#411 Jason Flom with John Jerome White

Early on the morning of August 11, 1979, an intruder broke into a Manchester, GA home to find a 74-year-old woman asleep on her couch. The man beat and sexually assaulted the woman and then demanded all her money. She gave the attacker cash from her purse and then he left through the back door.  The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but no rape kit was collected due to the extent of her injuries. At the victim’s house, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) crime scene investigators collected pubic hairs from a bed sheet that had been on the couch at the time of the rape. Police then created a composite sketch of the attacker from the victim’s description, and a GBI agent who was investigating John Jerome White on another charge thought he resembled the sketch. White was convicted on May 30, 1980 of rape, assault, burglary, and robbery.  To learn more about the junk science of hair microscopy evidence: https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/152-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-hair-microscopy-evidence/ To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/from-2007-snapshot-eyewitness-mistake/TxDolwbHy82ba4w1eefq8H/ https://www.georgiainnocenceproject.org/ Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Om Podcasten

Hosted by celebrated criminal justice reform advocate and founding board member of the Innocence Project Jason Flom, Pulitzer prize-winning podcast host and producer Maggie Freleng, and Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, and podcast host Lauren Bright Pacheco, Wrongful Conviction features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they maintain they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others continue to languish, with some even facing execution on death row. Each episode peels back the layers behind the stories of those who have found themselves caught in a legal system gone wrong, with illuminating insights from lawyers and leading experts sharing their in-depth knowledge about each case, from prison visits and courtroom battles to reexamined crime scenes and witness interviews. This gripping series reveals the tragedy of injustice…as well as the triumph that is possible when people step up and demand change.