On August 10th, 1994, a man and a woman were in a van in West Philadelphia, when two males approached. One blocked the passenger door, while the other shot the man before he could get out of the van. The witness identified 16 year old Johnny Berry from a photo, but rescinded the ID at a preliminary hearing. Inexplicably, Johnny was re-arrested and sent back to juvenile detention, where he met Tauheed Lloyd who had admitted to being one of the assailants. When Lloyd refused to clear Johnny's name, they fought. Months later, Lloyd was arrested in an unrelated incident, and his gun matched the murder weapon. Unaware of this evidence, Lloyd thought Johnny had snitched. In turn, he gave false testimony for leniency and out of spite, sending Johnny away for life without parole. Years later, Lloyd's attempted recantation was silenced by threats of perjury and another murder prosecution. It took a slew of Supreme Court rulings on juvenile life sentences and the Philadelphia CIU to right this wrong.
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The Wrongful Conviction podcast, hosted by Jason Flom and Khaliah Ali (daughter of Muhammad Ali), has featured over 500 cases of men and women who spent years — sometimes decades — in prison for crimes they did not commit. The podcast has been downloaded over 70 million times and has directly influenced exonerations, clemencies, and criminal justice reform legislation across the country.