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Barbara Bradley Hagerty

👤 Person
381 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Well, not really. I mean, he had friends, but one by one, they were paroled or exonerated. And he had his faith, but there wasn't actually very much good happening in his life. That is, not until May 20, 2001, when he gets a visitor, Jim McCluskey at Centurion Ministries.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

As I said, Ben had started writing to this ministry in 1989, but until this day, no one had actually come to talk to him in person. And Jim left the prison convinced that Ben was innocent. If you remember, this is how I put it.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

As I said, Ben had started writing to this ministry in 1989, but until this day, no one had actually come to talk to him in person. And Jim left the prison convinced that Ben was innocent. If you remember, this is how I put it.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

As I said, Ben had started writing to this ministry in 1989, but until this day, no one had actually come to talk to him in person. And Jim left the prison convinced that Ben was innocent. If you remember, this is how I put it.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Jim goes to work, right? Boots on the ground. He and another investigator began interviewing anyone even remotely connected to the case. 200 people, actually, about 200 people. And Jim's goal was just to persuade a judge to consider new evidence in what's called an evidentiary hearing. And guess what, Aisha?

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Jim goes to work, right? Boots on the ground. He and another investigator began interviewing anyone even remotely connected to the case. 200 people, actually, about 200 people. And Jim's goal was just to persuade a judge to consider new evidence in what's called an evidentiary hearing. And guess what, Aisha?

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Jim goes to work, right? Boots on the ground. He and another investigator began interviewing anyone even remotely connected to the case. 200 people, actually, about 200 people. And Jim's goal was just to persuade a judge to consider new evidence in what's called an evidentiary hearing. And guess what, Aisha?

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

He does indeed find new evidence that shows how flawed the investigation was and how flawed the trial was. Okay, so tell me more about that. Yeah. So first, there is a forensic visual scientist. Now, that's a guy who's an expert on what people are... physically able to see in different lighting conditions.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

He does indeed find new evidence that shows how flawed the investigation was and how flawed the trial was. Okay, so tell me more about that. Yeah. So first, there is a forensic visual scientist. Now, that's a guy who's an expert on what people are... physically able to see in different lighting conditions.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

He does indeed find new evidence that shows how flawed the investigation was and how flawed the trial was. Okay, so tell me more about that. Yeah. So first, there is a forensic visual scientist. Now, that's a guy who's an expert on what people are... physically able to see in different lighting conditions.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

And he showed that Gladys Oliver and the two teenagers could not possibly physically identified anyone that night from so far away. And then second, the jailhouse informant. So at trial, Danny Edwards, the informant, had said that he never received a deal in exchange for his testimony. In fact, he told the jury that he testified out of moral outrage at Ben's alleged crime.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

And he showed that Gladys Oliver and the two teenagers could not possibly physically identified anyone that night from so far away. And then second, the jailhouse informant. So at trial, Danny Edwards, the informant, had said that he never received a deal in exchange for his testimony. In fact, he told the jury that he testified out of moral outrage at Ben's alleged crime.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

And he showed that Gladys Oliver and the two teenagers could not possibly physically identified anyone that night from so far away. And then second, the jailhouse informant. So at trial, Danny Edwards, the informant, had said that he never received a deal in exchange for his testimony. In fact, he told the jury that he testified out of moral outrage at Ben's alleged crime.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

But Jim McCluskey found evidence that the informant had received a deal to dramatically reduce his sentence. He was facing 25 years. He walked out after 14 months. Mm-hmm. But then Jim found something else. He found that police had ignored a far more likely suspect, one that they actually knew about way back in 1987 before either of Ben's trials.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

But Jim McCluskey found evidence that the informant had received a deal to dramatically reduce his sentence. He was facing 25 years. He walked out after 14 months. Mm-hmm. But then Jim found something else. He found that police had ignored a far more likely suspect, one that they actually knew about way back in 1987 before either of Ben's trials.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

But Jim McCluskey found evidence that the informant had received a deal to dramatically reduce his sentence. He was facing 25 years. He walked out after 14 months. Mm-hmm. But then Jim found something else. He found that police had ignored a far more likely suspect, one that they actually knew about way back in 1987 before either of Ben's trials.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Remember, Aisha, I told you about tunnel vision, and that's when police or prosecutors have a suspect, and that kind of closes their minds to other options. Well, here's your example.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Remember, Aisha, I told you about tunnel vision, and that's when police or prosecutors have a suspect, and that kind of closes their minds to other options. Well, here's your example.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Remember, Aisha, I told you about tunnel vision, and that's when police or prosecutors have a suspect, and that kind of closes their minds to other options. Well, here's your example.

Up First from NPR
The Luckiest of the Unlucky

Yeah. Yeah, his name is Michael Hubbard, and during his reinvestigation, Jim McCluskey talked to two of Hubbard's friends, and they told him that Hubbard had confessed to robbing and killing Jeffrey Young. He described the entire assault. In fact, in the 1990s, Harper used a strikingly similar M.O. to attack other victims.