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The Case of Johnny Hincapie
📻 Episode #23
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jun 12, 2017
About This Episode
Johnny Hincapie was convicted as part of a gang that murdered 22-year-old tourist Brian Watkins, even though he himself was not charged with the act and neither the victim’s family nor the other attackers identified him as a perpetrator. In 1990, Brian Watkins and his family were attacked on a New York City subway platform…
The Case
Johnny Hincapie was convicted as part of a gang that murdered 22-year-old tourist Brian Watkins, even though he himself was not charged with the act and neither the victim’s family nor the other attackers identified him as a perpetrator. In 1990, Brian Watkins and his family were attacked on a New York City subway platform by a group of 6 to 8 teenagers when they were in town for the U.S. Open, resulting in the death of Watkins as he tried to defend his parents. Johnny was only 18 years old at the time, and he did not have a lawyer present during his interrogation. He falsely confessed to the crime, after being tortured by police who threatened to kill him. After spending 25 years in prison, Johnny’s conviction was overturned based on the statements of several witnesses who testified that he was in fact not a part of the group of attackers. He was formally exonerated in January 2017.
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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.
00:06:04“Speaker 4: from Utah and these were Hispanic kids, right, and the Speaker 4: family Hispanic and black kids. Speaker 4: This of course prayed on all the fears that were Speaker 4: in the media and the classic stereotypes of the time, Speaker 4: which unfortunately still persisted this day. But at that time”
00:22:40“Speaker 2: that everyone else in my case received, including the individual Speaker 2: that killed the victim in this case. Speaker 4: So you know, I'm getting the chills now thinking about this, Speaker 4: and now you're here to share the truth that these Speaker 4: false confessions are a plague that we have in our”
00:40:27“Speaker 4: while at the outset they all look borderline hopeless. I Speaker 4: have a saying that pertains to this, which is that Speaker 4: I've seen too many miracles to stop believing in miracles. Speaker 4: At the end of the day, it really comes down Speaker 4: to one person. The impact that any of us can make,”
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← #22 Kristine Bunch and Obie Anthony (Live from the Innocence Network Conference 2017) #24 Antoine Day →
Also on the podcast: #239 Johnny Berry · #537 Johnny Berry