In the early morning hours of August 8, 1998, shots rang out in downtown Indianapolis.

Casey Shane, a young man who had been known to frequent a gay bar in the area, was found dead in the driver's seat of his truck.

A young woman who was delivering newspapers in the area witnessed the shooting.

She described the gunman to police as a dark-skinned black man wearing a black shirt and jogging pants with three white stripes down the sides.

Later, in a photo array and a live lineup, she picked out Leon Benson. Leon lived a few blocks from the shooting

and was known to police as a drug dealer. When Leon was arrested a week later, he insisted

he had nothing to do with the shooting. He'd been in a building across the street that night

and dozens of people

had seen him there. But at trial, the young woman who had identified Leon from the lineup

did so again in front of a jury with convincing certainty. She had seen the shooter with her

own eyes, she told the court, and she pointed at Leon Benson. But this is wrongful conviction.

Welcome back to wrongful conviction.

I'm Kimba Smith, criminal justice advocate, formerly incarcerated individual, presidential clemency recipient and author, an executive producer.

And I'm sitting in today for Jason Flom, who is a good friend, long-time supporter.

And I'm excited today to be here with Leon Benson. Hi, Leon. Thanks for being on

Ronful Conviction. Hey, thank you for having me. And we also have of us, Laura Bazelon, from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she is the

director of the Criminal Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinic programs. Welcome, Laura.

Thank you so much for having us. And thank you so much for your passion and the work that you do.

Leon, so what was most interesting to me about your case was that during that particular time when you were arrested in 1998, there was this big thing already with the war on drugs, but there was an influx now of black and brown people going into the system.

And so my case was a drug case, a crack case.

And so I know with my case, the prosecution

withheld discovery information. And just to read all the many errors that transpired with your

...