100 – Provocation & the Gay Panic defence

On October 24, 2021October 24, 2021 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Human Rights, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, Mental Health, Povocation, sex crimes, US Crime

There has been a lot of progress in relation to equal rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ in Ireland. However, despite decriminalisation in 1993, and the passage of Marriage Equality in 2015, there is still much to do. In addition to requiring effective hate speech legislation, the defence of provocation does allow a person accused of murder to claim that a romantic or sexual advance by an LGBTQ+ person resulted in a loss of control leading to the killing of that person.

In this episode, we explore cases where this partial defence was employed at trial and appeal: the killing of John Roche in 1982, the murder of Gerard Hackett in 2002, and the kidnap and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998.

Reasearch & Writing by Eileen MacFarlene of the Crimelapse Podcast

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62 – Kidnap: Joyce McKinney

On March 1, 2020April 16, 2020 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Kidnapping, Mental Health, sex crimes, UK Crime, US Crime

In September of 1977, Kirk Anderson a 21 year old American Mormon missionary is reported missing in Ewell, a town just south and west of London. Three days later, Kirk turns up again. Reports emerged that he had been kidnapped by a woman who was obsessed with him, and forced to have sex with her.

But Joyce McKinney was a petite pretty blonde woman, and the British press and public were incredulous at the idea that anyone would have objected to her company for a few days and nights.

So, was Joyce McKinney a woman who was just trying to get her man back, or was she a deranged stalker who had kidnapped and raped a man?

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50 – Murdered Abroad: The story of Jason Corbett

On September 3, 2019April 16, 2020 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Mental Health, murder, Self Defence, US Crime, Women Who Kill, Wrongly Accused

In August of 2015, a Limerick man, Jason Corbett, was found dead on his bedroom floor of the master bedroom of his lavish family home in North Carolina. His young wife and her father were covered in blood hen police arrived, and a bloody baseball bat and paving brick were found in the bedroom. They told the police that Jason had been killed in self defence.

But Molly and Tom Martens would both face trial for the murder of Jason Corbett. The Limerick man’s family fought for justice, and for custody of his two young children, which was watched by people, both at home and abroad.

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45 – The Fall: Death on Fremont Canyon Bridge

On July 7, 2019April 16, 2020 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Capital Punishment, Child Victim, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Drug-related, Human Rights, Insanity Defence, Kidnapping, Mental Health, murder, sex crimes, US Crime

Casper Wyoming is a quiet town. But in 1973, it was marred by an horrific crime. Two girls, sisters – Becky Thompson and Amy Burridge – were snatched off the street, attacked and driven 35 miles to an iron bridge over Fremont Canyon. Then the two men that took them threw them over.

But one of the girls survived the 112 foot fall and identified Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins as the men who attacked them. Still, tragedy would follow her.

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39 – Terrorism at Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103

On April 14, 2019April 16, 2020 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Controversial Case, Human Rights, Landmark Case, murder, Organised Crime, Public Inquiry, Scottish Crimes, terrorism, UK Crime, unsolved, US Crime

In 1988, a routine flight took off from London Heathrow. It was the second leg of a transatlantic flight that would stop in JFK, before heading even further west, to Detroit. In fact, Flight 103 had started off in Frankfurt. But something got on the flight in the German airport that shouldn’t have. It was a brown samsonite suitcase, filled with clothing and a Toshiba cassette tape player. Inside the electronics was a pound of semtex and a timer.

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish countryside, killing everyone aboard, 11 people on the ground, and scattering debris for miles around the countryside.

But who had planted the bomb?

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38 – Tortured Teens: The horrific murders of Suzanne Capper & Sylvia Likens

On March 31, 2019April 16, 2020 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Collabouration, Controversial Case, Discrimination, Drug-related, Kidnapping, Kids who Kill, Mental Health, Organised Crime, sadism, torture, UK Crime, US Crime, Vintage murder, Women Who Kill

Early on a December morning, in 1991, Suzanne Capper (16) was found wandering on a quiet laneway south of Manchester. She was half naked, and her body had been burned badly. She was brought to hospital, but died 4 days later of her injuries.

It quickly emerged that she had been held in a house, tied up and tortured for nearly a week before her death. These horrific acts were committed by people she had considered friends. She was able to name them before she died, and they were held responsible for their crimes.

But Suzanne is far from the only young girl who has suffered torture at the hands of a group of people that she knew.

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32 – Ron Williamson, Wrongful Convictions & Murders in Ada (Part 2)

On January 6, 2019June 6, 2019 By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Capital Punishment, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Drug-related, Human Rights, Insanity Defence, Mental Health, murder, US Crime, Wrongly Accused

The small town of Ada Oklahoma was rocked in the early 80s by two unrelated murders of young women in the town. But by the mid 90s, that would change. The town would come under scrutiny for miscarriages of justice, where two and possibly more men were convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Last month, Netflix released The Innocent Man, a 6 part series looking at these crimes and their aftermaths. This week on the podcast, we take an in-depth look into just one of those cases, that of the murder of Debbie Sue Carter and the wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz.

Ron and Dennis had very different journeys through their appeals processes, but both of their fates lay in the testing of DNA evidence. Would new science finally exonerate them?

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