The NRA's Murder Mystery
Today, Robert Dowlut is the National Rifle Association’s top lawyer. Fifty years ago, he was convicted of murdering a woman with a handgun.
Today, Robert Dowlut is the National Rifle Association’s top lawyer. Fifty years ago, he was convicted of murdering a woman with a handgun.
Dave Gilson Mother Jones Jul 2014 30min Permalink
How Derrick Hamilton went from wrongfully convicted to legal scholar to free.
Jennifer Gonnerman New Yorker Jun 2016 30min Permalink
On adolescence, pen pals, and the Manson girls.
Emma Cline The Paris Review Mar 2014 10min Permalink
She claimed to be a porn recruiter who just needed to see the women have sex with her photographer once before she could book them for jobs. But she and her photographer were the same person — a freelance tech journalist named Matt Hickey.
Sydney Brownstone The Stranger Jun 2016 15min Permalink
For decades, the lead actor at an acclaimed storefront Chicago theater beat, groped, and choked his female co-stars in front of audiences, while manipulating them into coercive relationships offstage.
Aimee Levitt, Christopher Piatt Chicago Reader Jun 2016 50min Permalink
At first, Don Huckstep was perplexed that his fiancée would abruptly cut off contact before a long-awaited trip to Italy. Then a bizarre and grisly set of discoveries unfolded.
Mary Milz Indianapolis Monthly Jun 2016 20min Permalink
Bryce Masters was 17 years old when a police officer tased him for 23 seconds. His heart stopped for almost eight minutes. His life will never be the same.
Nick Berardini, Matt Stroud The Intercept Jun 2016 35min Permalink
In addition to defending child molesters, illegal gun owners, and the occasional drunk who steals a dirt bike from the pit during a motorcross rally, Jay Leiderman is one of a handful of attorneys who represents hackers. His current clients include Matthew Keys, the former Reuters social media editor who faces 87 months in prison for hacking The Los Angeles Times.
Joseph Bernstein Buzzfeed Jun 2016 25min Permalink
Three days, 64 people shot, six of them dead: Memorial Day weekend in Chicago.
Monica Davey New York Times Jun 2016 25min Permalink
Getting arrested was the best thing to ever happen to Jeremy Meeks.
Jessica Pressler New York Jun 2016 15min Permalink
In the city of Rosario, some fans have evolved into a mafia with an illicit cash flow and a stable of hit men. A look inside their homicidal turf war.
Amos Barshad The Fader Jun 2016 25min Permalink
“And finally, to girls everywhere, I am with you. On nights when you feel alone, I am with you. When people doubt you or dismiss you, I am with you. I fought everyday for you. So never stop fighting, I believe you.”
When the music was real, but the bands were fake.
Daniel Ralston Buzzfeed Jun 2016 15min Permalink
After a murder in the California wilderness, the search for the killer raises complicated questions about mental illness.
Ashley Powers California Sunday May 2016 25min Permalink
The diner manager told the cook not to prepare the poached eggs a woman had ordered. The next day, the cook killed the manager. They had worked together amicably for 20 years.
Lisa Davis SF Weekly Oct 1997 20min Permalink
The fight to extradite El Chapo.
Dwyer Murphy Guernica Jun 2016 20min Permalink
In eight minutes, Miashah Moses took out the trash and a blaze consumed the apartment where her nieces were watching television. What happened, and who’s to blame?
Carol Mersch The Big Roundtable May 2016 50min Permalink
In Brooklyn’s Brownsville, being in a gang can mean as little as being born on a specific block. Ackquille Pollard spent his final free days as a viral rap sensation, before being jailed as the leader of a sect of Crips.
Scott Eden GQ May 2016 25min Permalink
A novel interrogation technique is transforming the art of detective work: Shut up and let the suspect do the talking.
Robert Kolker Wired / The Marshall Project May 2016 25min Permalink
Hervé Falciani, a computer engineer working at HSBC, stole the bank’s list of secret accounts. But was he out to expose tax cheats or get rich himself? Perhaps both.
Patrick Radden Keefe New Yorker May 2016 40min Permalink
There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. It’s racist.
Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu, Lauren Kirchner ProPublica Mar 2016 Permalink
Sarma Melngailis owned a booming vegan restaurant beloved by celebrities. But after systematically draining the company bank account, she and her husband skipped town. Last week, after nearly a year on the lam, they were arrested in a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Tennessee. The cops found them after they ordered Domino’s.
Dana Schuster, Georgett Roberts New York Post May 2016 Permalink
Shot and killed just shy of his 18th birthday, Deonte Hoard was one of 489 homicide victims in Chicago last year. How this happened—and how it keeps happening—is both one person’s story and the story of how a community has been forced to adjust to murder as an everyday fact of life.
Albert Samaha Buzzfeed May 2016 30min Permalink
Once viewed as a forensic “silver bullet,” DNA evidence is coming under fire.
Matthew Shaer The Atlantic May 2016 25min Permalink
In 2001, Maksym Igor Popov defected to work as an informant in the U.S. But a decade later, he was back to scamming the FBI.
Kevin Poulsen Wired May 2016 Permalink