Redeeming a Wrongful Conviction

Good Faith

News, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do true faith and forgiveness look like in the face of wrongful conviction?

Host Curtis Chang is joined by award-winning journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty and Ben Spencer, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 34 years. They share Ben’s powerful story of faith, resilience, and redemption in the face of wrongful incarceration. Curtis and Barbara explore the systemic failures of the American justice system and reveal how the innocence movement and investigative journalism were crucial in securing Ben’s exoneration. Ben reflects on how his belief in truth and forgiveness transformed his life, offering hope to others facing adversity.

Send written questions or voice memos for “Ask Curtis” episodes to: [email protected]

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Resources from this episode:

Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s Bringing Ben Home: A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice
Jim McCloskey and Centurion Ministries
Read about Ben at The National registry of Exonerations
Read the news of Ben's exoneration
Listen to Barbara’s early reporting on Ben's case
Read about Judge Rick Magnis’ belief in Ben's innocence
Read about Ross Perot’s secret witness payout
Read John 16:33

Transcript

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0:00.0	I went through two trials, and in both trials, the truth came out. However, the jury chose not to believe the truth. They ignored it, and they believed the lie.
0:25.3	Welcome to the Good Faith podcast.
0:27.2	I'm your host, Curtis Chang.
0:34.4	And the Good Faith podcast is we're friends who follow Jesus help each other make sense of the world.
0:40.0	Now, imagine this scenario and how it would completely disrupt your sense of the world. Imagine you're at home one night watching Netflix with your wife, and suddenly there's a knock
0:47.0	on the door, and it's the police, and they arrest you, put you in handcuffs, take you to jail,
0:53.6	and suddenly you are accused
0:55.6	with a heinous crime, a murder that you had nothing to do with, that you have no idea
1:00.4	what's going on.
1:01.6	But in this crazy scenario, prosecutors begin to show evidence, eyewitness accounts that show,
1:08.5	yeah, you were the one that committed this murder.
1:11.4	And then after a long arduous process, you are sentenced to jail, to a life sentence,
1:17.8	ripped apart from your family, friends with no freedom and really no hope of ever getting out.
1:24.4	Now, for most of us, that scenario seems absolutely incomprehensible and horrible. This seems
1:32.3	like a rerun of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford that you're watching on Netflix, not a character
1:37.9	in. And yet, the truth is, this scenario actually happens in the world, happens in America, more often
1:46.2	than you may realize.
1:48.1	That's the startling discovery of our guests for today's episode.
1:52.3	Barbara Bradley Haggerty, who is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling
1:56.7	author of numerous books.
1:58.2	And her latest book is called Bring Ben Home, A Murder, A Conviction,
2:04.3	and the Fight to Redeem American Justice. Barb, welcome to the Good Faith podcast.
	...

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