Almost 20 years in the past, Kiera Newsome was sitting at her desk at college in South Central Los Angeles when a deadly capturing occurred 10 miles away. Two years later, Kiera discovered herself convicted for a homicide she could not probably have dedicated. Lastly freed in 2020, Kiera tells her story on one of the highly effective episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom ever…
If the preliminary particulars of Kiera’s case sound unbelievable, her full story is much more astounding. On April 16, 2001, round 11:30 a.m., a automotive with three younger African American ladies – members of the 11 Deuce Hoovers gang – stopped in entrance of a home. Standing in entrance of the home was a gaggle of males who had been members of a rival gang, the Blocc Crips. One of many ladies received out of the automotive, knocked on the door of the home, briefly engaged with the boys, then opened fireplace on her method again to the automotive and as soon as she received inside.
One man, Christian Henton, was fatally wounded, whereas a bullet grazed Shawntaye Allen’s torso. Witnesses’ description of the shooter was clear: she was an African American girl with a lazy eye, a tattoo of a reputation on her higher proper thigh, and was carrying an all-red outfit.
On the identical time the capturing occurred, Kiera Newsome was sitting at school at Crenshaw SEA Constitution Faculty. The varsity had stringent insurance policies requiring pupil to signal out and in, small class sizes, steady grownup supervision, and locked exterior doorways operated solely by directors. Kiera had been positioned at Crenshaw – usually a college for college students with behavioral points – for her safety after her boyfriend had been murdered in a gang capturing. She was carrying the required Crenshaw college uniform of black pants and a white polo shirt.
Kiera did occur to have a tattoo on her proper thigh, albeit too excessive as much as be seen whereas carrying shorts. Regardless of a stable alibi, not matching the perpetrator’s description, and having no driver’s license, this was sufficient for regulation enforcement to focus on her for a criminal offense that they claimed was retaliation for her boyfriend’s homicide 4 months earlier than. Police concocted a fantastical state of affairs that had Kiera in some way leaving the varsity, altering garments, driving half-hour to commit the capturing, after which returning to highschool unnoticed.
With the assistance of Chris Hawthorne (founder, director and medical professor on the Juvenile Innocence and Truthful Sentencing Clinic on the Loyola Legislation Faculty), Kiera’s instructor, Rebecca Woodruff, and Kiera herself, Jason Flom revisits the occasions of that day. They focus on the twisted world of gang violence, Kiera’s lengthy battle for justice, her abuse by the hands of police, and being focused in jail by Dawnyell Flynn (a.ok.a. “Astro”), the lady who by most accounts really dedicated the crime.
Flom, the founder/CEO of Lava Data and a legal justice advocate for the previous 30 years, has been personally concerned within the circumstances of a whole bunch of wrongfully convicted individuals. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is produced by Lava For Good Podcasts in affiliation with Sign Co. No1.
Hearken to Kiera’s story on www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com or on all fashionable podcast streaming platforms.
Lava for Good Podcasts exists on the intersection of leisure, inspiration, and affect. Produced by famend music government, kids’s ebook creator, and philanthropist Jason Flom together with Lava Media COO Jeff Kempler in affiliation with Sign Co. No1, Lava for Good Podcasts works instantly with a highly-engaged viewers to entertain, empower, and assist participation and neighborhood affect. Its #1-charting lineup of legal justice podcasts explores the interrelated matters of systemic racism, over-policing, and legal justice reform.
Because the founding father of Lava Media (which incorporates Lava Music in addition to Lava for Good Podcasts), Flom is likely one of the most profitable music executives in historical past, having backed and found famous person artists from Twisted Sister and Skid Row to Matchbox 20, Paramour, Kid Rock, 30 Seconds to Mars, Katy Perry, Lorde and Greta Van Fleet. He has additionally served because the chairman of Atlantic Data, in addition to Virgin Data/Capitol Music Group. Along with his daughter Allison Flom, he’s the co-author of the kids’s ebook Lulu is a Rhinoceros – quickly to be a significant kids’s TV present.
