#224 Jason Flom with Eric Riddick

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On November 6th, 1991, William Catlett was shot and killed on a street corner in West Philadelphia. Nearly all eyewitnesses identified a man named Edward “P-nut” Johnson as the shooter. Instead of following those leads, investigators coerced a witness to blame Eric Riddick a childhood friend of Catlett. The witness recanted in 1999, but Riddick was not told about it until 2003, long after the 60 day window to introduce new evidence to his case had elapsed. It took the support of Meek Mill, Georgetown’s “Making an Exoneree,” and the election of Larry Krasner for justice to finally be served in May 2021. Learn more and get involved at: https://erfoundation19.com/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/er-foundation?qid=491860da219c9bf0cf77becda36001aa https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On November 6, 1991, Eric Riddick was hanging out in front of his friend's house in West
0:08.0	Philadelphia.
0:09.0	At the same time, just two blocks away, Eric's childhood friend William Catlett was
0:14.1	fatally shot in what police believed was a drug dispute, and all eyewitnesses implicated
0:19.6	a man named Edward Pena Johnson.
0:22.5	But this was Philadelphia in the 90s where official misconduct was the norm and one shouldn't
0:27.8	have expected investigations to follow the actual evidence.
0:31.7	So despite all the signs pointing toward Pena Johnson and a rock solid alibi, Eric was
0:37.8	charged with the unmotivated murder of his friend solely on a coerced statement from
0:43.0	a man named Sean Stevenson.
0:45.3	So when none of the alibi witnesses were even called to testify, the trial reached a predictable
0:51.8	outcome, sending Eric away for life in prison.
0:56.0	In 1999, Stevenson finally recanted his bogus testimony, stating that he had been under
1:01.1	pressure from both the victim's friends and the district attorney to maintain the lie.
1:06.8	However, Eric was not even alerted to the recantation until 2003.
1:12.9	The time elapsed made this earth-shattering evidence inadmissible.
1:17.5	With the key to his freedom rendered useless, Eric's appeals were repeatedly denied.
1:23.2	They took the support of Meek Mill, students at Georgetown, the election of a new district
1:28.1	attorney with a real conviction integrity unit, and almost an additional two decades
1:34.0	to finally set Eric Rinnick free.
1:36.9	This is wrongful conviction, which is in flop.
1:51.0	I'm Marcel Swiley, that do and host a more to it.
	...

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