Beth Shelburne

Ear Witness is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company No.

1.

Executive producers are Jason Flom, Jeff Kimpler, Kevin Wardus, and me, Beth Shelburne.

The investigative reporting for this series was done by me and Mara McNamara.

Producers are Mara McNamara, Hannah Beal, and Jackie Pauly.

Kara Kornhaber is our senior producer.

Britt Spangler is our sound designer.

Additional story editing from Marie Sutton.

Fact check help from Catherine Newhand.

And special thanks to Taforist Johnson's legal defense team.

You can follow the show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter at Lava for Good.

To see behind the scenes content from our investigation, visit lavaforgood.com slash earwitness.

Last time on Ear Witness.

When police come looking for Ardragus Ford, his mom calls Richard Jaffe, who had helped them in the past.

Jaffe's a trial lawyer, and he looks like one, but not in a slick way.

He's slender in a rumpled suit with gray hair and glasses.

The day Ardragus went to the sheriff's office for questioning, Jaffe is just beginning a trial in a different case.

But before he goes to court that day, he gets a phone call from the sheriff's office.

So Ardragus is questioned alone, while his attorney, Jaffe, heads to the courthouse.

There, in the crowd of police officers and detectives, Jaffe notices Jefferson County's district attorney, a man named David Barber.