Listen Now: Suspect "Five Shots in the Dark"

The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories

themindsofmadness

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.4 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2023

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Leon Benson spent more than half of his life, a total of 24 years, in an Indiana state prison for a murder he didn't commit. Despite the lack of physical evidence and a questionable eyewitness identification, he was convicted. But new realities start to come to light when attorney Lara Bazelon takes up his case and is determined to secure Benson's release. Season three of Suspect, co-produced by Campside Media and Wondery, delves into the flaws in the criminal justice system that led to Benson's wrongful conviction for the 1998 shooting of Kasey Schoen in Indianapolis. The investigation aims to uncover the truth about who really committed the crime and why the eyewitness testimony that led to Benson's conviction was so shaky. Host Matthew Shaer joins co-producer and writer Bazelon to take a deep dive into the nature of memory and how it can be fallible and result in an innocent man's life being wasted, while the real perpetrator remains unpunished. As the investigation unfolds, will Bazelon and her team gather enough evidence to free Benson? And what will happen to Schoen’s real killer? Listen to Suspect: Five Shots in the Dark early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Find Wondery Plus in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts: https://wondery.app.link/SuspectS3_MOM

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, I want to tell you about a podcast that I think you'll enjoy, called Suspect,
0:05.6	Five Shots in the Dark. This latest season looks at a case with two victims,
0:10.7	one murdered in cold blood, and one in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
0:15.7	It follows Leon Benson's story, a man who spent more than half of his life,
0:20.3	a total of 24 years in an Indiana State prison for the murder of Casey Schaim,
0:26.4	a man he never met. Casey was murdered in the middle of an August night,
0:31.3	shot point blank, while idling in his dodge pickup truck in North Indianapolis.
0:36.8	There was no physical evidence, no no motive, and no one coming forward with information.
0:42.8	Except one woman who swears to this day, she saw Leon Detroit Benson pull the trigger.
0:49.6	He was sentenced to 60 years in prison, all because one person swore they saw something.
0:56.5	But what if she was wrong? From Wondering Campside Media, come season three of the hip podcast,
1:03.6	Suspect. This is a story of a botched police investigation, the dangers of shaky eyewitness
1:10.4	testimony, and a community who feared law enforcement, with good reason. I'm about to play a clip
1:17.0	from Suspect, five shots in the dark, while you're listening, follow Suspect wherever you get
1:22.0	your podcasts. You can listen to Suspect early and add free on Wondering Plus, find Wondering Plus
1:28.0	in the Wondering app or on Apple podcasts. A long time ago, I remember watching an episode of
1:34.4	Oprah about eyewitness testimony. I actually haven't been able to find the episode in question
1:39.4	online. This would have been like three decades ago when I was a kid, home from school,
1:44.4	watching TV. It's entirely possible, I imagine parts of it. But in my memory, Oprah, without
1:50.9	telling anyone, has this guy run on stage and snatch up a purse belonging to one of the panelists.
1:56.9	And then afterwards, Oprah asks everyone to identify the thief, but no one can.
2:02.8	Each person, Oprah, asks, they've got a different answer as to what the guy looked like.
	...

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