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The Case of Vincent Simmons
📻 Episode #287
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Aug 25, 2022
About This Episode
In early May of 1977, Keith Laborde and his 14 year old twin cousins, Karen and Sharon Sanders, allegedly picked up a hitchhiking black man at a gas station in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. About 2 weeks later, when asked about a scratch on his neck, Keith Laborde and the twins told a story about this…
The Case
In early May of 1977, Keith Laborde and his 14 year old twin cousins, Karen and Sharon Sanders, allegedly picked up a hitchhiking black man at a gas station in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. About 2 weeks later, when asked about a scratch on his neck, Keith Laborde and the twins told a story about this armed hitchhiker who allegedly forced Laborde into the trunk and raped both girls. Despite not matching the description, a man with a few petty priors, Vincent Simmons, was arrested, put into a suggestive line up, and ultimately selected. When he refused to confess, police officer Robert Laborde shot him in the chest. Vincent survived, but only to have ALL discovery withheld by the state including the medical examination that proved that Sharon Sander's could not have been raped. Simmons was convicted of two counts of attempted aggravated rape of the twin teenage sisters and given a 100-year prison sentence.
https://www.change.org/p/vincent-simmons-is-innocent-and-has-been-imprisoned-in-louisiana-since-1977
https://wrongfullyconvicted.info/vincent-simmons/
The Farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odx9NEHc17M
Shadows of Doubt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lCNnEnxno
https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom
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.
00:04:49“Speaker 5: man Phila, I had had some involved with a bald parent. Speaker 5: Share of DePaul I was involved with compared to crime. Speaker 5: I moved to Houston and I got a job and Speaker 5: I learned that my father had that and I come Speaker 5: back to do with Yeah, I was back for out”
00:19:47“Speaker 1: What was alleged to be a three hour long encounter Speaker 1: with two twin underage white girls being raped by a Speaker 1: black man in the middle of Clan country. I would Speaker 1: have sooner bought into the store worry about Mars and Speaker 1: Vincent was able to present something in his defense right”
00:34:17“Speaker 6: The lines and then Boom. For a full year later, Speaker 6: the family come forward and Boom revealed new evidence of Speaker 6: what they had need all these years. Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean not only that cousin who had come Speaker 1: forward talking about Keith Lebboord, all of those damning messages”
Listen to the Episode
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← #286 James King - RE-RELEASE #288 Ken Middleton →
Also on the podcast: #88 Vincent Atchity and Kelly Grimes · #231 Vincent Simmons · #316 Vincent Ellerbe