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The Case of Jeffrey Holemon
📻 Episode #306
🎙️ Hosted by Guest Host Beth Shelburne
📅 Nov 07, 2022
About This Episode
In March of 1987, a female University of Alabama student was returning to her apartment in Tuscaloosa, AL, when she was attacked by a masked man who raped her and stole her car keys and bank card. The woman’s abandoned car was later located, and a witness reported seeing a man emerge from it some…
The Case
In March of 1987, a female University of Alabama student was returning to her apartment in Tuscaloosa, AL, when she was attacked by a masked man who raped her and stole her car keys and bank card. The woman’s abandoned car was later located, and a witness reported seeing a man emerge from it some time earlier. This witness’s singular identification of 23 year old Jeffrey Holemon, who had been in jail on an unrelated, nonviolent charge, led to Jeffrey’s conviction and life sentence.
Beth is an award-winning journalist and writer based in Birmingham, AL. Her work has been published by The Los Angeles Times, The Bitter Southerner, The Daily Beast and Facing South. Beth was a 2019 Writing for Justice Fellow with Pen America and has done extensive reporting on Alabama prisons. Before her focus on criminal justice issues, she spent 20 years working as a TV news anchor and reporter.
Beth and Jeffrey had never met before, but with Beth’s connection to Alabama, Beth found Jeffrey’s case and was immediately taken. Beth found it remarkable that the DNA evidence from Jeffrey’s appeals was a result of his own pro se litigation efforts. Litigation filed pro se, or ‘on one’s own behalf,’ is often discounted by courts, and it is an incredible accomplishment for an individual to gain any traction as a result of pro se motions.
https://www.kairosprisonministry.org/kairos-inside-prison-ministry.php
This episode is part of a special series in our Wrongful Conviction podcast feed of 15 episodes focused on individual cases of wrongful incarceration, guest hosted by formerly incarcerated returning citizens and leading criminal justice advocates, award-winning journalists and progressive influencers.
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
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.
00:05:20“Speaker 2: I'll just explain a little bit of the facts of Speaker 2: the case and then we can talk about it from Speaker 2: your perspective. But it happened in March of nineteen eighty seven, Speaker 2: and this was a female student at the University of Speaker 2: Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She was returning from classes on campus”
00:19:09“Speaker 3: It's just that sort of thing you know that you've Speaker 3: never experienced before. Because I've never been in prison, I Speaker 3: know how it was going to play out. I know Speaker 3: what to expect. Jail is totally different. Like I say Speaker 3: it was, it was a long twelve years.”
00:32:40“Speaker 2: and they still thought that you had that conviction on you. Speaker 3: I don't know if they thought, but they knew the Speaker 3: conviction had been you know, everybody knew that, but I Speaker 3: was still treated like a sex offender. I had to Speaker 3: get permission if I needed to cross the state line”
Listen to the Episode
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