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The Case of Amer Zada
📻 Episode #442
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Apr 08, 2024
About This Episode
In the early morning hours of June 15, 1979, 17-year-old Amer Zada’s truck stalled out near the waterfront in Nyack, NY. While he waited for a ride, Amer discovered the body of Shirley Smith behind a dumpster in a restaurant parking lot. Minutes later, police arrived on the scene. Amer was thrown into the cruiser,…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
In the early morning hours of June 15, 1979, 17-year-old Amer Zada’s truck stalled out near the waterfront in Nyack, NY. While he waited for a ride, Amer discovered the body of Shirley Smith behind a dumpster in a restaurant parking lot. Minutes later, police arrived on the scene. Amer was thrown into the cruiser, arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. Evidence proving his innocence was never turned over to his trial attorney. “I guess the first time the reality of my situation hit me was the day of my sentencing, when they gave me 25 to life,” Amer remembers. “I just fell apart. I can still feel that feeling right now in my heart.”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/innocent-man-released-from-prison-after-41-years
https://www.deskovicfoundation.org/
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:05:04“Speaker 1: forgot that first kiss. A year and a half later, Speaker 1: he came back to Nayak to register for high school. Speaker 2: She was the first person I seen she was actually Speaker 2: outside the school and I still had I was in Speaker 2: the military academy. I still have my uniform on, and”
00:19:13“Speaker 5: And Shirley said sure. That was his testimony at trial. Speaker 1: Amir maintains that this encounter never happened, and in fact, Speaker 1: Donald Lewis was later tape recorded telling an acquaintance that Speaker 1: he had made the whole story up. Speaker 5: And Lewis said, listen, you know I had a beef”
00:32:56“Speaker 5: they're full of crossouts and strikeouts. They suggest that they Speaker 5: were both at this garage at different times. They weren't Speaker 5: there at the same time as they said they were Speaker 3: So that would be another Brady violation. Speaker 5: Yes, that would be clearly be a Brady violation my view, absolutely,”
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