On February 1st, 1997, in West Memphis, Arkansas, a young man named Charles Newsom was

fatally shot in his car. According to some witnesses, Charles was with two others in his car,

but only one was ever identified. Frederick Tyrone Ellis.

Ellis gave inconsistent accounts about the number, location, and identities of the assailants, eventually fixing the narrative on first four and then three men from a

rival neighborhood, Antonio Williams, DeMarco Marco Wilson and Kendrick Gillum,

who he placed outside the vehicle for the shooting. However, the ballistics and physical evidence

say something different. This is wrongful conviction.

You're listening to wrongful conviction. You can listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcast one week early and ad-free

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Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction conviction where we're going to return to West Memphis, Arkansas.

Yes, the home of the West Memphis 3, one of whom Jason Baldwin first told our colleague, Maggie Freeling, about the case we're going to be covering today.

And we're going to link that episode

of unjust and unsolved in the episode description. In this case involves the same local legal system,

as well as three co-defendants, one of whom Kendrick Gillum is calling in from an Arkansas prison. Ken,

thanks for joining us. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Now, a second former guest, Marty Tankliff,

it was his efforts through the Making Exanari class at Georgetown University with Professor Mark Howard that led a group of students to reinvestigate the case for Ken.

And we're joined by one of those former students who is currently seeking her master's in investigative journalism.

Claudia Amendoveda, welcome.

Thank you for having me.

So let's start with Ken's life growing up in this small and notorious city of only about 25,000 people on the west side of the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, called West Memphis.

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