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James Dailey has been on Florida’s death row for 32 years for the murder of Shelly Boggio. Jury consultant, trial strategist, and Dailey’s criminal defense lawyer, Josh Dubin, walks Sonya and David through Dailey’s case, highlighting how the only “evidence” linking Dailey to the crime was the questionable testimony of a jailhouse informant whose testimonies have sent no less than dozens to jail and four to death row. Retired Sun-Sentinel reporter Martin Dyckman also weighs in on the entrenched misconduct as it pertains to the Florida death penalty.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2006, mother of six, Hannah Overton, was convicted of capital murder after a jury found her guilty of “omission”, failure to seek medical attention for her sickly child in a timely manner. Further investigation after Hannah’s conviction revealed shocking miscarriages of justice at the hands of the prosecutor. Sonya and David speak to Hannah Overton, who shares her experience of losing all of her children to the justice system seemingly overnight, and Hannah’s attorney, Cynthia Orr, who uncovered the truth of the investigation’s findings and was able to prove Hannah’s innocence.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Perry Lott is another victim of incorrigible police practices in Ada, Oklahoma. He was charged and convicted of rape in 1987, despite having an alibi. The main evidence against him was that the victim "thought" she recognized him. Perry Lott himself, along with private investigator Shaun Hittle and Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, discuss the pervasive influence of police misconduct in Ada at the time of his arrest and the suffering Perry endured as a result. Even though Perry was wrongfully incarcerated, he accepted a sentence modification of “time served” in order to regain his life, a deal with the courts that would allow his release from prison but not legally declare his innocence.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Karl Fontenot was convicted for the 1984 murder of Denice Harraway in Ada, Oklahoma. In 2018 Netflix released the documentary ‘The Innocent Man’ based on John Grisham’s only nonfiction book that detailed the crime and, further, the corruption in Ada. One year after the doc’s premiere, Karl was released on bond. Currently, his fate rests in the hands of the prosecutor who has yet to declare whether or not he intends to retry Karl. If Karl loses in a retrial, he will be sent back to prison. Barry Scheck, the co-founder of the Innocence Project, John Grisham, and journalist A.C. Shilton, discuss the false confession that landed Karl in prison and his eventual release after 35 years.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1991, Quintin Morris was arrested for opening fire on a group of teenagers in Los Angeles. In 1994, he was convicted of three counts of first-degree attempted murder. Sonya and David interview his lawyer, Alissa Bjerkhoel of the Innocence Project, as well as Jim Tranium, a retired homicide detective from the Washington, D.C. police department, to understand the abuses of power in this case, including unjust eyewitness identification practices, and the legal technicalities that kept Quintin in prison for years, even after the real culprit confessed.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2003, Kimberly Long was charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Ozzy Conde, after arriving home and discovering his body in the living room. Kimberly and her lawyer, Michelle Rogers, speak with Sonya and David to talk through the path toward her wrongful conviction, including “tunnel vision” on the part of the police, who made egregious mistakes in examining the crime scene and evidence. And Sonya and David discuss how a person can be convicted of a crime in a US court, even when both the judge and jurors think that person is innocent.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Efren Paredes Jr. received a juvenile life without the possibility of parole (JLWOP) sentence in 1989 at just 16 years old, for a high-profile murder in the small town of St. Joseph, MI. Efren has been in prison for over 31 years and is running out of options to prove his innocence. Efren calls in from the Michigan Department of Corrections to discuss his case and the negative impact of race and the media on his conviction while Jake Sussman, the managing director of The Justice Collaborative, explains why JLWOP sentences need to be abolished.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sedley Alley was executed by the state of Tennessee in 2006 for the brutal rape and murder of Corporal Suzanne Collins. Years later, a new suspect in Suzanne’s murder is brought to the attention of the Innocence Project, bringing into question Sedley’s guilt. With the help of Stephen Ross Johnson and the Innocence Project, Sedley’s daughter April Alley is fighting to find out the truth about her father, but the state of Tennessee refuses to test the crime scene DNA.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1996, Kristine Bunch was convicted of setting her mobile home on fire and murdering her toddler son, when a prosecutor allowed a government agent to falsify an arson report to convince a jury of her guilt. Sonya and David speak with Kristine about the double trauma of losing her son and, consequently, being accused of his murder, and with Ron Safer, a lawyer who helped her prove her innocence. They discuss the multiple missteps investigators made in an attempt to quickly convict Kristine.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Timothy Bridges spent 25 years in prison after a 1989 rape and burglary conviction, based largely on junk science provided by an FBI-trained state examiner. Sonya and David hear from Timothy firsthand as he recollects his experience, and they discuss how state agents can exercise – and abuse – their position as government authorities. David and Sonya represented Tim Bridges in a civil lawsuit against the state.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Rayshard Brooks. Three of the most recent killings of Black Americans by uniformed police officers. The violence against black bodies that we now witness on cell phone video is not new - systemic racism and police brutality have existed for and evolved over centuries. Civil Rights & Criminal Defense attorneys David Rudolf and Sonya Pfeiffer speak with Justice Organizer and Presbyterian Pastor Reverend Willie Keaton, Renowned Civil Rights attorney James E. Ferguson, and progressive Sheriff Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County, NC. about the structural inequalities and toxic societal hierarchies that have led to violence against black citizens by those meant to protect all of us, the injustice that infects the whole criminal justice system, and what hope there may be for the future.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The United States justice system commits wrongs of every degree against the very people it's supposed to protect: us. Join defense attorneys David Rudolf and Sonya Pfeiffer as they examine 10 wrongful conviction cases. This is Abuse of Power. Special Preview Episode out on July 15, 2020. Full season out on August 10.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.