In the early morning of March 24, 1994, 20-year-old Kenneth Hayes was getting out of his car when someone emerged from the bushes, chased him down, and fatally shot him in front of his home in Detroit, MI. 18-year-old Larry Smith Jr. became a suspect when a car belonging to a friend of his was spotted near the scene of the crime. Since there was no physical evidence tying Larry to the crime, authorities relied on junk science and questionable eyewitness testimony to convict him of the murder and sentence him to life in prison without parole.
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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.