L.A. Times presents The Trials of Frank Carson

Larger Than Life

Los Angeles Times

Daniel Miller, Class, Drag Racing, Race, Society & Culture, Los Angeles Times, True Crime, Street Car, 1960s, Big Willie, Street Racer, Watts Riots, Big Wilie Robinson, Neon Hum Media, Documentary, 60s, L.a. Times

4.2 • 802 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2021

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One lawyer saw a broken system. But the system saw a vigilante killer. From Christopher Goffard, the Los Angeles Times reporter and host behind the hit podcasts Dirty John and Detective Trapp, comes a new eight-episode true crime podcast, The Trials of Frank Carson. This story of power, politics and the law centers around Carson, the famously caustic defense attorney, who dedicated his life’s work to the very thing that has turned against him — the justice system. The first two episodes premiere Tuesday May 25, available wherever you listen to podcasts. http://link.chtbl.com/FrankCarson. Special bonus episodes are available exclusively to L.A. Times subscribers. https://www.latimes.com/frank-carson-podcast.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this is Christopher Gafford, Los Angeles Times reporter and the creator of the podcast's
0:07.5	Dirty John and Detective Trap. I'm excited to tell you about my new podcast, The Trials of Frank Carson.
0:15.6	It's a story of power, politics, and the law in California's Central Valley. Frank Carson was a combative and controversial
0:24.5	criminal defense attorney who spent his career accusing police and prosecutors of corruption.
0:30.8	Then he was charged with murder. We'll tell you the story over eight episodes. Here's a quick
0:37.1	preview. Follow us for new episodes over the story over eight episodes. Here's a quick preview.
0:38.0	Follow us for new episodes over the next six weeks, available wherever you get your podcasts.
0:48.0	A 64-year-old attorney is making his way slowly up the concrete steps of the courthouse in Modesto,
0:58.6	California. His body is wracked with pain. His heavy shoulders are hunched forward over the cane he
1:05.7	carries in his right hand. From his left hand swings a cracked black leather satchel stuffed with his legal files.
1:14.5	He's here at 8.30 on a Monday morning in June 2019 to do the unpopular work of defending the
1:21.4	wrongly accused, the thoroughly guilty, and clients at every point in between.
1:30.1	He's made this trip thousands of times.
1:37.4	In better days, he's swaggered the flamboyant terror of cops and prosecutors and judges.
1:49.5	I haven't had any qualms about going after law enforcement for lying. If they fudge, once they fudge, it's open season.
1:56.9	This is Frank Carson, the most combative and controversial criminal defense lawyer in Stanislaus County.
2:03.8	His kidneys are failing. His sciatic nerve is a flameame and his morning Vicodin hasn't kicked in.
2:10.1	The effort to get up the steps makes him wince, but he hates to give any satisfaction to his enemies. He has many. For decades, he's defeated his law enforcement adversaries in court
2:16.4	and raged against them in unapologetically
2:19.3	venomous terms. He names names in a Central Valley legal community where the cast of characters
2:26.9	is small and the memories long.
2:29.3	You know, they say, Mr. Carson, you're personal. You know what? It can't be any more personal to the guy that I'm representing.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Los Angeles Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Los Angeles Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.