy laws are prosecuted in Los Angeles, and raises questions about whether police and prosecutors approach hip hop culture in a way that...

“If you’re in Las Vegas and in trouble, call David Chesnoff.” Peter Lattman, Wall Street Journal Law Blog - May 8, 2007 This is the seventh in a series of articles about the hearings before the murder trial of Robert Durst. You may click on the hyperlinked titles to read Two Hearings: Robert Durst and Armon Nelson, While Robert Durst Flips Through Photos, Robert Durst Fades Away, Robert Durst and the Inequity of Judicial Time, Robert Durst’s Warrior in Court and Robert Durst Stares into the Camera.

Team Crime Story: Welcome to our round up of the week's events at crimestory.com. The week began with RightWay Youth: Lafawn’s Story, the third in our series of youth stories from our partnership with The RightWay Foundation (which you can read more about here). Lafawn Taylor (writing with Leland Hall) relates his experience growing up never knowing his parents and churning through four foster homes and around 30 group homes. Lafawn recounts how he faced the prospect of addiction, homelessness and possible incarceration. He then relates that the practical life coaching that he receives...

I am delighted to announce that Paul Butler is joining CRIME STORY as Consulting Editor. Paul has been an advisor to CRIME STORY since the early development of the company. He has already joined me for two Podcast interviews, which you can find here and here. And today, he publishes and reads his first Op-Ed for CRIME STORY. "Trump, Jussie Smollett and "Embarrassment to Our Nation" which you can find here. Paul and I met through my involvement in the alumni of Georgetown Law, where he is a professor, and one of the nation’s...

Team Crime Story:Welcome to our round up of the week's events at crimestory.com.The week began with my essay about Chip Lewis, Robert Durst’s Warrior in Court. This article is part of a series of pieces exploring how the Durst trial is educational in its contrasts with the ordinary realities of the criminal legal process in Los Angeles.The middle of the week was populated by our release of two sets of podcast interviews. The first was our conversation with Pam Veasey, Showrunner of “CSI: NY” and “CSI: Cyber”. During our conversation, we explored Pam's storytelling origins and how she took custody of the CSI vision, and how...

Today’s podcast is part two of a two-part conversation with Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the makers of the breakout, true crime series Making a Murderer. (To find the podcast and transcript of Part 1, click here.) During this part of our conversation, we discuss Moira’s and Laura’s making a deal with Netflix to broadcast Making a Murderer as their first documentary series, the experience of watching the series become a cultural phenomenon, the process of making season two of the series, and where things stand in the cases of Steven Avery and...

Today’s podcast is part 1 of a 2-Part conversation with Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the makers of the breakout True Crime series Making a Murderer. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand their values and aims as storytellers in the world of crime and justice. During part one of our conversation, we discussed Moira’s and Laura’s...

Today’s podcast is a conversation with Pam Veasey, Showrunner of two of the four series in the CSI franchise: CSI: New York and CSI: CYBER. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand their values and aims as storytellers in the world of crime and justice. During our conversation we discussed Pam’s path into storytelling,...

This is the fifth in a series of articles about the hearings before the murder trial of Robert Durst. You may click on the hyperlinked titles to read Two Hearings: Robert Durst and Armon Nelson, While Robert Durst Flips Through Photos, Robert Durst Fades Away, and Robert Durst and the Inequity of Judicial Time. Robert Durst admitted that he cut up his neighbor’s body and threw it in Galveston Bay. And yet a Texas jury acquitted him of murder. Durst has a habit of ignoring his attorneys’ guidance and engaging with people who...

Welcome to our roundup of the week’s events at crimestory.com. It should be clear to anyone who has been paying attention to Crime Story over our first 10 weeks that Molly Miller has emerged as a star storyteller. Molly bookended this week with two of the most powerful and trenchant pieces that we have run on the site.On Monday, in Facing Your Rapist in a Courtroom, she explored the history and implications of the Victim’s Impact Statement as a part of the criminal legal process, in the context of her own experience as a rape survivor.On Friday,...

Joining me today on the podcast is Georgetown Law Professor, Paul Butler. As you may recall, Paul joined me on the day we launched Crime Story to offer his perspective on my interview with Attorney General William Barr. Professor Butler is the author of the widely lauded books “Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice,” and “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.” Paul is also one of the nation’s most frequently consulted scholars on issues of race and criminal justice. Prior to becoming a professor, Butler served as...

Team Crime Story,Welcome to our roundup of the week’s events at crimestory.com.We begin with Hannah Teich’s curated selection of some of the more interesting stories from Crime Story Daily over the past week.Hannah, who edits this Daily section, groups the aggregation into four general topic areas: criminal justice policy reporting; muckraking/watchdog reporting; complex crime storytelling; and stories that examine the impact of criminal justice and true-crime in the culture.Click on the link below to go to Hannah’s weekly essay. CRIME STORY DAILY - The Week’s Highlights This week in our original content created for the...

Hank Steinberg and I discuss his path into storytelling, culminating in how he came to create Without a Trace as a relative novice to the television business, how he developed the chops to run that show and build it into a top 10 television juggernaut. And we discuss the creative satisfaction and limitations of creating a successful network television crime procedural franchise. You can find a transcript of the interview here.

Welcome to our roundup of the week’s events at crimestory.com. We begin by introducing a new Crime Story feature. Hannah Teich, the editor of our Crime Story Daily aggregation section, offers a curated selection of some of the more interesting stories from Crime Story Daily over the past week. In planning this feature, we identified four broad topic areas that help us organize and choose the stories for the Crime Story Daily. Those topic areas are: criminal justice policy reporting; muckraking/watchdog reporting; complex crime storytelling; and stories that examine the impact of criminal...

Today’s podcast is a conversation with Tom Fontana, ground zero in the explosion of this golden age of television. Tom served as executive producer of St. Elsewhere, Executive Producer and Showrunner of Homicide: Life on the Streets, and Creator and Executive Producer of the first prestige drama of the cable television era, Oz. Tom is currently the Executive Producer and Showrunner of the Showtime crime drama City on a Hill. In this conversation, Tom and I discussed the people and forces that shaped his creative thinking, and we zeroed in...

We’ve noticed something. The more time we spend in the criminal courts building, the more familiar faces have taken on meaning. The elegant “swan woman” is Karen, the Spanish translator. The friendly security guard on the ninth floor is Carlito who writes children’s books. The bespectacled blonde with a massive bag is Terri, the meticulous reporter from City News. And then there are the judges. The bench officers weren’t originally the subjects of particularly intense interest to us. They are the proverbial referees of the courtroom, and we’ve been reporting on...

This week on Crime Story began with David Simon, the creator and executive producer of The Wire, referring his 250,000 Twitter followers to my interview with him.On Monday we published RightWay Youth: Leo’s Story by Leo Jimenez with Molly Miller, the first in our series of youth stories from our partnership with The RightWay Foundation (which you can read more about here).  Leo relates his experience of growing up gay in “21 foster homes, three psych wards, and one group home,” and recounts how the therapy services offered by RightWay has offered him a path to healing. “Sometimes the pain from my...

Following on my four-part interview with the Creator of The Wire, David Simon (which you can find links to here), today’s podcast is a conversation with his frequent collaborator, George Pelecanos. George is one of the great detective novelists of his generation and the executive producer several HBO dramas including The Wire and The Deuce the latter of which he co-created with David Simon.  The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host...

In case you missed it, David Simon, the creator and executive producer of The Wire, referred his Twitter followers to my interview with him, writing: “Even I can’t stand to hear myself this long, but Kary Antholis — the singular spark to my work at HBO who has now launched the new Crimestory venture — has delivered a comprehensive, exhaustive, four-part interview on a Baltimore scribbler’s origin story. I’m exhausted, anyway.” As David said, we present my interview with him in four parts: In part one we discuss David’s formative years...

This week at Crime Story, we began with Chris Tarricone’s Police Force Expert — Taser Certified, which offered a snap-shot perspective on a prosecutor and a witness in the trial of Andrea Moorer (also the subject of Molly Miller’s Strong Female Lead). On Tuesday we published Sean Smith’s Your Honor? I’m Here to Give Myself Up, in which Sean captures two ordinary (for the court) and yet extraordinary (for the defendants) moments of pleas for mercy in the courtroom of Judge Katherine Mader. On Thursday, Molly Miller’s The Truths of Louie Cordero explores the complex motivations and...

Today’s podcast is the final part of our four-part interview with David Simon. (You can find part one of the interview here, part two here, and part three here.)   In part four, we discuss David’s creation of The Wire and some of the key themes explored in that series. You can find a complete transcript of this interview here.

Today’s podcast is the third part of our four-part interview with David Simon. (You can find part one of the interview here and part two here.) In part three, we discuss David’s reporting for the book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner City Neighborhood and his experience producing the multiple Emmy Award-winning miniseries based on that book. You can find a complete transcript of this interview here.

This podcast is the second part of a four-part interview with David Simon. (You can find part one of the interview here.) In part two we discuss David’s work as a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun, his writing the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and his transition to writing for television. You can find a complete transcript of this interview here.

Today’s podcast is a conversation with David Simon.  David and I met when he came in to HBO to pitch The Corner as a television series. The Corner is a book that he wrote with Ed Burns about the year that they spent in an inner-city Baltimore neighborhood ravaged by drug abuse and distribution. Together with his book Homicide, The Corner was the foundation for David’s series The Wire, which has been widely acclaimed as one of the great television series of all time. My aim in sitting down with...

Team Crime Story:This week’s Crime Story activity actually began last Friday, with Ken White’s piece for us about The College Bribery Scandal called Felicity Huffman’s Smarter Choices.  That article got considerable traffic throughout the weekend and into the middle of last week as it coincided with the announcement of Huffman’s sentence of 14 days in jail and a $30,000 fine. We followed that with my story story about the implications of President Trump’s unhinged Twitter tirade against John Legend and Chrissy Teigen for the future of his administration’s approach to criminal justice reform.  On...

Today’s podcast is a conversation with Jonathan Tropper. Jonathan and I met when he pitched me an idea for a Cinemax show called Banshee. We worked together on that series and on his most recent Cinemax series Warrior. I asked Jonathan to join me for this conversation for two reasons: First, Banshee explores ideas of crime and justice in ways that are very unique in the television landscape. It is a violent and pulpy show that also examines the existential toll taken by deceit and betrayal. Second, Banshee is the show that connected...

Today’s podcast is a conversation with Steve Zaillian. Steve won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for Schindler’s List and won a Directors Guild Award for his miniseries The Night Of. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand the values and aims of storytellers in the world of crime and justice. I got to know Steve working as...

Does President Trump’s Twitter tirade taunting Chrissy Teigen (and her husband, musician and activist John Legend) suggest a shift in his administration’s narrative regarding criminal justice reform? Trump’s four tweet lament (pleading that he gets no credit for the reform legislation that passed last year, while undeserving others take that credit) reeked of resentment, jealousy, and recrimination, and it may be the latest in a series of signals that — as we move into an election year — he is abandoning the “Reform” mantle in favor of a punitive, retributive...

Team Crime Story,This week on Crime Story we began and ended with examinations of national media stories, and -- in the middle of the week -- explored three dark and troubling LA stories, and a case in a new location for us, the Alhambra Courthouse. We started the week with my piece entitled Robert Durst Fades Away, in which I observe how, as Durst recedes into a shell of infirmity, the man who is prosecuting him is flourishing with theatrical bluster. In Molly Miller’s The Matter of the Intersex Shooting, she presents a...

This is the third in a series of articles about the hearings before the murder trial of Robert Durst. You may click on the hyperlinked titles to read Two Hearings: Robert Durst and Armon Nelson and While Robert Durst Flips Through Photos. Robert Durst seems to be fading away. In the first hearing in his trial for the murder of Susan Berman observed by our Crime Story reporters, Robert Durst yells about the wardrobe brought for him. In the second, he sits, virtually mute, and only becomes...

Hello friends, We brought our first month to close with a set of articles and podcasts that our readers clearly found engaging, as we surpassed our previous week in traffic and engagement. We began and ended the week with pieces by Owen Smith. Owen's An Appeal for Commutation explored the Sisyphean struggle of Delon Broussard to persuade Judge Curtis Rappe to commute his murder conviction based on a 2018 California Law.  His story Special Docket explores the efforts of Community Collaborative Courts to address the special needs of certain special defendants. Tuesday,...