Keith Morrison · The Chrisleys · John Hinckley
Plus: A true crime podcast story sure to make you mutter "no duh"
the true crime that's worth your time
Keith Morrison has a new podcast. This is great news to all y’all who told us they fall asleep to his voice in yesterday’s discussion thread, and it might even be better when you hear the name: The Seduction.
And before you say “noooo I don’t think of Keith like that!” (unless you do, which, why not? He’s a silver fox!), the seducer is not Morrison. As he explains to Vanity Fair, which was first with the news, the show is about “Jaime Ramos, a California man who had an affair with his married counselor, Patty Presba, who was over 25 years Ramos’s senior. Their romance spun out of control, with Ramos and Presba eventually pleading guilty to murdering Presba’s husband, Ed, and staging his death in a fiery 2008 car accident.”
According to Morrison (who, let’s be honest, kind of has to say this) he “still considers his sit-down with Ramos, after he had been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, to be one of the most gratifying conversations of his career.” That was in 2010, and Dateline still has it up in its archives, if you want to spoil the show.
So, that’s the scoop about The Seduction, which runs for six episodes starting June 14 (trailer just dropped) — but you should also click through to VF for the interview with Morrison as part of his podcast promo, because it is very interesting! Specifically, I dug on his discussion of interview technique:
When I talk to somebody who’s been accused of a crime, or even been convicted of a crime, I don’t like to assume automatically that they’re guilty. After conviction, even after a confession, they still have a story to tell. Their story may not be the one that has received all the attention or the publicity or become the official version. But they have their own version and they want to tell that. So I like to just give them a place to do it and to feel safe doing it. And when they’re obviously confabulating or trying to blame somebody else or avoid responsibility, I push back on them. But I want to hear the story. I want to hear what their explanation is. And it's always fascinating, no matter how bad they may be.
But really, it’s all good stuff! We all know Morrison is a likable and engaging guy, but somehow, this interview made me like him even more. I’m feeling kind of depressed about my local election, and this interview was the comforting coziness I needed today. — EB
A quick roundup of stories we’ve been following/chewing over on Slack:
Hinckley, who shot Reagan, to get full freedom [AP]
”John Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, is “no longer a danger to himself or others” and will be freed from all restrictions this month, a federal judge said Wednesday, capping Hinckley’s four-decade journey through the legal and mental health systems.”
‘Chrisley Knows Best’ Still Set to Air on USA After Couple’s Conviction [Hollywood Reporter]
The NYT has a good story on the couple’s conviction for “conspiring to defraud banks out of $30 million,” but I admire the way THR THR-ified the crime yarn for their audience.
“USA still plans to air the second half of Chrisley Knows Best’s ninth season — the show is the network’s most watched original series — as planned beginning on June 23. The cabler’s parent company, NBCUniversal, also announced continued business with the Chrisley family a week before the trial began.” These people seemed gross even before their misdeeds came to light, and I’m kind of amazed that the show is that popular. Whyyyy?
Tiger King's Doc Antle charged with money laundering [BBC]
”Prosecutors say Antle believed the money came from a scheme to smuggle people into the US from Mexico … Prosecutors say the cheques falsely claimed to be payment for construction work at Myrtle Beach Safari but were intended to serve as evidence that the recipients had legitimate income.”
British prosecutors authorize charges against Harvey Weinstein alleging indecent assault [Washington Post]
Most of the new news here is based off a Wednesday press release from the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime Division, which says that the disgraced producer “will be charged with two counts of indecent assault against one female complainant in August 1996 in London.”
According to the Post, “The authorized charges mean that if Weinstein, 70, were extradited to England or Wales, police would be able to arrest and formally charge him,” but so far, U.K. officials have not said if they plan to request an extradition.
You will be shocked — SHOCKED — to hear that folks who create copaganda are often people who lean to the right! Hold on to your butts! “True Crime Fans Livid Their Fave Podcast Hosts Are MAGA Loyalists,” reads the headline on The Daily Beast, with a stamp of “HUGE REVEAL” right above the dek.
I had sort of assumed this would be a roundup, as I suspect bushels and bushels of true crime podcasters are Right-leaning folks, especially when we’re talking about the shows that come at things from the side of law enforcement. And, guess what! So are a lot of their listeners! (True crime, it helps us all reach across the aisle.) What I’m saying is that this isn’t a Jimmy Pesto level “WTF” of a story.
And the article is only about one show: The Prosecutors, a podcast I am not familiar with! On their website, the hosts Brett and Alice (no last names) say “We’re going to be talking about some of the most famous cold cases of all time, bringing our experience as prosecutors to bear on our favorite mysteries.”
A listener, Mary (also no last name) tells TDB that “If you don’t want to attach your name to it, there’s a reason why,” and decided to figure out who these folks are. And, uh-oh:
“Brett and Alice” are Brett Talley and Alice Lacour, well-connected members of the conservative legal elite and former Trump administration officials.
Most of that fan ire has fallen on Talley, a one-time Trump nominee to the federal bench with a history of anti-abortion and pro-gun remarks. Talley’s nomination blew up in spectacular fashion in 2017, with the American Bar Association taking the rare step of deeming him “not qualified.” A Republican senator even called his nomination an “embarrassment,” pointing out that Talley had at the time never tried a case in court.
For Mary, discovering remarks Talley made defending the founder of the Ku Klux Klan and urging people to join the National Rifle Association in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting were the final straws. She stopped listening to The Prosecutors.
What follows is Reddit threads and inside podcast baseball gossip on the duo — well, mostly Talley, Lacour is pretty quiet throughout. But, come on, these are people who have “Usually, law enforcement can be trusted” as one of their “ten commandments,” so did anyone expect them to be pinkos? Since this is my publication, I’m not going to speculate here on other true crime podcasters I suspect have right-leaning tendencies, but the comment line is always open. — EB
It’s hard not to be so dreadfully horrified by mass shootings that we just turn away from the news. But when you’re a reporter, you don’t have that option — and when the shooting is in your community, you have to stare it straight in the face. None of us, when we chose this career, were anticipating that kind of reporting, I think. Sure, “war correspondent” is a real job, and one friends of mine have done, but even they would tell you that a mass shooting at home is a different thing to cover.
The New Yorker has a remarkable piece on the folks in the newsroom at the Uvalde Leader-News, which is very clearly a community paper with its eye on print. It’s been around since 1879, and it’s tiny — there are ten people on its staff. Many of them knew folks inside Robb Elementary. Snip:
The small staff discussed how best to cover the tragedy. “I told my boss, I don’t want his picture in the paper,” Luna said, referring to the shooter. “That’s not my call, and I know we’re going to be seeing it forever. But my answer is no.”
The other looming question was what would go on the front page. “I wanted to run a traditional front page—six-column picture, seventy-two-point headline,” Garnett told me. His staff had other ideas. Luna had been picturing a blank page—no photo, just empty space. Staff writer Melissa Federspill suggested blacking out the entire front page. The idea appealed to Luna and Garcia. “It’s how we feel right now,” Luna said.
Garnett and Garcia sat in her office and talked it through. “I just finally sat down and said, ‘You know what? You’re right. They’re all right. That’s the way it should be,’ ” Garnett said. Black stood for grief, but also privacy—the things the community was holding back, keeping for itself. “You’ve got so many people knocking on your door, calling you. And I get that—that’s fine, they have a job to do,” Garnett said. “But they’ll be gone. We just thought, This is how we’re going to hold this.” The issue went to print with a front page that was entirely black, except for the date: May 24, 2022.
I cried maybe four (?) times as I read this, for the lost, for local journalism, for this small town and the horrors it faced, for all of us. But I’m glad I read it, because it’s a heartfelt (in the New Yorker? I know!) tale of thoughtful folks working hard to tell a crime story when they’re suffering themselves. Grab the tissues and go for it. — EB
Thursday on Best Evidence: Live PD apparently can’t be killed.
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