The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "murder trials" ...
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Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Cooper
Scapegoat is the true story of the horrific Chino Hills murders -- the highest profile crime in San Bernardino County history. It shows how law enforcement ignored eyewitness information implicating three white men as the perpetrators in order to pin the crime on Kevin Cooper, a recently escaped black prisoner from the nearby prison in Chino, California. It shows how his public defender lost the case before the trial even began and how the justice system has failed Cooper at almost every turn. It also shows the heroic work of an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco that adopted Cooper's case pro bono just three months before his scheduled execution in 2004 and won him a stay and how lawyers from this firm continue to appeal his wrongful conviction.
Tags: Murders; crime; law enforcement; police; prison; justice system; wrongful conviction
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Fugitives from Justice
Growing numbers of criminal suspects flee the U.S. each year to evade trial for murder, rape and other serious felonies. The investigation penetrated the government secrecy that shrouds America's interntaional fugitive extradition programs, giving a voice to forgotten victims.
Tags: murder; secrecy; extradition
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Failed Justice: Investigations in Minnesota
An MPR News investigation of an obscure murder case in rural Minnesota revealed shoddy work and incorrect testimony by the state's most prominent medical examiner, who has testified at more than 100 murder trials over the past three decades.
Tags: Minnesota; Coroner; Death; Incorrect Testimony; Shoddy Work
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Baumgartner
At the start of 2011, the best known and probably most respected judge in Knoxville, Tenn., was Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, founder of Knox County's successful Drug Court and the judge who recently had presided over trials involving the most shocking crime in local memory, the carjacking, torture and murder of a young couple named Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. The trials of four suspects led to a death sentence, two life sentences and one very long prison term. But soon after the new year began, Baumgartner took an abrupt leave of absence, ostensible for health reasons.
Tags: judge; Knoxville; trials; criminal court
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"Final Justice
For seven years, the WEWS-TV Investigative Unit researched and reported the case of a Cleveland man, Darrell Houston, who was serving "33 years to life" in prison. By uncovering new witnesses and interviewing past jurors, the investigation by WEWS eventually led to a new trial, the release of Houston and the exoneration of his "murder and robbery charges."
Tags: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court; Nancy Fuerst; judge; Ohio Court of Appeals; Cleveland Police Department; Nancy Margaret Russo; jury; court
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"Deporting Justice"
In an ongoing television series, WFAA-TV reveals that thousands of felons accused of murder, rape and assault are often deported instead of standing trial. In Dallas, many of the accused felons are Mexican citizens who, instead of facing criminal trial in the states, are put on a bus and shuttled back to Mexico where they are set free. Deporting the accused felons also decreases the chance of "jail overcrowding."
Tags: deportation; Dallas County; immigration; ICE; Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
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Finger prints
For almost a century, fingerprint evidence has been a revered cornerstone of the American criminal justice system. But that may soon change. Last fall, in a Baltimore murder case, a judge ruled that fingerprint analysis is not reliable, which shocked lawyers across the country and could possibly put thousands of criminal investigations in jeopardy. CBS News spent months researching the use of fingerprints in murder trials as well as assessing the future of fingerprint evidence.
Tags: fingerprint evidence; Brandon Mayfield; court cases; criminal investigations; attorney; forensic evidence; death penalty
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Final Justice
For five years, the investigative team from WEWS reviewed trial testimonies, interviewed witnesses and jurors and uncovered police records obtained through the Ohio Open Records Act in order to prove that Darrell Houston, serving time in prison for murder, was innocent. Their two part report found sufficient evidence for a new trial.
Tags: innocent; trial testimonies; police records; time in prison; suspect; convicted; justice
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Gang Rape, Murder and Justice in a Small Town
"The re-investigation of a 27-year-old murder. For the first time anywhere, the story revealed the details of how Janet Chandler was killed in a gang rape that was shockingly engineered by a jealous female roommate."
Tags: rape; gang rape; re-investigation; murder; criminal trial; Michigan State Police; cold case; police; Hope College; Michigan
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Tales of a Mafia Mistress
The biggest mafia case of 2007 was the Roy Lindley DeVecchio murder trial, where the defendant was a decorated ex-FBI agent. The whole case rested on the mistress of gangster Greg Scarpa Sr., Linda Schiro.