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Unjust & Unsolved

18: Ralph Trent Stokes

Unjust & Unsolved

Daisy

True Crime

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On March 11, 1982 three people were murdered during a robbery of a famous Philadelphia restaurant. 19-year-old Ralph Trent Stokes was arrested three days later and at trial after only 45 minutes of deliberation, Ralph Stokes was convicted of three counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Roger King was the prosecutor. He held the record for most death sentences achieved in the state of Pennsylvania when he retired. He’s also infamous for prosecutorial misconduct and having multiple overturned convictions. King used made up physical evidence placing Ralph at the location of the crime and his star witness who fled the jurisdiction dressed as a woman - could have been the real killer all along.

For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit:
https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/

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Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Maggie Freeling.

0:04.0

A majoringist and producer and this is unjust and unsolved.

0:09.0

A podcast about people who I believe are wrongfully incarcerated for crimes that are actually

0:15.8

unsolved.

0:16.8

You've surely heard stories like these on the news, but the thing is, the ones you've

0:21.5

heard about barely scratch the surface.

0:24.7

The Innocence Project gives a conservative estimate that about 20,000 innocent people

0:30.4

are currently locked away in US prisons.

0:34.4

After reading some of these stories, I felt compelled to do something.

0:37.8

So I sent 20 letters to people who are locked up despite evidence pointing away from them.

0:43.6

Some responded through mail, some emailed, and some called me on contraband cell phones.

0:49.2

But all wanted their stories to be heard.

0:52.3

So I left my public radio job and decided to do just that.

0:58.6

In each episode, I speak with those people, their loved ones, supporters, and lawyers,

1:03.6

to shed light on how they wound up incarcerated for decades, despite the evidence, and how

1:09.0

that means the crimes they were convicted of are still unsolved.

1:13.7

This week I'm telling the story of Ralph Trent Stokes.

1:17.9

March 11, 1982, three people were murdered during a robbery of a famous restaurant in Philadelphia,

1:25.3

Pennsylvania, Smogan Joe's Corner.

1:29.3

Nineteen-year-old Ralph Trent Stokes used to work there in the kitchen.

1:33.5

After one survivor said the victim might have recognized Ralph's voice, Ralph was arrested

1:38.5

and charged with the murders.

...

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