Trailer: What Really Happened at 8th and H?

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. The first episode debuts July 19.

On October 1st, 1984, Catherine Fuller was brutally killed in the H Street Corridor in northeast Washington, DC. Her murder not only scarred the nation’s capital for decades, but it also resulted in the arrests of 17 young Black Washingtonians—the most arrests in DC history for a single murder. Of those charged, eight young men were sentenced to life in prison.

They always maintained their innocence.

Years later, evidence previously hidden by prosecutors was discovered, ultimately leading to the case being reopened in the early 2000s. Now, almost 40 years after they were convicted, the accused men—for the first time, in their own words—recount their decades-long saga with false confessions, U.S. prisons, and the American criminal justice system that failed them. Listeners will also hear from attorneys, law enforcement, journalists, and criminal reform advocates to help shine a light on the flaws and biases of our legal system still present today.

This is The Alley: DC’s 8th and H Case.

Transcript:

Shannon Lynch (host) [00:00:00]: On October 1st, 1984, the body of a sexual assault and murder victim was found in an alley in Washington, DC.
Archival News Audio [00:00:09]: The victim has been identified as Catherine Fuller. The gruesome discovery was made in a rain-soaked alley in the 800 block of H Street Northeast.
Shannon Lynch [00:00:18]: The media, police, and prosecutors claimed a vicious gang had committed the attack, but below the surface, nothing was as it seemed.
Patrice Gaines [00:00:28]: None of us reporters saw signs of a gang.
Timothy Catlett [00:00:31]: Well, they threatened everybody.
Archival News Audio [00:00:33]: Never heard of them? No, not a gang.
Thomas Dybdahl [00:00:36]: The whole notion that this was a gang is a fiction.
Shannon Lynch [00:00:39]: This story is about the people convicted in the 8th and H case and how the American criminal justice system failed them.
Clifton Yarborough [00:00:48]: The police beat me.
Charles Turner [00:00:48]: At no point did I feel that my lawyer believed I was innocent.
Melissa Segura [00:00:53]: Prosecutors can be encouraged to withhold information.
Shawn Armbrust [00:00:57]: It's the definition of the fox guarding the hen house.
Jim Trainum [00:00:59]: Lying about evidence is in just about every single false confession case.
Timothy Catlett [00:01:04]: No DNA that matches nobody.
Chris Turner [00:01:06]: No one wants to admit wrongdoing of any nature, not even on the
smallest level.
Russell Overton [00:01:12]: And I done did 37 years. Now, you tell me...Is that right?
Shannon Lynch [00:01:16]: This is The Alley: DC's 8th and H Case. Coming July 19.