Unlocking the Truth - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Unlocking the Truth Here!

[jenrising]

I'm just getting around to watching the third episode and it really strikes me how Kalvin's family are still fighting for him. I can't say for sure that I'd be capable of that after so long, no matter how sure I was my loved one was innocent. 

[GaT]

I've been watching this, but it's not very interesting. I also find it confusing that they started on one case, then started another & now they seem to be going back & forth between the 2 cases. It gets very confusing as to what the witnesses are talking about, I wish they would stick with one case until it's finished & then move on to the next.

[GoGamecox]

I hate to say this, but I think this show would be much more interesting with someone other than Ryan Ferguson hosting. I think he would be good as a secondary host along with the female advocate (is her name Eva? I'm sorry I can't remember her name right now). He's a good looking. likable guy with an incredible story, but he's just not charismatic or inquisitive enough to be host material for this kind of show.  

[ghertigirl]

Quote

I hate to say this, but I think this show would be much more interesting with someone other than Ryan Ferguson hosting. I think he would be good as a secondary host along with the female advocate (is her name Eva? I'm sorry I can't remember her name right now). He's a good looking. likable guy with an incredible story, but he's just not charismatic or inquisitive enough to be host material for this kind of show. 

I completely disagree, and I love what his own personal experience brings to the show (for instance, when he was talking with the detective (?) about the veracity of eye witness testimony, which he is rightfully suspicious of given his own experiences with eye witness testimony putting him away for 10 years).  I am loving this show. It seems I might be the only one though, but I am obsessed with wrongful convictions and I am really enjoying how they are questioning everything.  The funny thing is I am an attorney and some of the things they think to look into, I can't say I would.  It really makes me appreciate what they are doing.

The story that burns me up the most is the Kalvin Michael Smith one and the fact that Kenneth Lamoreaux was never seriously considered as a possible suspect. 

[Glade]

I'm also really enjoying this show.  Before it premiered, I watched the excellent documentary on Ryan Ferguson's case, and I'm glad he's bringing his (maddening!) experience to this. 

I found it so sad this last episode when A's sister said she believed Bryan must be guilty because of his profiling as a goth.  I too was once a goth teen living in a small town, where people projected all kinds of ridiculous things onto you.  That said, this case is interesting because it's so difficult.  I can only imagine that Bryan didn't have very good legal counsel during his trial, as it baffles me how a jury could find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt when the other theory--that her boyfriend who she was going through a nasty breakup with killed her shortly before killing himself--is so plausible.  

[GaT]

Well, that was a disappointing finale, nothing really got accomplished, & I have not idea what's going on with the case with the guy in jail for killing his mother. They talked a lot, but got nothing done.

[rwgrab]

On 10/6/2016 at 0:23 AM, GaT said:

Well, that was a disappointing finale, nothing really got accomplished, & I have not idea what's going on with the case with the guy in jail for killing his mother. They talked a lot, but got nothing done.

Yeah, I have to agree.  I fully support the idea of shedding a light on wrongful convictions, and I'm certainly not naive enough to believe it doesn't happen.  But if you're going to use Ryan Ferguson as the host (understandably) and then show that clip about 100 times of the eyewitness mistakenly identifying him, then you can't also grant so much weight to eyewitnesses 10-20 years later who say something vague like "I saw a shadowy figure walking through a field towards a pickup truck and even though it was the middle of the night, I totally know it was this one guy."

Or have the co-host explicitly state when talking to one of the lawyers "It's not fair that it's a personality contest!!" with Byron followed by them leaving a different interview and saying somebody "seemed shady" or "seemed credible". 

Neither of those is evidence, and it's not going to move the needle on these cases.  They're not uncovering new physical evidence, they're not taking sworn statements from new witnesses.  So no surprise there that we wind up with kind of an unsatisfying conclusion.

The one thing I think it does accomplish, though, is raising a little bit more awareness about how the criminal justice system works and where it might be helpful to have checks and balances.  Being responsible for seeking the truth is a hard job, and I don't envy police and prosecutors who have to do that in the face of pressure from the general public.  But it's important to take the weight of that seriously and operate in good faith.

[YoureSoUrban]

I think I'll have to watch this series again because I got totally lost in the arson story because there were like 4 guys with the same last name, but they weren't related to the one who was convicted.