Latest Openmike Podcast Episodes
111 - Texas Innocence Project Director Reveals the Most Egregious Wrongful Conviction of His Career
Open Mike Podcast - July 06, 2021 14:47 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsMike Ware is the Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Texas, where he champions the rights of the wrongfully convicted and tirelessly fights to overturn their sentences. In this compelling installment of Open Mike, he discusses the egregious case of Lydell Grant, a Houston man who was ...
110- How One Man Prevailed Over Malicious Judges and Excessive Sentencing to Seize His Second Chance
Open Mike Podcast - June 22, 2021 14:52 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn 1988, Alfonzo Riley’s friend asked him if he wanted to make some money. As a broke college student, he said yes. Little did he know that simple decision would shape the rest of his life. Alfonzo ended up transporting drugs from Brooklyn to Albany in a transaction gone awry. Two men ended up...
109- Meet Mike's Daughters! The Morse Girls Flip the Script & Interview Dad in Father's Day Special
Open Mike Podcast - June 15, 2021 15:05 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWe’re making a departure from our standard format for a very special Father’s Day exclusive! In this heart-warming episode, Mike is joined by his daughters Jillian, Ella, and Lexie who flip the script on their dad and ask him the burning questions you’ve always craved the answers to. What career...
108 - How a Paternity Test, Stray Glove, & Jell-O Shots Became Instruments of A Death Row Conviction
Open Mike Podcast - June 08, 2021 15:54 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn 2007, Floridian Air Force Sargent Ron Wright was shocked to learn his friend Paula O’Conner and her infant son Elijah were horrifically strangled and murdered inside her home. Although no forensic evidence, weapon, cell records, or any testimony incriminated Ron, he was accused of the murder,...
107- Detroiter Ray Gray's EXCLUSIVE, FIRST Sit-Down Interview After 48 Years Wrongfully Imprisoned
Open Mike Podcast - June 03, 2021 15:05 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn 1973, Detroit artist and award-winning boxer Ray Gray was accused of breaking into a local drug dealer’s home and fatally shooting him. Though none of the surviving occupants were able to identify the invaders, Ray became a focus of the investigation. Tunnel vision, corruption, faulty identif...
106 - Stigma, Discrimination, and Homelessness: How One CEO Is Modernizing the Parole Reentry Process
Open Mike Podcast - June 01, 2021 15:02 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWhile release from prison can be a joyful occasion, people who have been incarcerated face an entirely new series of challenges upon reclaiming their civilian status. Housing, a fundamental human right, is perhaps the most daunting of these challenges which can be observed in the disproportionat...
105 - Assault, Trauma, and Healing: Why a Dance Teacher Sold Her Studio to Help Prison Populations
Open Mike Podcast - May 25, 2021 14:43 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsFor the last sixteen years, Susan Slotnick has gone beyond the walls at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility to bring the joy, passion, and healing properties of modern dance to incarcerated men and boys. After retiring the dance company she ran for forty years, Susan was free to teach in conc...
105 - Ira Todd's Mission To Free The Wrongfully Convicted
Open Mike Podcast - May 18, 2021 15:12 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsDetroit native Ira Lee Todd is a former police officer and criminal investigator. After being wrongfully charged with murder while working in a gang-related crimes task force within the Detroit Police Department, Ira made it his personal mission to help free the wrongly-convicted. One of his mos...
104 - How Did A Rare Joint Trial and Unreliable Witness Result in Two False 25-Year Prison Sentences?
Open Mike Podcast - May 11, 2021 14:45 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsOn February 20th, 2020, Kevin Baker and Sean Washington walked out of prison after spending twenty-five years locked up for a double-murder they didn’t commit. The trial that condemned them to a quarter century of incarceration relied on a sole witness who later acknowledged she was under the in...
103 - How America's 1st Female Death Row Exoneree Overcame Racism, Misconduct, & a Drunk Defense Team
Open Mike Podcast - May 04, 2021 15:01 - 50 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn April of 1989, teenage mother Sabrina Butler experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when her nine-month-old son Walter suddenly stopped breathing. Despite her intense resuscitation efforts, Walter was pronounced dead at the hospital. Sabrina was then subjected to interrogation by twelve p...
102 - Entrapment or Miscommunication? How a Consenting Man Found Himself in the Middle of a Sex Sting
Open Mike Podcast - April 27, 2021 15:17 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsSex sting busts are often regarded as heroic acts justice, but the ethics surrounding them aren't necessarily clear-cut. When a police set-up resulted in the incarceration of Kathleen Hambrick’s son, she claimed fraud due to a series of misleading interactions that equated to entrapment. Four ...
Singer/Songwriter/Drummer/Guitarist - Justin Hickerson
Open Mike Radio - April 23, 2021 17:00 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsMy friend Justin Hickerson joins me in the first OMR in some time live in the studio with a guest. It was a pleasure to be back and Justin and I had a great time. Justin is a wonderful singer/songwriter and a brilliant drummer. He performs with a number of different projects around Colu...
101- Celebrated investigative Journalist Exposes Deadly Corruption Within the Parole Board System
Open Mike Podcast - April 20, 2021 14:59 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsRobert Riggs is Peabody Award-winning journalist and digital media entrepreneur, widely regarded as one of the nation’s top investigative journalists. In his new podcast, Free to Kill, he exposes the rampant, deadly corruption that has come to poison many parole board systems across the country....
100 - Landmark 100th Episode Featuring an Exoneree Reunion & Bombshell Announcement from Mike
Open Mike Podcast - April 13, 2021 14:54 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsOpen Mike has made it to triple-digits! On our landmark, 100th installment, Mike reunites with three former guest exonerees, Aaron Salter, Julie Baumer, and Kenny Wyniemko, as well as two journalists who have been blazing a path to illuminate the wrongful conviction crisis, Kevin Dietz and Bill ...
99 - Trailblazing Justice Reform Advocate Reflects on the Bleak Reality of Wrongful Convictions
Open Mike Podcast - April 06, 2021 14:16 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsFor nearly two decades, Chris Mumma has served as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, having represented 8 exonorees and fighting for a half a dozen more still behind bars. During her impressive tenure, she has forced legislation on multiple issues regarding ...
98 - After His Innocent Brother Suddenly Died in Prison, This Man is Taking Justice Reform, Head-On
Open Mike Podcast - March 30, 2021 16:02 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsOn December 2nd, 1999, Timothy Cole died of an asthma attack while in prison for a sexual assault he didn’t commit. Stunned by the injustice of the loss, his brother Cory vowed to clear his brother’s name and ensure such a tragedy never befall anyone else. His family, joined by the victim and th...
97- Community Farming Project Helps Former Convicts Rebuild Their Lives and Flex Their Green Thumbs
Open Mike Podcast - March 23, 2021 16:08 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWhat if you could nourish both the bodies and the souls of your fellow neighbors? We the People Opportunity Farm has accomplished just that for Washtenaw County and its inhabitants. The community farming project has sowed the seeds for its participants’ success by investing in the employment and...
96 - Local Comedian Hosts Star-Studded Virtual Comedy Shows to Benefit Restaurants Shuttered By COVID
Open Mike Podcast - March 16, 2021 14:09 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsThe entire world has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but few industries have been hit as uniquely hard as the bar and restaurant sector. Recognizing the dire straits the industry faces, Michigan-born comedian Jason Douglas was compelled to help and launched Pay it Forward Comedy, a virt...
95 - Crack Usage, Misidentification and Fraud: How One Man Was Wrongfully Imprisoned for 21 Years
Open Mike Podcast - March 09, 2021 16:25 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsAt age 17, Philadelphian Terrance Lewis found himself falsely accused of the 1996 murder of Hulon Howard, incriminated by the deceased’s girlfriend who was under the influence of crack cocaine at the time. After an excruciating two-year-long investigation, Lewis was ultimately convicted of murde...
94 - Student Vigilante Group Uses Fake Social Media Accounts to Rid Cities of Child Predators
Open Mike Podcast - March 02, 2021 16:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsThis week, Open Mike welcomes its first faceless guest! Meet Ghost, a mysterious vigilante who has launched Creep Catching Unit, an online movement dedicated toward keeping communities safe by exposing and reporting pedophiles. CC Unit operates independently of law enforcement to entrap and conf...
93 - We Didn't Start the Fire: Why Are so Many Innocent People Convicted on Faulty Arson Evidence?
Open Mike Podcast - February 23, 2021 15:59 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsImran Syed is nationally recognized attorney, professor, and documentary film producer. As assistant director of Michigan’s Innocence Clinic, he and a coterie of supervised law students are at the forefront of criminal justice reform, investigating and litigating a wide variety of cases with spe...
92 - Juries Often Convict on Evidence — This Forensics Expert Asserts That Evidence Is Often Faulty
Open Mike Podcast - February 16, 2021 15:53 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsShow Notes [00:14] Kate Judson’s background and bio as Executive Director of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences. [01:37] Welcome to the show! I’m so excited to talk to you – on Open Mike, we’ve never really focused on forensics. I’m reading a quote from you that says there have be...
91-Fat Tuesday or Fat Booze Day? Detroit Distilleries Paczki Vodka Packs a Perfectly Flavorful Punch
Open Mike Podcast - February 09, 2021 16:02 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsDo you enjoy sugary, deep-fried treats? What about a nice, relaxing drink after a long day? Thanks to Detroit City Distillery’s palate-tickling paczki vodka, you can have both at the same time! In this intoxicating episode, distillery co-owner Michael Forsyth discusses how the concoction is stee...
90 - Who Is the Man You Seek to Become? This Mentorship Program Guides Teens on the Path to Manhood
Open Mike Podcast - February 02, 2021 15:14 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsMike McCormick is a dedicated father, husband, and community leader committed to teaching developing male minds the essence of authentic masculinity. Our antiquated, social norms often compel men to resist vulnerability, withdraw, and insist everything is within their control, while larger que...
89 - Attorney Targets New Trial on 40-Year-Old Murder Case — Can Recent Evidence Free Her Client?
Open Mike Podcast - January 26, 2021 15:52 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn 1980, Iowan man William Beeman was accused of murdering a woman named Michiel Winkel. However, Winkel was seen by several witnesses for days after the alleged time of her murder. Despite this testimony, Beeman has remained in prison for the last forty years. Enter Erica Nichols Cook, the Di...
88- Attorney & Reporter From Infamous Staircase Murder Mystery Share Stories From the Case
Open Mike Podcast - January 19, 2021 16:33 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsDavid Rudolf and Sonya Pfeiffer are spouses, attorneys at Rudolf Widenhouse law firm, and co-hosts of the popular podcast Abuse of Power. However, they may both be best known for their work on North Carolina vs. Peterson, a bizarre, 15-year-long case that was documented on the Netflix smash-hit,...
87- Former Tonight Show Writer Has Given 5 TEDx Talks and Shares Tips on How to Get One of Your Own!
Open Mike Podcast - January 12, 2021 16:10 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsAs a former writer for The Tonight Show, humor columnist, and podcast personality, Frank King is a natural comedian. However, similar to many comedians, he has battled depression and suicidal ideation his entire life, conditions that run in his family. Frank realized that his comedic skills pr...
86 - Jeffrey Deskovic: From Murder, Rape Conviction to Exoneree to Lawyer Who Frees the Innocent
Open Mike Podcast - January 05, 2021 16:43 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsAt age seventeen, Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a classmate. Authorities knew his DNA did not match that of the actual perpetrator – who would later murder another young woman and mother of two. Nevertheless, they colluded to convict and k...
85 - From G.E.D to Law Degree. How a Former State Representative Turned His Troubled Life Around
Open Mike Podcast - December 29, 2020 16:23 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsBrian Banks is a highly sought-after community educator, author, law school graduate, and former Michigan State Representative. But despite his tremendous career, he has experienced an equally tremendous degree of hardship along the way, from a dysfunctional childhood, to an adolescence marred b...
84 - At 12 He Dealt Drugs, At 16 He Was Charged With Murder. Now He Advocates for Prison Reform
Open Mike Podcast - December 22, 2020 15:57 - 57 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsAt the age of 16, Mario Bueno was convicted of second-degree murder and spent the next nineteen years in prison — three of which were in solitary confinement. Today, he is a reform expert, author, scholar, and co-founder of LUCK, Inc., an organization dedicated toward mentoring vulnerable popula...
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