Sarah Koenig

This is Sarah Koenig.

If you've listened to Serial, you probably know I've done my fair share of criminal justice reporting.

I've spent countless hours sitting in courtrooms and following around attorneys.

I've interviewed judges in chambers and inmates in prison.

But never have I gotten close to the stunning front row seat that awaited me when I listened to our new show.

It's called The Last 12 Weeks.

It comes out on June 18th.

Here's the trailer.

One day in 2006, a woman I'm going to call Angie Bachman went to the Caesars Indiana Casino and began to lose.

She played blackjack.

That was always her game.

But on this night, when she ran out of her own money, the casino offered her what are called counterchecks, like a loan from the casino that you're supposed to pay back.

She signed a paper for $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, six checks for a total of $125,000.

This is not a happy gambling story, so you know what happens next.

She can't pay back the money, any of it.

So the casino takes her to court, says Angie Bachman owes us $125,000, and not only that, we're suing her for damages tripling that amount, half a million dollars in all.

This isn't unusual that casinos go after debtors like Bachman in court.

What is somewhat unusual is what happened next.

Bachman hired a lawyer named Terry Nofsinger, who argued that not only did she not owe the casino money, but they owed her money.

I put to Nofsinger the question you might be having at this very moment.