Radiolab Presents: More Perfect - Mr. Graham and the Reasonable Man

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, History, Documentary, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2017

⏱️ 68 minutes

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Summary

This story comes from the second season of Radiolab's spin-off podcast, More Perfect. To hear more, subscribe here. On a fall afternoon in 1984, Dethorne Graham ran into a convenience store for a bottle of orange juice. Minutes later he was unconscious, injured, and in police handcuffs. In this episode, we explore a case that sent two Charlotte lawyers on a quest for true objectivity, and changed the face of policing in the US. The key voices: Dethorne Graham Jr., son of Dethorne Graham, appellant in Graham v. Connor Edward G. (Woody) Connette, lawyer who represented Graham in the lower courts Gerald Beaver, lawyer who represented Graham at the Supreme Court Kelly McEvers, host of Embedded and All Things Considered The key case: 1989: Graham v. Connor Additional production for this episode by Dylan Keefe and Derek John; additional music by Matt Kielty and Nicolas Carter. Special thanks to Cynthia Lee, Frank B. Aycock III, Josh Rosenkrantz, Leonard Feldman, and Ben Montgomery. Leadership support for More Perfect is provided by The Joyce Foundation. Additional funding is provided by The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation. Supreme Court archival audio comes from Oyez®, a free law project in collaboration with the Legal Information Institute at Cornell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get going, just a quick warning, this podcast contains some descriptions of graphic violence and also some strong language.
0:08.8	So be warned.
0:10.7	Wait, you're listening.
0:11.8	Okay.
0:13.1	All right.
0:14.3	Okay.
0:15.7	All right.
0:17.1	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:20.1	Radio Lab.
0:20.6	From W. N. Y.
0:22.6	C.
0:23.5	See?
0:27.6	So nice to see you again, Chad.
0:31.3	Why did you say that with some venom?
0:33.2	What was that all about?
0:34.2	It's just you've been away for a while.
0:37.3	The only way I can see you is when I come visit you with your other family.
0:42.7	Okay, so this is Radio Lab producer Matt Kielty.
0:46.4	Yeah.
0:47.0	We're talking about, what are we talking about?
0:49.0	We're talking about a Supreme Court case from 1989.
0:51.5	Mm-hmm.
	...

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