Talk Radio 49 Talk Radio 490

On July 23, 2010, Shan Fieldman got into a pick-up truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Pontiac, Illinois to arrange the murder of his ex-wife, Shelley, and her current boyfriend, Alan.    Fieldman left briefly to get $100.00 from his fiancé, Talia Fonce, which was used as a down‑payment on the hit.  Fieldman also provided the hitman with descriptions of his ex and her boyfriend, as well as their home and their habit of hanging out in their garage.  He gave the hitman their correct address.  While he also left an IOU in the amount f $7,400.00 with the hitman, he did ensure himself plausible deniability by signing it “Joe Smith.”  Fieldman was arrested later that night with his fiancé’s children in his car.  His fiancé was also arrested because she had introduced Fieldman to Trina Bennett, the informant who reported the potential crime to police.  Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan on Sunday, June 6, 2021, at 8:00 p.m., Central, for Episode 13 of Clear and Convincing.  We’ll talk about the events leading up to the meeting with the hitman, the evidence against Fonce and Fieldman, their trials and appellate process, including the grant of federal habeas relief to Fieldman with the intervention of Kathleen Zellner.  We are a live show and, as always, calls are welcome at (347) 989-1171.

On June 26, 1980, a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Sarah Avenue and Olive Street in St. Louis, Missouri, took the life of 19-year old Quinton Moss and wounded Wallace Conner.  Moss had been a suspect in the January, 1980 murder of Dennis “Gant” Griffin, but had never been charged.  Larry Griffin was linked by a police officer who saw him in the company of two other men getting into a car similar to the one described by witnesses to the shooting and a bystander at the scene who was able to identify Griffin as one of the shooters.   Join Lisa O’Brien and Michel Carson on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, for Clear and Convincing,  Episode 11, State of Missouri v. Larry Griffin.  Griffin’s 1995 execution was controversial due to his claim of his actual innocence.  A 2005 investigation sponsored by the NAACP concluded that there were “doubts” about Griffin’s guilt.  A subsequent investigation by the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney’s Office reached a different conclusion.  We’ll talk about the evidence against Griffin, the post-execution investigation that raised doubts about his guilt and the investigation conducted by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney.  We are a live show and, as always, calls are welcome at (347) 989-1171.

On August 7, 2004, an anonymous call brought Nashville police to 2728 Mossdale Drive, where they found the home’s owner, 43-year old Johnny Michael Allen, dead in his bed.  He’d been shot once in the back of the head.  A tip led police to Room 302 at the InTown Suites, where they arrested 16-year old Cyntoia Denise Brown.  Initially, Brown gave police a fake name and claimed to be 19-years old.  Brown was a runaway from Clarksville, Tennesse.  While in Nashville, she’d been living with 24-year old Gary McGlothen, who went by the nicknames “Cut” or “Cut Throat.”  During questioning, Brown admitted shooting Johnny, but claimed self-defense, which was refuted by the crime scene and the evidence that Brown took guns, money, paper work and Johnny’s truck after shooting him in the head.  Her initial efforts to blame others were unsuccessful and she was charged with first degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery.  Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. Central for Episode 10, State of Tennessee v. Cyntoia Brown.  We’ll talk about the evidence linking Brown to the murder of Johnny Michael Allen and the propaganda campaign waged in 2019, which resulted in a grant of clemency by Bill Haslam, Tennessee’s governor and release from prison 15 years into a life sentence.  We are a live show and, as always, calls are welcome at (347) 989-1171.

On October 8, 1983, Bob Tate, Jerry Mack Brown, Ronald Mayes and Philip Good were shot in Tate’s ultralight airplane hangar in Sherman, Texas.  Their bodies were discovered by Tate's wife and son after Tate failed to come home that evening.  Tate’s ultralight, which had been advertised for sale by Good, was missing from the hangar.  Bower was identified in January, 1984 when phone records linked 3 calls to Good to a phone calling card provided to Bower by his employer, a chemical company.  In his initial interviews with police and FBI agents, who were asked to assist the investigation by the Grayson County Sheriff, Bower lied about everything, including the extent of his contact with Good and Tate, his presence in Sherman and his interest in the ultralight.  When police obtained a search warrant, they found aluminum tubing consistent with tubing used in ultralight aircraft, decals removed from an ultralight, wheels with the name “Tate” on them and Jerry Brown’s fingerprints on some of the tubing.  Bower was arrested and, in April, 1984, tried, convicted and sentenced to death.  Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan for Episode 12, State of Texas v. Lester Leroy Bower.  We’ll talk about the evidence linking Bower to the murders, his post-conviction claims of actual innocence and his claim that execution after 31 years on death row was “cruel and unusual” punishment.

On June 2, 1983, Kevin Cooper, who had a long history of escpaes from prison and mental health facilities, walked away from the Chino Institution for Men (CIM) in Chino, California.  Cooper had a long history of escape from prison facilities and mental hospitals.  During the night of June 4, or early on the morning of June 5, Cooper entered the home of Doug and Peggy Ryen, where he beat, slashed and stabbed Doug, Peggy, and Jessica Ryen and family friend Christopher Hughes to death.  The sole survivor was 8-year old Joshua.  Cooper was convicted on February 19, 1985 and sentenced to death on May 15, 1985.  Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. for Episode 8, California v. Cooper and our interview with San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson.  We’ll talk to Mr. Anderson about Cooper’s most recent request for clemency, his request for an “innocence investigation” and the results of DNA testing recently ordered by outgoing Governor Brown and current Governor Newsome.  We’re a live show and calls are always welcome at (347) 989‑1171.

About Jason Anderson:  

Jason Anderson was elected as the 36th District Attorney of San Bernardino County on June 5, 2018. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1997 and served as a deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County from 1998 to 2014.  He entered private practice in Rancho Cucamonga in 2014 and has been an adjunct professor teaching Criminal Procedure and Trial Advocacy at the University of LaVerne College of Law.  He is a 2008 recipient of the Jennifer Brooks Lawyer of the Year Award, a 2012 recipient of the Above and Beyond Award  and a 2018 recipient of the George W. Porter Criminal Trial Attorney Award.

 

 

On the afternoon of November 8, 2002, police in Stamford, Connecticut responding to a 911 call, found the body of Anna Lisa Raymundo in the entryway of her condominium.  She had been beaten and stabbed by an unknown assailant.  Her case would remain unsolved until March 23, 2003, when Sheila Davalloo, was arrested in connection with the attempted murder of her husband, Paul Christos.  Davalloo, a research scientist at Purdue Pharma, was a co-worker of Nelson Sessler, Raymundo’s boyfriend at the time she was murdered.  Detectives investigating the attack on Christos made the connection between Davalloo’s voice and the still unidentified 911 caller.  Davalloo was subsequently linked to Raymundo’s murder based on DNA evidence found in the bathroom of Raymundo’s condo.  After Davalloo’s conviction in the attempted murder of her husband in 2004, investigators and prosecutors built a murder case against Davalloo, who was eventually indicated in 2007.  In 2012, Davalloo, who represented herself at trial, was convicted  Raymundo’s murder.  Join Lisa O’Brien and Michael Carnahan on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. Central for Clear and Convincing, Episode 7, State of New York v. Sheila Davalloo and State of Connecticut v. Sheila Davalloo.  We’ll talk about Davalloo’s crimes, her separate trials in New York and Connecticut and the convictions that resulted in consecutive prison sentences that will keep Davalloo behind bars for a minimum term of 75 years.  We are a live show and, as always, calls are welcome at (347) 989-1171.