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 "witness testimony" ...
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing
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Firefighters' Explosion
There weren't any eye witnesses or physical evidence against five Kansas City residents sentenced to life in prison after six firefighters died in arson fires ten years earlier. Concerns from local journalists and some prosecutors questioned the convictions, sparking the Star to exam the case.
Tags: criminal investigation; testimony; Emanuel Cleaver; alibi; Bryan Sheppard; ATF;
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Fatal Boat Crash: Wrong man charged?
When the Chief Deputy Sheriff of the Lake County Sheriff's Office was driving a speed boat it collided into a sailboat, killing a woman. However, it was the man driving the sailboat that was charged with manslaughter. ABC 7's investigation found that investigators were not taking statements from witnesses critical of the deputy and judges were not excusing themselves from the case, despite personal relationship with him.
Tags: police department; manslaughter; criminal justice; judge; witness testimony;
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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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Firefighter's Explosion
The Star reinvestigated "the case of five Kansas Citians convicted in 1997 of setting arson fires ten years earlier that sparked an explosion killing six Kansas City firefighters." The Star found that many of the witnesses who testified stood to gain from their claims and that the jurors misunderstood their instructions.
Tags: arson; trial; jury; evidence; testimony; witness; firefighters;
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An American Family
This year-long series describes parolee Luis Aguilar and his family through his reentry period. Just as the first "chapter" was about to be published, the Aguilar household was raided by the police and Luis was arrested for selling drugs. The reporter found that Luis was wrongly charged and that police had coaxed testimonies from witnesses at the trial. This story describes how the family goes through ups and downs in their effort to rebuild their lives.
Tags: Luis Aguilar; drugs; wrongful conviction; threatening witnesses; parolee; Aguilar; wrong witness testimony
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Experts: Jurors erred in murder case
In the final trial of the controversial 1997 John Hartman murder case, this story reveals how the jury broke long standing legal traditions to conduct a street experiment for verifying the validity of the testimony of a key witness. This leads to the jury's handing over two sentences of 33 and 79 years each to two young men. The ruling, which one of the judges later acknowledge will strike many as unfair, is now on appeal.
Tags: George Frese; Eugene Vent; Marvin Roberts; Kevin Pease; Anchorage; Howard Luke Academy; Gary Montini
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Innocent
This story from the San Francisco Bay Guardian investigates the conviction of two people who had spent more than a decade behind bars. The reporter found out that the police department had withheld evidence in the trial including eye witness testimony that absolved them of the crime. Backed by this investigation and re-opening of the case, the two were released from prison after thirteen years in prison.
Tags: innocent conviction; John. J Tennison; Roderick Shannon; Antoine Goff; withholding evidence; eyewitness testimony; re-opening cases
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Waiting for Justice
A Sheriff's office had a witness wrongly testify against two men accused for the murder of a high school senior. As this investigation reveals the sheriff's department was holding these men only on the basis of this fraudulent testimony. Later the men were released from jail when the witness changed her testimony exposing how the Sheriff had forced the witness to testify earlier.
Tags: Sheriff's department; wrong testimony; murder of teenager; murder of high school senior
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Witness Stand: Who Is an Expert? In Some Courtrooms, The Answer Is 'Nobody'; Complex Cases Are Dismissed As Judges Grow Skeptical Of Unproven Science; 'Testimony of Dilettantes'
The Wall Street Journal reports on a courtroom trend: judges are throwing out expert witnesses in record numbers, calling their work junk science. This change in attitude is significant because expert witnesses have been a fixture in the courtroom for some 40 years.
Tags: expert witnesses; courtrooms; attitude; justice