#397 Guest Host Kemba Smith with Leon Benson
Wrongful Conviction
Lava for Good Podcasts
4.6 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 October 2023
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On August 8th, 1998, 25-year-old Kasey Schoen was shot and killed while sitting in his car in Indianapolis, IN. A few days later, a man approached officers and told them that he saw 22-year-old Leon Benson shoot the victim. A single eyewitness identified Leon as the shooter out of a photo lineup, despite the fact that he did not match the eyewitness's initial description of the shooter. Leon was ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and the main witness against him tried to recant their testimony.
Guest host, Kemba Smith, talks to Leon Benson and Lara Bazelon, Leon's attorney.
To learn more and get involved, please visit:
The Streets Don't Love You Back
Go to Die Jim Crow Records to support prison impacted musicians, including Leon Benson's (El Bently 448) album "Innocent Born Guilty".
https://kembasmithfoundation.org/
Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today's news can feel like uncharted waters. |
| 0:03.5 | But more often than you think, we're not the first generation to confront what we're dealing with today. |
| 0:08.5 | We're just the first generation to make a podcast about it. |
| 0:11.0 | I'm Rachel Maddo. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm Isaac Davey Aronson. |
| 0:13.5 | Each week we'll bring you a story from history. |
| 0:15.5 | That helps with something in the headlines today. |
| 0:19.0 | Rachel Maddo presents Desha News with Isaac Davey Aronson, an MSNBC podcast. |
| 0:25.5 | Search for Desha News wherever you're listening and follow. |
| 0:30.0 | In the early morning hours of August 8th, 1998, shots rang out in downtown Indianapolis. |
| 0:39.0 | Casey Shane, a young man who had been known to frequent a gay bar in the area, |
| 0:44.0 | was found dead in the driver's seat of his truck. |
| 0:48.0 | A young woman who was delivering newspapers in the area witnessed the shooting. |
| 0:52.5 | She described the gunman to police as a dark-skinned black man, |
| 0:56.5 | wearing a black shirt and jogging pants with three white stripes down the sides. |
| 1:01.5 | Later, in a photo array and a live lineup, she picked out Leon Benson. |
| 1:07.5 | Leon lived a few blocks from the shooting and was known to police as a drug dealer. |
| 1:15.5 | When Leon was arrested a week later, he insisted he had nothing to do with the shooting. |
| 1:20.5 | He'd been in a building across the street that night and dozens of people had seen him there. |
| 1:26.5 | But at trial, the young woman who had identified Leon from the lineup |
| 1:30.5 | did so again in front of a jury with convincing certainty. |
| 1:35.5 | She had seen the shooter with her own eyes she told the court and she pointed at Leon Benson. |
... |
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