18. Wrongfully Convicted: Joyce Ann Brown & Paula Gray

This week we cover cases focusing on wrongful convictions. Nathalie starts us off with the extremely frustrating case of Joyce Ann Brown, who was wrongfully convicted of robbery and murder in the 1980s. She spent nearly a decade in prison before her conviction was overturned. In this case, it was pretty clear they had the wrong person from the start but they went ahead with the conviction. Her case was one of the first to be overturned due to media attention and was even featured on an episode of 60 Minutes. Rachel discusses the case of Paula Gray and the Ford Heights Four, who were wrongly accused of kidnapping and murder. Paula was interviewed for two days straight without legal representation. At the time, Paula was only 17 years old and had a mental disability. This case gained a lot of media attention after 3 journalism students and a professor from Northwestern University decided to step in. We discuss white saviors, the importance of media attention, and the flaws in our current legal system. If you'd like to hear more cases like these, leave a review and let us know!

Nathalie's sources:

[Coming soon!]

Rachel's Sources:

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/one-of-ford-heights-four-is-dead/article_fd348b40-c525-5827-9a07-32584ea9f016.html

https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-considered-a-high-iq#what-its-not

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3433

https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/documents/GrayMemo1.pdf

https://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/paula-gray/#:~:text=Paula%20Gray%20was%20convicted%20of,the%20Ford%20Heights%20Four%20case.&text=DNA%20testing%20eventually%20proved%20that,in%20Chicago's%20Ford%20Heights%20section.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-04-26-9704260068-story.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-04-29-9704290156-story.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ford_Heights_Four

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ford-heights-justice-and-a-piece-of-the-action/Content?oid=892054

https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/documents/grayMemo3.pdf