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The Case of Charles Jackson
📻 Episode #335
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Feb 20, 2023
About This Episode
On April 7, 1991, Joe Travis was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head in an apartment complex in Cleveland, OH. Witnesses indicated the murder resulted from a drug transaction that had gone awry. Two weeks later, Ronald Lacey was arrested on drug charges and told police that he witnessed the Travis…
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
On April 7, 1991, Joe Travis was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head in an apartment complex in Cleveland, OH. Witnesses indicated the murder resulted from a drug transaction that had gone awry. Two weeks later, Ronald Lacey was arrested on drug charges and told police that he witnessed the Travis murder and described what he believed to be the shooter’s car: a late 70s Monte Carlo. Cleveland Police recalled stopping a car that fit this description, as they suspected the driver was carrying drugs. The driver, 27 year old Charles Jackson, had no drugs, but was arrested anyway. Officers found the arrest record and charged Charles for the murder. Despite the witness identifying someone else, and despite Charles’s solid alibi, he was convicted and sent to prison. Maggie speaks to Charles Jackson, Charles’s nephew, Houston Foster, and Charles’s attorney, Donald Caster.
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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.
00:04:00“Speaker 4: I started learning how to play cars, and then I Speaker 4: had a lot of time on my hands because you know, Speaker 4: just me and my father. He'd be at work. So Speaker 4: I get out of school and you know what I'm saying,”
00:14:50“Speaker 4: my way out, you know what I'm saying. I should Speaker 4: have went in there going to the library. Like I said, Speaker 4: I had a bad attitude. I was angry, you know, Speaker 4: and I felt like the took my life, you know. Speaker 4: So I'm just gonna be like no respect for no”
00:25:12“Speaker 6: They brought the wrong They brought the wrong Charles out. Speaker 3: At first, right, they brought the wrong Charles Jackson out. Speaker 4: Not only was like, you know, imagia for somebody do wait? Speaker 5: Were was this guy like, oh, I guess it's my time.”
Listen to the Episode
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← #334 Anthony Sims #336 Lerico Kearney →
Also on the podcast: #42 Noura Jackson · #72 Noura Jackson - RE-RELEASE · #90 Matthew Charles