Day: December 22, 2024

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is seen as a potential threat to European security. Some think he may abandon Nato – but the organisation’s new secretary general seems convinced he will be persuaded to stay.

Nearly three months after the remnants of Hurricane Helene washed out large parts of western North Carolina, the community surrounding Asheville is still cleaning up and taking stock of what comes next. We check back in with one displaced resident who is still coming to terms with the damage to her neighborhood. Guest: Olivia Cooner
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In part two of our story about Ben Spencer, a man sentenced to life in prison for a crime he said he didn’t commit, former NPR correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty begins her own investigation. She returns to the scene of the crime and reinterviews witnesses. Hagerty finds new evidence of Spencer’s innocence. And yet, the courts refuse to release him. In this episode of The Sunday Story from Up First, a look at what finally happens to a man who pinned his hopes on the idea that the truth would eventually set him free. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

In 1987, Ben Spencer, a young black man from Dallas, Texas was convicted in the killing of a white businessman. He was sentenced to life in prison by an all-white jury. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and he had an alibi. Over the years, eyewitnesses recanted their testimony and a judge, after reviewing all the prior evidence, declared Spencer to be an innocent man. Nonetheless, Spencer remained in prison for more than three decades. For seven of those years, former NPR correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty follows and followed the twists and turns of this case. Her dissection of wrongful convictions and the criminal justice system is at the heart of her new book, Bringing Ben Home: A Murder, A Conviction And The Fight to Redeem American Justice. Today on The Sunday Story from Up First, part one of a two-part series looking at why it is so hard to get a conviction overturned even when evidence of innocence is overwhelming. Part two is also available now on the Up First podcast feed. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy