#251 Jason Flom on Tim Cole

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the fall of 1984 and spring of '85, a serial rapist struck at least 4 times with eerily similar details. Meanwhile, a new student, Tim Cole, arrived on campus for the spring semester after the rapes had already began. On March 24th, 1985, a 20 year old student reported what appeared to be the 5th attack. Investigators collected a rape kit, and the victim helped them put together a composite sketch. From a passing glance, a plainclothes detective decided that Tim resembled the composite sketch. Using a very suggestive photo array, investigators engineered the misidentification of Tim Cole, and he was soon convicted. Despite numerous confessions from another man whose DNA ended up matching the material in the rape kit, Tim sat in prison where he passed away in 1999. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_QbivKABXk https://innocencetexas.org/ https://innocenceproject.org/cases/timothy-cole/ https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/ Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the end of 1984 through the spring of 1985, a serial rapist prayed on the campus of Texas Tech.
0:09.0	Each incident was reported with eerily similar details, including the fifth attack on a 20-year-old student who helped put together a composite sketch and underwent a rape kit.
0:19.0	Meanwhile, Tim Cole, a new student of Texas Tech, arrived in the spring semester after the serial rapes had already begun.
0:27.0	From a passing glance, a plane closed the Tech, and decided that Tim resembled the composite sketch.
0:32.0	A suggestive photo line up led to Tim's misidentification, arrest, and sexual assault charges solely for the fifth attack in the series.
0:41.0	When an additional rape occurred the day after he was taken into custody.
0:45.0	Further, the rapist had smoked during all of the attacks, while Tim, a chronic admissive for her, had never smoked.
0:51.0	The judge refused to admit evidence that this attack was part of a series that was also connected to a man who was then in custody.
0:58.0	Without these exculpatory details, Tim was convicted on the victim's shaky testimony of, quote, I think that's him.
1:06.0	After the statute of limitations expired, the serial rapist confessed but was ignored.
1:11.0	DNA testing would eventually prove Tim's innocence, but not before complications from asthma tragically took his life.
1:18.0	We're joined by his brother Corey and sister Karen, who shared their journey to posthumously exonerate Tim and restore his honor.
1:27.0	This is wrongful conviction.
1:35.0	My father was a flock star. It was like Bidlemania.
1:39.0	But not here in America. Dean Reed criticized the American government from behind the Iron Curtain. He had lots of enemies.
1:45.0	He wanted to come back home and then the unthinkable happened.
1:50.0	Dean Reed died.
1:52.0	Come with me, Ramona Reed, to learn more about the extraordinary life and mysterious death of revolutionary.
1:58.0	Listen to Red Elvis, a Curiosity Audio Network podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
2:05.0	Hi, it's Bethany Frankel. My time on the Real Housewives of New York is a few years behind me.
2:10.0	And now I'm ready to put the real back into the Real Housewives.
2:14.0	That's where my new podcast Rewives comes in. This isn't your typical ReWatch podcast.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lava for Good Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lava for Good Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.