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The Case of Selma Butler
📻 Episode #533
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Jul 10, 2025
About This Episode
This week, we are bringing to you a special episode of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng featuring Selma Butler. Maggie has returned to share this remarkable story with you, and to set the stage for another special announcement next week alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning author and creator of the Bone Valley podcast, Gilbert King. So please…
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The Case
This week, we are bringing to you a special episode of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng featuring Selma Butler. Maggie has returned to share this remarkable story with you, and to set the stage for another special announcement next week alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning author and creator of the Bone Valley podcast, Gilbert King. So please make sure and check in next Wednesday, July 16th.
On November 13, 1995, Angela Young was stabbed to death in her apartment which was located in a building that was controlled by the Gangster Disciples in Chicago, IL. Within weeks, teenagers Selma Butler and Gino Wilson were charged with the murder—despite the shaky testimony of a single 14-year-old witness. Gino was acquitted, the witness recanted, yet Selma was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
In this episode, Maggie talks with Selma Butler and Ashley Cohen, Managing Partner at Bonjean Law Group and founder of ABC Reentry, a nonprofit helping people rebuild their lives after incarceration.
https://www.abcreentry.org
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.
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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.
00:04:28“Speaker 2: Always? Really always, you know, not just me and my sisters, Speaker 2: you know, my family, friends, everybody's life. It's just not mine, Speaker 2: you know. And then I chose not to be part Speaker 2: of a game, even though like they automatically put all”
00:18:47“Speaker 2: I'm in that's not given the opportunity to talk to you, Speaker 2: but half the same exact situation. You know, Like when Speaker 2: you think about what Joseph mcgatz did, because he was Speaker 2: the state's attorney on this case, and like the little Speaker 2: evidence that he used to convict me, how many other”
00:31:02“Speaker 1: assistance of counsel. In March of twenty twenty two, Jennifer Speaker 1: Bonjing argued Selma's case before the Appellate Court. Justice is Speaker 1: Nathaniel House, Cynthia Cobbs, and Terrence Lanvin, who is. Speaker 2: The attorney who's going to make a presentation for the Speaker 2: appellant today.”
Listen to the Episode
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← #532 Clay Chabot #534 Ben Bowlin with Robert Johnson →
Also on the podcast: #158 Sabrina Butler