#244 Jason Flom with Kevin Cooper

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Saturday, June 4, 1983, three members of the Ryen family, as well as their neighbor’s son, Christopher Hughes, were brutally murdered in the Ryen home. 8 year old Joshua Ryen survived horrifying injuries, including a hatchet wound to the head and a slashed throat. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office immediately targeted Kevin Cooper because he had recently fled from the California Institution for Men (CIM), a medium security facility just a few miles from the Ryen home. A botched crime scene left little to go on, so many believe they fixed evidence to make the charges stick while ignoring compelling alternative suspects. Kevin has been defending his innocence from death row for almost 40 years. California Governor Newsom recently ordered a full Innocence Investigation into the case. Kevin and his team are confident that this investigation will finally clear his name. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://freekevincooper.com/ https://kevincooper.org/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-cooper-case-death-row-inmate-san-quentin-murder-new-developments-48-hours/ https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/ Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Saturday, June 4, 1983, in Chino Hills, California, the Ryan family, Doug Peggy, their
0:09.4	children, Jessica and Joshua, as well as their neighbor's son, Christopher Hughes, were
0:13.7	violently attacked in the Ryan home.
0:16.7	Only eight-year-old Joshua Ryan survived, and at the hospital, he described the perpetrators
0:22.0	as three white or Hispanic men.
0:25.0	At the same time, Kevin Cooper, a black man, had recently escaped from a nearby prison
0:29.8	and had holed up at a vacant house near the Ryan home.
0:33.2	When the police learned of the prison break, they disregarded the witnesses and tips corroborating
0:38.4	Josh Ryan's description in favor of the theory that one of the prison escapees was responsible.
0:45.0	And as pressure mounted to solve the case with an election fast approaching, Kevin Cooper
0:50.1	became an easy scapegoat for the sheriff.
0:53.3	Under the DA's orders, the crime scene was dismantled and moved to a warehouse, rendering
0:58.6	forensic testing useless.
1:00.8	The prosecution's case of trial was riddled with inconsistencies and problematic evidence,
1:06.0	but with a poorly prepared defense attorney and hidden or destroyed ex-culpatory evidence
1:11.4	that jury convicted Kevin of the murders, and he was sentenced to death.
1:15.7	We're joined by Kevin and his attorney Norman Hyle to discuss the status of his case,
1:20.9	as well as the proven evidence tampering misconduct by the sheriff's department and compelling
1:26.2	alternate suspects that should have ended any suspicion into Kevin Cooper back in 1983.
1:33.0	This is wrongful conviction.
1:35.4	Truth is stranger than fiction and reality TV stars know this better than anyone, but
1:47.8	you may not know about them or even believe is actually criminal behavior.
	...

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