This is the sixth 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, and Robert Durst’s Warrior in Court. It’s mid-morning in Department 81, Airport Courthouse, and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin has me locked in a bearhug. Then again, maybe it’s more of an awkward embrace, a clumsy blend...

Editor's note: Later this week, the third trial of rapper Drakeo the Ruler on charges of profiting off of a gang conspiracy (California Penal Code § 182.5) begins in Compton. CRIME STORY will be covering that trial, as the nature of this law and its use by California Prosecutors raise significant Constitutional and Due Process questions. In conjunction with that coverage, we will also be publishing essays about the treatment of rap lyrics and culture by law enforcement in LA. Molly Miller's story below tells the story of the...

The house always wins. Jian Qiao Chen had already lost $3,000 playing Baccarat. He was about to lose even more. But not to a card game. Chen was gambling at the Commerce Casino, an establishment that has a church-basement vibe, complete with matted floral carpeting and rickety red-cushioned chairs. Guests expecting the glitz of the Vegas strip might describe it as “seedy,” but for serious players, it’s a hub of competition. According to their website, the Commerce Casino is California’s # 1 venue for games of skill....

For years, my view of the outside world was reduced to what I could see out of one barred window: the barren stretches between prison buildings, the walls topped with barbed wire, and beyond, a line of cypress trees on a remote hill. One of my few joys was the rare sight of a wild rabbit scurrying through the grass in springtime ― a reminder that out there, life carried on, even if I couldn’t be a part of it.  If you had asked me on...

Last week President Donald Trump spoke in Chicago at the annual convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Trump used the occasion to call out the actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of filing a false police report claiming that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime. Trump said that Smollett had perpetrated a scam, and that Congress’ impeachment investigation was a scam too.  Earlier in the year it appeared that Donald Trump and Jussie Smollett had some things in common. Each was the...

I submit to you a list of professions where humorous banter is an asset: accountant, car salesman, realtor, dentist, personal trainer, construction worker, civil engineer, dog trainer, photographer, microbiologist, professor, chef, waitress, actor, electrician, plumber, marketing director, novelist, tour guide, magician, landscaper, receptionist, librarian, violinist, glass-blower, zoologist, and garbage man. I submit to you a list of professions in which humorous banter is a liability: funeral home director, child oncologist, and criminal courts judge. It’s a Thursday morning and I’m seated in the gallery behind a nervous...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is part 2 of a 2-Part conversation with Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the makers of the breakout True Crime series Making a Murderer. During this part of our conversation, we discussed 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...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. 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...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. 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...

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 suspect...

I fucking hate men. Jogging down the cement steps of the courthouse stairwell, all eleven floors, it’s all I can think. I’m blistering with rage. This is the trial of Stephen Houk, a registered sex offender who is accused of abusing his spouse, Amey, and kidnapping their young children in the couple’s motorhome as he fled the police after Amey called the cops. Houk drove four hours in the RV from LA County to Bakersfield with cops on his heels. He told Amey over the phone “this...

On today’s podcast Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler and I revisit my interview with the Attorney General with the additional perspective of 10 eventful weeks behind us. We also discuss the societal questions raised by the police shootings in Texas. And we begin to examine Professor Butler’s work in the context of his own life experience and in the context of the movement to completely transform the criminal legal process. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where stories of Crime and Justice are...

It’s silent. It’s been 46 seconds and Kevin hasn’t said a word. He sits at the witness stand, hands in his lap. A teenager, slight in frame, Kevin wears a black turtleneck and moss green pants. His dark hair is spiked in front. It’s trendy in a way that reminds us that he’s still just a kid. And right now he’s staring down the man who sexually abused him. This is Kevin’s victim impact statement, his opportunity to speak during the...

Hank Steinberg and I discuss his path into storytelling, culminating in how 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. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told.

On-again off-again on-again off. In many ways Leione and Gabriel’s relationship was fresh off the CW airwaves. They were young and attractive. Leoine was petite with black hair and glossy auburn highlights. Gabriel was thick chested with a strong jawline and bright smile. The romance was a whirlwind – the kind of young love whose pattern of explosive breakups and steamy make-ups fringed on melodrama. When Leione started working as an exotic dancer at a North Hollywood strip club, Gabriel didn’t approve. When Gabriel bought a gun for protection, Leoine...

Two white lawyers on the verge of old age sit in a courtroom waiting for their cases to be called. Both are representing young men who got into tussles with the law. One of the attorneys reads the paper. His finely pressed sleeve falls to reveal a gold watch. The other fumbles with folders in a fine leather briefcase. The newspaper man folds the paper in his lap. A thought just struck him. “You know, I feel for these kids. I did tons of stupid shit when I was young.”

According to the arresting officer, at 7 am on June 29, Danny walked down North Avenue 54 wearing gloves and holding a spray paint can. He stopped outside a 7/11, shook the can, and spray painted “HLXP1” on the beige wall above the overloaded dumpsters. Then, he turned down York Street and sprayed “HLXPARK1” on the cracked curb of the 7/11’s parking lot. He nodded at his handiwork. The graffiti was a gang tag, meant to mark Highland Park’s territory and assert the gang’s status in the neighborhood. HLP and...

 Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. 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...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with 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...

The sign read “Half Rotisserie Chicken — $7.99” On June 1st 2019, 43-year-old Mario Morataya stepped into the Super A Foods while his wife waited outside with their six-month-old baby. Morataya worked a minimum wage job at the recycling center, but it wasn’t nearly enough to pay his family’s bills. His wife was hungry. He was hungry. The rotisserie chicken glistened on its heating tray. According to loss prevention agent Adrian Murphy, Morataya looked to the left and looked to the right, then shoved...

A D.A., a Judge, and an Alford Plea In January 2006, 60-year-old Malcolm Burrows was lured from his home in Tracy City, Tennessee by a man who claimed he was having car trouble. The man beat Burrows to death, then returned to Burrows' home and attacked his sister, Becky Hill. She survived the assault only because her son, Kirk Braden, intervened and fought the man off. Hill and Braden reported to police that their attacker was a boyish, red-haired man driving a gold-colored vehicle. Investigators honed in...

The law of unintended consequences is that actions always have unanticipated effects. Ms. Roberts, a homeless trans woman, was shaking. Her thin frame stood protectively over her upended shopping cart of belongings. It contained everything she owned in the world. Some people would call it trash, but to her it was her wardrobe, her pantry, and the place where she kept all items of sentimental value. Now it lay scattered on the pavement, mixed with dirt and unsanitary debris. Ms. Roberts stared at the...

“You do solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the cause now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” This is the oath taken by all witnesses who give testimony before a California court. It is the oath that Louie Cordero took when he was called to the stand.  Cordero is testifying in the trial of his step-brother, Cristian Iraheta, who is charged with attempted murder. Cordero looks small on the stand; slack jawed with...

Kary: This is the crime story podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with David Simon.  This Podcast is the last of a 4 part interview. In Part 4, we discuss David’s creation of The Wire and some of the key themes explored in that series. And so with all that said, here is my interview with David Simon. Kary: How...

Kary: This is the Crime Story podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with David Simon. This podcast is the third part of a four-part interview. 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. And so with all that said,...

Kary: This is the crime story podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with David Simon.  This Podcast is the second part of a 4 part interview. In Part 2, 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. And so with all that said, here...

Kary: This is the crime story podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. 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...

This is the second in a series of articles about the murder trial of Andrea Moorer. The first was Strong Female Lead by Molly Miller. Outside of Department 111 at the Criminal Courts Building, a stocky man in his late 60s sits upright and energetic, sticking out amongst those lounging in the hallway. The man is Larry Smith, an ex-cop here today to testify in defense of Andrea Dommique Moorer, who is charged with killing an abusive pimp, Ruffino Anderson. A clean-cut, gray-suited, and similarly energetic man...

As I walk into Department 109 of the Criminal Courts Building, I hear the following words and my ears prick up: IT WASN’T UNTIL THE REIGN OF RICHARD THE FIRST, WHO YOU PROBABLY KNOW AS RICHARD THE LIONHEARTED, THAT THIS CONCEPT THAT A PERSON ACCUSED OF A CRIME MUST BE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL THE CONTRARY IS PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT BECAME THE LAW. I’m a history buff, and so I am intrigued to find out what this is all about. I will later...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and Justice are told. 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...

It’s kind of like a heist — think Ocean’s Eleven. You assemble a rag-tag team of 12 to 14 professionals to carry out your operation. There’s just one problem: they have no skills. Even if they do, they are expressly forbidden from using their skills during the heist. They can’t research the heist online or talk to reporters about the heist. It’s really best if they don’t know anything about the heist before it begins.  That’s jury duty: a random selection of citizens without specialized legal knowledge who are assembled to...

This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. 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...

Does President Trump’s Twitter tirade taunting Chrissy Teigen (and her husband, musician/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 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 “law and order” narrative.

Last week, federal prosecutors asked United States District Judge Indira Talwani to impose a one-month jail sentence on actress Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud last May in “Operation Varsity Blues,” the bribery investigation that rendered Americans even more cynical about college admissions.  It’s a light sentence for a hefty nationwide scandal, and she probably won’t even serve it.  Huffman admitted guilt immediately, apologized repeatedly, and — with the exception of a somewhat tin-eared and self-pitying sentencing submission — has made every right move to maximize her chance of a sentence...

Defense attorney Dale Rubin often jokes around in the Criminal Courts Building, perhaps to keep his mind off of the challenges of defending Michael Gargiulo on two counts of capital murder. One time, he even played around with a mannequin (which was to serve as a model for a stabbing victim) with his adversary, prosecutor Garrett Dameron. Today, the two discuss baseball no-hitters and laugh in the courthouse hallway as they make their way toward Department 106. For now, the men seem to be good friends just shooting the bull, but, in five minutes,...

Editor’s Note: Out of respect for the privacy of some of the people depicted in this story, the defendant and the victim's names have been changed. All usernames altered. All identifying details erased. Deputy District Attorney Allyson Ostroswki begins her second day of cross-examination. Her tone is casual as she poses her first question, “In addition to having a vagina you also have what you describe as a small penis?” The defendant, Jackson Wilson, looks up from his wheelchair. He nods his head,  “Yes.”

In part two of the interview with Ed Bernero we zero in on two of the show’s episodes to discuss how the details of their creation offer us broader insights into the creative process that Ed established on the show. We also hear Ed’s answers to questions posed by USC students. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why stories of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is the second part of a two-part conversation with...

Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Blatt addresses the jury in her closing argument. Her first words are: “What you saw yesterday was not normal.” I know. I was there. The first abnormality appeared minutes before the trial began. Twenty-four high school students filed into the courtroom at 9:30 am, announced by their well-postured leader as members of UCLA’s mock trial camp. The boys wore sneakers while the girls tottered in their shiny patent leather heels. These brace-faced, bespectacled young adults were a shining example of professional courtesy. Their phones...

A young man is on trial for murder. His defense says he’s being railroaded. The prosecution paints him as a deceiving psychopath. Is he lying when he says he wasn’t there that night? We don’t have to look into his eyes to figure that out; the Emotion Recognition System does that for us. With dozens of cameras; thermal, pulse, and respiration measurements; sophisticated facial expression recognition algorithms, with billions of hours of human observation as background data; and thousands of hours of specific observation of this one defendant (from his time in police...

In the fifth-floor hallway, a middle-aged white guy is speaking into his iPhone. Late 40s, ruddy, he looks like someone you’d stand behind in line for beer at a Dodgers game. “I mistakenly fucked up,” he confides, “so I’m sorry….” Mistake. Fuck up. Sorry. The mea culpas pile up like cars on a fog-shrouded Interstate 5. Apologies are par for the course in the Criminal Courts Building. The Department 30 gallery is packed with mothers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, all eager for information, explanations, closure. They’re lucky if they get a quick...

Part one of a conversation with the co-creator of Third Watch and Executive Producer and founding showrunner of Criminal Minds. We hear about Ed’s unusual path into storytelling, covering how came to run the show and how he built the story mythology that has allowed Criminal Minds to achieve global financial success. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is part one of a...

In Part Two of the podcast we talk about the actors and zero in on two of the show’s episodes to discuss how the details of their creation offer us broader insights into the unique creative process behind this television masterpiece. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is Part Two of a two part conversation with Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is part one of a two part conversation with Vince Gilligan, the creator and showrunner of one of the great series in television history, Breaking Bad and one of his key collaborators on that series, director/executive producer Michelle MacLaren. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of...

It’s almost like a gritty, high-octane action flick. The female lead is a young prostitute and this is the climax of her narrative arc. After years of being mentally and physically abused by her pimp, they get into one last altercation outside of a bank. The pimp punches her face, elbows her eye and slams a car door on her head. She fights back — teeth, nails, everything she’s got — and manages to knock him to the ground. Then she gets into the car and looks at her pimp through the windshield....

My mother always said there are two sides to every story. In this story, there are two sides to the same door. It’s the wooden front door of the Martinez two-bedroom, one-story residence in Montebello, California. On one side of the door, a shot was fired. On the other side, a man was killed. Outside of the door, on the evening of October 28, 2014, 45-year-old Pomona Police Officer Shaun Diamond was called to take part in a SWAT operation. His team was tasked with serving a search warrant to...

Longtime members of the team at This American Life and co-creators of the Podcast series Serial - Koenig and Snyder discuss their careers and influences with a particular focus on Season 3 of Serial, a deep dive into the criminal justice system in and around Cleveland Ohio. Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told.   Today’s podcast is a conversation with longtime members of the team...

Listen to Amanda Knox read the article that she wrote with Christopher Robinson for crimestory.com In Oxygen’s Injustice with Nancy Grace, Grace promises to investigate “cases that inspire other victims to believe it ain’t over yet. Somebody still cares.” In other words, Grace is reprising her self-appointed role of “voice of the victim,” and presumably ― Grace says the show will focus on wrongful accusations and botched investigations ― she’s finally including wrongly convicted people within that definition. If so, it’s a big step for Grace, who historically has treated people...

Professor Butler offers his perspective on my interview with Attorney General William Barr. Guest: Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler Kary:  This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis, where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told.   Paul Butler:  The Attorney General appears to me to endorse torture… I understand that when we see a bad guy get his just desserts, in an extra-legal way, it might fulfill some kind...

A conversation with Mr. Barr about how his thinking about criminal justice issues has evolved since he first served as Attorney General in the early 1990s, as well as a conversation about the themes of justice as depicted in popular culture. Guest: United States Attorney General William Barr Kary:  This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told.   Attorney General Barr:  …...

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and the Richard Brooks film adaptation of Capote's "non-fiction novel" are watershed moments in crime storytelling. With guests Howard Rodman and Ted Braun, Professors at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Guests: USC Professors Howard Rodman and Ted Braun Kary Antholis:  This is The Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how narratives of crime and justice are told.  Today’s podcast is a conversation with Howard Rodman and Ted Braun about the...