The Case of False Confessions - Eric Weakley and Michael Hash

📻 Episode #174
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Nov 30, 2020

◆ EPISODE PROFILE

About This Episode

Michael was serving a life sentence until one person came to his rescue: his mom.

The Case

Michael was serving a life sentence until one person came to his rescue: his mom.

Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin bring us to Culpeper County, Virginia, to tell the story of teenage buddies Eric Weakley and Michael Hash. Local police solved a murder case by coercing Eric into falsely confessing and into falsely implicating his friend Michael as an accomplice. For years, lawyers couldn’t get justice for either of them -- until Michael’s mom found evidence that blew this case wide open.

If you want to support Eric Weakley’s pardon petition, you can write to the governor of Virginia.

Governor Ralph E. Northam

Use the email form at: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/

Write a letter to:

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.

00:04:14
“Speaker 1: but her purse was missing, along with her green Ford Speaker 1: pickup truck. A month later, a deer hunter found the Speaker 1: truck abandoned in a wooded area about a mile and Speaker 1: a half away from Thelma's home. Her purse was there too, Speaker 1: with its contents scattered on the ground nearby. But despite”

00:16:04
“Speaker 3: be next, You're coming home now. Speaker 1: Michael didn't have a strong alibi like Jason did. When Speaker 1: Thelma died, Michael had been right there in Culpeper County, Speaker 1: hanging out with some buddies. But even though Michael's defense Speaker 1: was weaker, the prosecutors decided to leave nothing to chance.”

00:27:53
“Speaker 1: formally dismissed. That day, Pam wrote an email to Steve Speaker 1: just three words long. Speaker 2: One Steve, I almost fell out of my chair. I Speaker 1: As for Eric Weekly, the judge's decision took a twelve Speaker 1: year burden off his shoulders. I'm glad that man's home.”

Listen to the Episode

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🔊 How You Can Help

Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.

← #173 False Confessions - Ricky Davis #175 False Confessions - Ray McCann →

Also on the podcast: #9 Michael Morton · #66 Jason Flom and Michael Rubin with Meek Mill · #115 False Confessions - Origin Story