How Innocence Becomes Irrelevant (No Way Out, Part III)

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The Atlantic

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🗓️ 23 February 2018

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

After Rick Magnis, a Texas judge, reviewed the evidence in Benjamine Spencer’s case, he recommended a new trial for Spencer “on the grounds of actual innocence.” But Texas’s highest criminal court took the rare step of rejecting the judge’s ruling. Why? Because Spencer did not meet the state’s “Herculean” standard of unassailable proof, such as DNA, that would remove all doubts of his innocence. According to the judge who wrote the opinion denying Spencer a new trial, this standard has kept innocent people in prison without a possibility of getting out. In this third and final chapter of “No Way Out,” we reveal more evidence that points to Spencer’s innocence: A new witness who confirms his alibi, new technology that calls into question the testimony of the star eyewitness in his trial, and a full recantation by another key eyewitness against him. We also share a stunning discovery: potential DNA evidence that offers Spencer the thinnest hope of meeting the state’s astronomical burden of proof. And yet, none of this may be enough to exonerate Benjamine Spencer. In this episode, we explore why that is, and what it means. Links: - A list of key individuals mentioned in this story - "Can You Prove Your Innocence Without DNA?" (Barbara Bradley Hagerty, January/February 2018 issue) - "Innocence Is Irrelevant" (Emily Yoffe, September 2017 issue) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Since Benjamin Spencer was tried and convicted for the murder of Jeffrey Young three decades ago,
0:05.0	lots of new evidence has surfaced that undermines his conviction.
0:09.0	If you've listened to our last two episodes, you've heard much of that new evidence but a jury never has yet
0:16.4	Spencer's only potential path to a new trial is razor thin what would it take for
0:21.7	this evidence to be reconsidered?
0:24.0	And what does that mean if he's innocent?
0:26.0	This is The Atlantic. Today we're bringing you the third and final episode in our three-part series on the story of Benjamin Spencer.
0:50.0	If you haven't, I highly recommend that you go back and listen to parts one and two in those two episodes
0:56.4	You've heard a lot the jury that sent Spencer to prison did not hear in his trials
1:01.6	You've heard on tape as two of the three living
1:04.4	witnesses who testified against Spencer go back on their testimony to our
1:08.4	reporter Barbara Bradley Haggerty. You've heard about an alibi witness Spencer's jury never knew about.
1:14.0	You've heard a plausible alternate theory of who murdered Jeffrey Young,
1:17.5	and you've heard two of that person's friends say he did it.
1:20.5	All of this was enough to convince the foreman of the jury that sent Spencer to prison, as well as the Texas judge who considered his case that he is innocent.
1:29.0	In the next few moments, Barbara Bradley Haggerty will answer the question we started with, the question
1:34.2	that haunts a number of people who have heard this story every day.
1:38.2	Why is Spencer still in prison with little hope of a new trial?
1:42.2	Then we'll be joined by Jeffrey Goldberg and Alex
1:44.2	Wagner to discuss Ben Spencer's story and what it says about justice in
1:48.0	America. Here's Barbara.
1:52.0	As spring turned to summer and fall to winter, Benjamin Spencer began to worry.
	...

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