This week’s episode is a look back at the story of Greg Bright, as originally told to Lauren Bright Pacheco. Greg spent 27 and a half years in Angola for a murder he didn’t commit. He was a young man when he went in, and nearly 50 when he finally walked free in 2003. But Greg’s story is also a reminder that exoneration doesn’t give you those years back. And right now in Louisiana, Greg is at the center of a fight over what the state owes innocent people after taking decades of their lives.

Louisiana caps compensation for wrongful imprisonment at $400,000. Greg has now hit that cap, and his payments have stopped — even though he spent nearly three decades wrongfully incarcerated and lost some of the most important earning years of his life. Earlier this year, Louisiana lawmakers unanimously passed a bill that would have raised the cap to $600,000 and extended compensation from 10 years to 15. Governor Jeff Landry vetoed it. Think about that. The state takes 27 and a half years from an innocent man, acknowledges that he was wrongfully convicted, and then decides there’s a limit on how much of that lost time it’s willing to compensate him for. Greg is now 70 years old and has said he may have to sell the home he bought after his release just to cover his living expenses.

Greg’s story matters just as much today as it did when we first told it, because getting out of prison is not the end of a wrongful conviction. For people like Greg, rebuilding a life after decades taken away can be another fight entirely.

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

Never Fight a Shark in Water
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Jeffrey Deskovic’s first Wrongful Conviction episode was originally published in 2017, and his story is one we’ve returned to many times over the years — not only because of the 16 years he lost in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, but because of what he chose to do with his life after he was finally exonerated.

Jeffrey’s story also has an extraordinary connection to two cases we’ve recently revisited on this show: Andrew Krivak and Anthony DiPippo. The same polygraph operator who helped extract a false confession from Jeffrey when he was just 16 years old was later involved in the interrogation that produced Andy Krivak’s false confession. And years later, Jeffrey and the Deskovic Foundation helped fight to free Andy — Jeffrey even put up his own home as collateral for Andy’s bail.

If you’ve been listening to Bone Valley: The Devil’s Quarry, Jeffrey’s story provides important context for the cases of Anthony DiPippo and Andy Krivak — and for how wrongful convictions like these happen in the first place.

Also, be sure to check out 16 Years, a film by Jia Rizvi about Jeffrey’s wrongful conviction and the work he’s done since.

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

​​We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

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When teenager Robin Murphy goes missing, her friends and co-workers organize a search.

Award-winning investigative journalist and longtime Rolling Stone Magazine contributor Paul Solotaroff hosts the next entry in the acclaimed Bone Valley anthology.

To hear this episode in its entirety, search for Bone Valley Season 6 | The Devil's Quarry II wherever you listen to podcasts.

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The Devil’s Quarry II is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

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