The Case of Patrick Pursley (Live from ComplexCon Chicago 2019)

📻 Episode #110
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jan 15, 2020

◆ EPISODE PROFILE

About This Episode

The Case

On April 2nd, 1993, 22 year old Andrew Ascher and Becky George sat in his parked car by her brother’s apartment building on Silent Road in Rockford, IL, when a black man in a blue ski mask approached the vehicle, announcing a stick up. While Becky frantically fished in her purse for some money, the armed robber shot Andrew twice. Both of the bullets and their casings were retrieved from the crime scene and during the autopsy. Meanwhile, across town, Patrick Pursley celebrated his son’s birthday in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend Samantha Crabtree. Over 2 months later, as the police came up empty on Andrew’s murder, an acquaintance of Patrick and Samantha’s, Marvin Windham, traded false information with the police through Crime Stoppers that implicated Patrick in exchange for leniency in his own legal matters, as well as a $2,650 reward. It was also revealed at trial that Windham had a long time crush on Samantha. Police obtained a search warrant, retrieved a Taurus 9mm from their apartment, and interrogated Samantha, threatening to take away her children if they didn’t get the story they wanted in the form of a confession and an immediate grand jury testimony - a testimony she would later recant at trial. But, with her coerced confession on the record, Windham’s “hot tip”, and conflicting expert ballistics testimony about the murder weapon and the Taurus 9mm found at the apartment, Patrick Pursley was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at ComplexCon Chicago 2019, Patrick tells Jason of his wrongful conviction and subsequent fight for freedom, including how he changed a law from inside prison in order to obtain the ballistic testing necessary to set himself free.

https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

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.

00:04:11
“Speaker 1: the time you were in the Price of Life. So Speaker 1: all of this must have come as a tremendous shock Speaker 1: to you when it happened in stages right when you Speaker 1: first first you became aware that you were a suspect. Speaker 2: Can you get into that aspect of this whole thing.”

00:16:10
“Speaker 3: off me. I say, sir, yes, sir, And so he Speaker 3: gets a little closer in my personal space than the Speaker 3: tar man's out with the gun. It's about two hundred inmates, Speaker 3: and he says, I don't like your attitude. I said, Speaker 3: we don't like your attitude either, sir. You brought much”

00:28:19
“Speaker 3: a defendant walking the door, period. And if you're poor, Speaker 3: there's a credibility deficit. And if you're behind bars and Speaker 3: you're fighting the case, you're not going nowhere unless you Speaker 3: have an attorney. So pro say gets no play. Speaker 2: Pro sake, get's no play.”

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Also on the podcast: #21 Floyd Bledsoe and Cornelius Dupree (Live from the Innocence Network Conference 2017) · #22 Kristine Bunch and Obie Anthony (Live from the Innocence Network Conference 2017) · #73 Damien Echols (Live from the Church of Rock and Roll)