Living Unsheltered: A Survivor’s Story

September 18, 2021Episodesallrise

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Violence against the homeless is only too common and has been on the rise over the last few years. Violence among the homeless is unfortunately also frequent; the odds of a homeless person becoming a crime victim are appallingly high. Going beyond the courtroom, today’s podcast brings you onto the streets of Boston to hear what it was like to be a crime victim while “living unsheltered”, the term now used to refer to the homeless. Ginny, a former registered nurse, ended up living on the sidewalk in front of the Boston hospital where she once had a thriving career and where her mother was the director of nursing for many years. For seven years, Ginny witnessed street violence firsthand – and too often experienced it herself: “I received eight concussions as a victim of crime.” Homeless individuals, particularly women, are among the most vulnerable in society because they are very often ostracized and demonized. The segregation of the unsheltered population helps make it a breeding ground for violence. Too many Americans living “normal” lives are just one lost job, health crisis, or accident away from being homeless. Ginny will recount her struggles and how she made her way back from the streets.

Justice Served Cold: The Murder of Dora Brimage

August 25, 2021Episodesallrise

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On the night of September 6th, 1987, Dora Jean Brimage, 19, accepted a ride from a birthday party in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. She was seen getting into a car with three men. The next day, construction workers renovating a vacant building a mile and a half away from the party location found her semi-clad, mutilated body; she had been severely beaten, raped, and strangled. There were no suspects, but investigators preserved the evidence, hoping that one day advances in DNA science would help them solve the vicious crime. Her family would wait nearly 30 years to find out who had killed Dora, who was active in her church and in high school athletics, and who had planned to pursue a career in nursing. Her sister said she never wore pink again. Dora was wearing a pink outfit when she was murdered.

In 2014, a federal grant enabled the Boston Police Department Cold Case Squad to re-examine “cold cases.” The DNA evidence from Dora Brimage at last yielded its secrets: a suspect was identified. It would take the Squad two years to build their case against him. When justice was finally served, Dora’s mother Doris made a dramatic declaration at the killer’s sentencing hearing which stunned the courtroom.

“A Terrible Night!” The 1989 Carol Stuart Murder, Revisited

August 3, 2021Episodesallrise

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October 23, 1989. It was a crime that shocked even the most jaded journalist and shook the city of Boston and beyond. Carol DiMaiti Stuart, nine months pregnant, was killed and her husband Chuck Stuart seriously wounded. They had been shot in their car after attending a birthing class at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Chuck claimed a Black man had tried to rob them at a red light in the Mission Hill section of Boston.
The subsequent media circus turned the city upside-down for three months. The Boston Police arrested a Black man, Willie Bennett, despite having no evidence beyond Chuck’s description. Chuck identified Bennett in a police line-up. Racial tensions rose dangerously high.
Then on January 4, 1990, Chuck’s car was found abandoned on the Tobin Bridge in Chelsea with a suicide note left inside. Just hours before, Matthew Stuart, his youngest brother, had gone to the police and revealed what had really happened on that terrible October night.
Today’s guest is Joe Sharkey, whose book “Deadly Greed: The Riveting True Story of the Stuart Murder Case” chronicles the disturbing crime that turned Boston on its ear and reverberated across the United States. Joe is a former business travel columnist for The New York Times. He has written six critically acclaimed true-crime books, including the thrilling “Above Suspicion” which in 2019 was turned into a movie starring Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones).
Join us while Joe shares his thoughts on looking back at the Stuart case, the challenges of writing on true crime — and his experience of surviving a mid-air jet collision at 35,000 feet over the Amazon.

“What do you think I am, a murderer?”: The Retrial of Diane Farley for the Murder of Sarah Ann Marsceill

June 14, 2021Episodesallrise

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That’s what Diane Farley said to her boyfriend, David Blatz, when he picked her up at 8 am from the house of her friend of just six weeks, Sarah Ann Marsceill, known as Sally. Diane and Sally had spent the night before drinking and doing cocaine. But David noticed what appeared to be blood stains on Diane’s clothes.

When David Stewart left his sister’s house in Dedham MA on the night of April 23, 1993, he didn’t know it would be the last time he’d ever see Sally alive. He found Sally’s body the following afternoon. She was lying face up on her bedroom floor wearing only a tee shirt. She had been stabbed eleven times and had defensive wounds on her hands and arms. The murder weapon was never found, and no motive ever established. Diane Farley was arrested and convicted of Sally’s murder.

Today’s guest is Judge Robert Cosgrove, who in 2002 was the prosecutor with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office in Diane Farley’s retrial. Judge Cosgrove explains how the original conviction was overturned and retrial ordered because an appellate court found the original defense attorney’s work deficient (ineffective assistance of counsel). Judge Cosgrove will also discuss the nuts and bolts of a prosecutor’s preparation for a murder trial and the inherent problems with retrying a case.

Felix the Flasher: Indecent Exposure in Downtown Crossing

June 4, 2021Episodesallrise

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Clad in bright-red mesh basketball shorts and a red shirt, 39-year-old Mark Felix wasn’t exactly inconspicuous when he approached four young women at different times in Boston’s busy Downtown Crossing on the sunny afternoon of July 10, 2008. He supposedly wanted directions to the Back Bay neighborhood. When he had his target cornered, he exposed his erect penis that was sticking out of the top of his shorts. Later that afternoon, members of the Boston Police bicycle squad arrested him in the same area. In his 2009 trial for four counts of open and gross lewdness, Felix chose to represent himself.

“Here Comes the Judge”

May 28, 2021Episodesallrise

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Ever wonder how someone becomes a judge? In Massachusetts, judges are appointed by the governor. Judge Robert C. Cosgrove, an associate justice of the MA Superior Court, discusses the steps in that process and divulges many details of the day-to-day work of a sitting judge.

Twisting the Facts: The Dangers of Confirmation Bias

May 28, 2021Episodesallrise

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Sherlock Holmes warned that “it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data … one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts”. That tendency to interpret information to support a pet theory or to support what we think we know is called “confirmation bias”, and it can be a major problem in police investigations when likely suspects are ignored and data or evidence is misinterpreted or even suppressed. Aviva Jeruchim, a criminal defense attorney, explains how confirmation bias works, why it happens, and how it can lead to wrongful arrests and convictions.

Justice Was Not Done: The Trials of Sean Ellis

May 12, 2021Episodesallrise

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In 1993, 19-year-old Sean Ellis was sentenced to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He served 22 years for the murder of Boston Police Detective John Mulligan, who was shot multiple times in the head as he slept in his private vehicle while parked in a drugstore lot in Roslindale MA. At the time of his murder he was on a paid detail. It was revealed after his death that Mulligan was part of a four-man crime spree within the Boston Police Department. While watching TV in prison, Sean saw a Boston-based criminal defense attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, who was defending another wrongfully convicted young man. Eighteen months after Sean wrote to her, Rosemary went to see him at the correctional facility where he was serving his sentence and decided to take his case. Rosemary reviews the challenges she faced and obstacles she overcame to finally get justice for Sean nearly 30 years after his conviction. This case was featured on the Netflix docuseries Trial 4, released on November 11, 2020.

McAuliffe on Equitable Justice

April 30, 2021Episodesallrise

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Shannon ran for Suffolk County DA in 2018; she shares her insights on that important office as well as what it takes to break the cycle of repeat incarcerations for emerging adults. Having a strong commitment to equitable justice, she is now a Vice President at ideas42, a nonprofit that uses behavioral science to address complex social issues such as mass incarceration and racial disparities baked into the criminal legal system.

“Hit the Gate, Standing Straight”

April 14, 2021Episodesallrise

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Not everyone who works in a prison is a correctional officer. Today, Diane’s brother-in-law Irl will share memories of his ten years in the California prison system as a teacher and education administrator. He’ll talk about what it’s like to walk the yards and tiers of a maximum-security facility as “free staff”, connecting with inmates who want to learn and assisting many with their mandated access to legal resources. You’ll also hear about the role of education in helping to reduce recidivism (reoffending). In this potentially explosive environment, the goal is to “do your eight, hit the gate, hope you’re standing up straight.”

All Rise Boston

With Diane Godfrey