Gå offline med appen Player FM !
In Bondage to the Law
Manage episode 427445972 series 44456
On a summer night in 1995, a sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in a hotel parking lot in Birmingham, Alabama. When investigators arrived at the scene, they found no eyewitnesses and almost no evidence pointing to the shooter.
Detectives ultimately zeroed in on a man named Toforest Johnson, who on that same night was with friends at a nightclub miles away. Johnson was tried twice for the murder and eventually convicted on the testimony of an “earwitness” – a woman who claimed to have overheard Johnson confessing to the crime. He has spent more than 25 years on Alabama’s death row.
In 2019, investigative journalist Beth Shelburne began covering the case, finding details that cast major doubts about Johnson’s guilt. This week, in partnership with Lava for Good and the Earwitness podcast, Shelburne tells us the story of Johnson’s case.
Click here to hear the full Earwitness podcast.
This episode originally aired in November 2023.
- Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
- Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
563 episoder
Manage episode 427445972 series 44456
On a summer night in 1995, a sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in a hotel parking lot in Birmingham, Alabama. When investigators arrived at the scene, they found no eyewitnesses and almost no evidence pointing to the shooter.
Detectives ultimately zeroed in on a man named Toforest Johnson, who on that same night was with friends at a nightclub miles away. Johnson was tried twice for the murder and eventually convicted on the testimony of an “earwitness” – a woman who claimed to have overheard Johnson confessing to the crime. He has spent more than 25 years on Alabama’s death row.
In 2019, investigative journalist Beth Shelburne began covering the case, finding details that cast major doubts about Johnson’s guilt. This week, in partnership with Lava for Good and the Earwitness podcast, Shelburne tells us the story of Johnson’s case.
Click here to hear the full Earwitness podcast.
This episode originally aired in November 2023.
- Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
- Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
563 episoder
Όλα τα επεισόδια
×Välkommen till Player FM
Player FM scannar webben för högkvalitativa podcasts för dig att njuta av nu direkt. Den är den bästa podcast-appen och den fungerar med Android, Iphone och webben. Bli medlem för att synka prenumerationer mellan enheter.