podcasts
Court Junkie podcast episode on Eric Frein trial
Court Junkie podcast episode on Eric Frein trial
I was a law clerk when the murder of Corporal Bryon Dickson and near-murder of Trooper Alex Douglass sparked a weeks-long manhunt that resulted in the capture, trial and conviction of Eric Matthew Frein. I won’t talk about anything I did with regard to the case (which was very little anyway), but I was living in the county seat of Milford, PA at the time and I can tell you the tragedy visibly saddened and infuriated several communities.
This link is to a fascinating episode of the Court Junkie Podcast which details the events in sensitive but vivid detail.
Serial podcast presents novel collision of law and technology
Serial podcast presents novel collision of law and technology
The incredible true crime podcast Serial presents a novel collision between technology and the law. This time, it’s not that technology plays or should play a particular part in the case itself, but that a podcast has shed light on a cold case that may lead to an unexpected outcome.
The podcast’s producers interviewed Deirdre Enright, director of the University of Virginia School of Law’s Innocence Project for Episode 7.
Lindsay Beyerstein reports at the Columbia Journalism Review:
The UVA Innocence Project is poised to ask a court to test an old physical evidence recovery kit (PERK) that was used on Lee’s body to test for possible sexual assault in 1999 but was never tested for DNA.
The DNA is an issue that might never have come up but for the Serial producers’ interview with Professor Enright. It’s the first instance I’ve heard of where a podcast may directly affect the outcome of a legal case. And considering the defendant, Syed, has already been sentenced to life in prison, any change at all to his sentence, let alone total exoneration, would be unexpected and important.
It implicates a power to uncover truth in cold cases heretofore reserved primarily to outfits like Professor Enright’s. What’s even more compelling to me is that Serial mixes the modern technology of podcasting with the very old style of serial storytelling. The whole thing exposes how, increasingly, the law benefits from ancillary developments in journalism and technology. It’ll be fascinating to hear the ultimate outcome when we get there.
Listen: The Lawfare Podcast discusses zombies in the context of international law and national security
If you’ve ever wondered how international law, laws of war and national security policy might be applied to a zombie apocalypse scenario, listen to episode 89 of The Lawfare Podcast.
The law and policy discussed are real and interesting but the tongue-in-cheek analysis is wonderfully entertaining.
The Evening Edition Podcast
Evening Edition is a wonderful way to catch up on news that doesn’t include a Kardashian or an Apple rumor. Now, they offer a five-minute daily podcast featuring the stories of the day. I tried reading Evening Edition via their email newsletter, RSS, and the website itself, but I miss a day or two each week. I have found the podcast much easier to fit into a hectic schedule. I highly recommend it.