Unjust Convictions: Cases that Shocked the World 

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In the small rural southern community I grew up in an African American man was found drowned wrapped in logging chain. The sheriff ruled the man had stolen more chain than he could swim with.

This brings up an interesting idea, why not make police who knowingly do this stuff legally accomplices after the fact concidering they willfully helped the guilty parties get away with their crimes by framing innocent people.

Am I the only one who misses the pacing back and forth and yelling at the script of yesteryear?

In the late 60's, my older brother's best friend was arrested for murder. He was hanging out with another guy that had an arrest record. And old man that lived near the guy was horrifically beaten and murdered. The police immediately went to arrest him, just in case he was involved. My brother's friend was there, so they arrested him, too. The police had found a 14 year old girl at the scene. She had prior arrests for drug possession and prostitution. Rather than seeing her as a potential murderer, the police and DA claimed she was simply a witness. When asked why she was there, she stated that the old man owed her money. She was asked if she had seen the two boys in the house at the time of the murder. She said she had seen them murder the old man. Afterwards, she said she asked the boys to give her the money in the man's possession and they did. She had the blood soaked money on her person! The jury still found the boys guilty. My brother's friend was executed. I was little at the time, so I didn't remember much, but I was curious. I googled his name and got the story. Turns out the case is now in a textbook about corruption in the legal system. In case you're curious, his name was Craig Chandler. RIP, Craig. You were a nice kid.

This is the reason I'm opposed to the death penalty. I think there are crimes for which execution would be an appropriate punishment, but any risk of executing an innocent person is too much.

Me: It's been a long day. I'm ready for some Brain Blaze silliness. Simon: Welcome to the Casual Criminalist.

It's true that I have never been President. But also, at the end of the day, no one will ever be able to claim I'm the worst President ever.

Simon's pronunciation of Scalia is way better and appropriate than the real way

I was hoping you were going to mention the case of Willie Nash, a 39yo black man who in 2018 was sentenced to 12 yrs in prison for having a cell phone while in jail for a misdemeanor. A phone the guards had failed to confiscate during strip search. He later asked a guard to charge it, instead he got 12yrs. Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence. Very heartbreaking story. Racism sucks

Taking a pardon is an admission of guilt.

The biggest issue I have with these cases, is what kind of moronic, low IQ, corrupt asshole did these poor guys have for a defence attorney?! It's hard to believe that _any_ defence attorney that actually _knows_ what they are doing, and are actually doing their job _properly_ , wouldn't be able to _easily_ defend them successfully and stamp all over the supposed "evidence" used to convict the suspects (and point out the obvious _lack_ of evidence or existence of air-tight alibis to a jury).

Kevin I hope you're okay man. You spend a lot of time in the darkness; hope it's not spending too much time in you.

Hey Simon any chance you could go back to roaming while you blaze

So I'm officially throwing my hat into the 2028 Presidential race as a Logitarian, making logic based decisions and passing laws based on reason and hard facts. My slogan shall be "Doing what's right".

Could add myself to this ; got 45 days once for trespassing despite having evidence I wasn’t even in the state at the time

I think police, prosecutors, and judges who hide evidence need to go to jail for it, for at least as long as the longest penalty for the law they cheated.

Thank you for your indignation! We live with mass shootings and uncontrolled legislators. The USA has become a nation without a conscience.

If I get arrested when ever the officers walk in the room that's what I'm going to do is just sit there bobbing back and forth going lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer !!!! 😂

Well look at the bright side Simon we got some new and creative ideals for casual criminals episodes. Milk the cow Simon milk it.

Tbh this is a little to dark and F'ed up for me, I think content like this should probably be on your casual criminalist channel keep in mind that's just my opinion and I love Brain Blaze

24:56 look up Nixon's Southern Strategy

16:30 If you serve time in prison for a crime you did NOT commit, can you use that time as a "discount" on any future crimes you might decide to do? (don't go to behind the bars, it ain't fun y'all! Speaking from experience! Wasn't anything violent. Just didn't pay a few tickets!)

Regarding the cash bill system: When the British guy is lamenting, how America has one system for rich people in another system for poor people, you know things are fucked up

bro should do a whole vid about the guilford four

19:47 You truly do care about me Simon, you really do.

John Oliver did a good segment on bail.

I live in America. We don't have judges who enforce the law or justice... They enforce whims and ego...used to be it took public pressure to get em to do whats right. Now it doesn't matter if there video evidence and signed admissions of guilt, if you rich your free, if you're broke working a 60 you're 🤬'd. You're gonna lose everything. Home kids wife they don't care, the way you look when they determine your life savings then some is theirs can get you a contempt charge. U a Cop & you kill someone on camera where it's absolutely murder? Paid vacations! College kid wrongly accused of shoplifting at Walgreens, no evidence, you're going to jail, losing you scholarship & housing and getting held without bond or a lawyer to end up with a trumped up felony because the judges in certain areas are openly racist And proud to "get" a minority.

Simons severe criticism of global polices exceeds all expectations 😮

10 Blazement Mushrooms 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Already have my ridge wallet

Blaze on, Simon!! You’re awesome!

"i dont understand." well Simon, this is America where cash is king and everything is for sale including your freedom..

Team Burnt Titanium 🔥

Shit like this makes me want to never leave my small country where I can actually trust law enforcement and especially the courts.

Hate to say IT!! Hate too HAVE to say IT!! But UNFORTUNATELY!!!! It happens way to often that you tend to get desensitized to things...... And in big cities unfortunately again gets a 35 second blurb...... And on to the next stabbing on the other side and the 10 different shooting across the city until there's like a pile of bodies

Fun fact: Racialised Fearmongering was a working title for Fox News.

Even if you're innocent? ESPECIALLY if you're innocent!!!

Dude I'm from Sri Lanka and they do have a death penalty however no one has been convicted since 1976 (because why do it when you have white vans)

In the final entry wasn't the 4 year old the "eye witness" not the victim? Pretty sure Simon got slightly confused there. Still a horrible crime but maybe not quite as grim

Lawyers exploiting people? Never... On a serious note: that's literally their profession.

Starfishes dont like jail

Yeah I got given $40,000 for a week of wrongful imprisonment

0:19 Nice flex Simon.

Where is "Asia"? It has an airport?

Well you're logical so you would think hey I shouldn't go there...

Can you uncensor the swearing RU-vid has changed the rules so you can still get monitized

Sorry Simon if you live in a country it is that corrupt 😂. The level of corruption you experience only depends upon the amount of corrupt people you know that can help you out!

Not even 30 seconds in and I'm getting advice to not confess. I had to check this was Brain Blaze not the Casual Criminalist.

No no, Simon. Its not a system for the rich and a system for the poor. Its just one system that benifits the rich at the expense of the poor.

Simon visibly confused by American racism is inappropriately hilarious to me.

I just imagine Simon googling "can a human live without 80% of their blood" and being put on a list.

The biggest injustice was not reading Danny's intro last week!! #neverforget

My favourite quote from a lawyer I know: “none of my clients ever strengthened their defence talking to the police” 🤷🏼‍♂️😂

Thank you for posting a BB today Simon!!! I just had a surgery on Tuesday and I've been having a lot of complications, from the anesthesia so seeing my favorite YT channel post a video makes my miserable day into a tolerable one. ❤ Edit: Holy crap. You guys sure you posted this video on the right channel? Was looking to laugh not watch a casual criminalist episode lol.

The emotions that come from having reclaimed your innocence, being released from the prison you were supposed to grow old and die in, AND walking out to "Sorry that was our bad" ( except way better because instead of useless words, it's millions of dollars) must be wild. I don't even know t what feelings would accompany that

Let's not forget that when innocent people are compensated for their lost years and the trauma they experienced: A) No amount of money will ever EVER make up for it. B) The money used to compensate them is paid by citizens. C) All involved (judges, attorneys, police, etc.) are almost never punished or held accountable for their actions.

Kevin!!! Lol… “I guess it wasn’t missing it was all over the ground”…terrible, but watching Simons face realizing what he’s saying after he interrupted himself …. 🙏

This one got crazy but on the plus side I’m glad to see the blaze boys and writers of the blazement are getting proper living condition facilities including access to showers I guess hiring a blazement lawyer backfired a bit on Simon but worked out for the basement staff in the end… 😂

Simon got that intuition When you hear the noise you don't go check it out you turn the other way. His intuition was like "this is the beginning of a horror movie, No I will not check your bag"

The worst part of innocent individuals being wrongly convicted is that there is someone still free that could offend again, possibly costing someone their life.

You should do the opposite of this video where someone clearly (allegedly) did something and got away with it like OJ

Simon, I'm going to blow your mind. Finding proof that exonerates you is not enough to grant an appeal or retrial in America. A case just a few years back; a man's family paid to have DNA evidence tested which proved that it wasn't the man convicted who had done it. He filed an appeal. The appeal was denied because it wasn't filed within a certain time frame. A reporter interviewed the DA or judge (I can't remember) on the street and asked why he would deny an innocent person an appeal? He got this big shitty grin on his face and said because he didn't file in time. The reporter asked him "Doesn't it bother you that an innocent man was convicted of a crime he didn't commit?" His grin got even bigger as he said "well, he should have filed on time." They don't care about if you're guilty or not; it's all about the conviction rate and putting black people in jail. 😡

I believe "expunge" was the word we were looking for when undoing conviction

DAs and the Police forget that they are supposed to search for justice and the truth, not wins.

8:05 - Chapter 1 - The central park 5 18:35 - Chapter 2 - Leon brown & henry mccollum

Given the way the news reported things, slanted things, etc. It took forever for the truth to come out. My brother in law is a retired policeman and his advice is: never talk to a cop, do not try to be helpful, and demand a lawyer immediately.

I think it's safe to say that "Don't visit the US!!!" is a good idea, if you value your freedom... :S

Poor Sam not getting mentioned at the beginning anymore and having to go through all of that editing.

Simon it's been far too long I thought something might have happened don't do this to me it's not good for my mental health 😂😂

Yoo Simon, you should look up Gert Postel, German mailman that somehow managed to play doctor for real for a good couple of years

You could also do a story about the cash for kids judges.

Sounds like the police here in Calgary, Alberta Canada where the police investigate themselves and decide they are not to blame. No governmental agency will investigate police misconduct, and the public must file complaints with the very agency they are complaining about. One police officer fractured the skull of a 12 year special needs boy and in short nothing was done; the officer was found blameless.

And hopefully things like these will make people UNDERSTAND why BLM exists...

Tbh I fully support Sam on his ending, good luck in court man!

West Memphis 3. The defense team only recently was able to obtain evidence that the police claimed was destroyed in a nonexistent fire years ago. The state is still blocking attempts to DNA test that evidence to prove them innocent.

19:50 I believe the 4 yo was the tampered witness, while the victim was a teenager. Still brutal, but a different crime. 26:28 a pardon does that... but weird enough, it also cements the guilt: only proven criminals can get a pardon, and if someone convicted for a crime is pardoned, the case is never reopened. 27:01 ... which is why I'm baffled by this.

It wasn't an 11 year old that Leon, and Henry were accused of killing. It was an 11 year old. The 4 year old was her younger sister, who later claimed her sister had gone to return a bicycle to Leon.

The whole point of bond is to force you to turn back up for the trial. It's supposed to be an amount you can afford to put up but enough that it hurts to lose, then post trial you get it back no matter what the outcome(in some countries with interest too). America has a weird version of bonds where it's too expensive to afford in the first place, then they have private companies charge 10% of the bond amount to front the bond themselves. This obviously defeats the point, if you're not getting the money back at all why would you care about returning for the trial, and if you're paying a lesser amount it's not going to hurt as much. Bond done well is an effective motivator to return for trial. Bond done the american way is just punishing poor people for being poor.

Simon you can say ANYTHING in your American accent about the American judicial system and it will be true. It really is that F'd here.

Have you or a loved one suffer from the big sad because Kevin didn't provide you with lols. Then you may be entitled to basement shroom compassion. *Basement shrooms may be replaced with an mushroom of equal or lesser value provide that they can be smuggled in. You must accept these shrooms in the condition that they're in We can not held liable for damages caused by the delivery method Simon choses, may that be thrown, yetted

Finally, he threw mushrooms into the basement. Or the Lizard Overlords have something on him. Allegedly. Cheers

"The truth shall set you free" unless you're in court.

9:35 it's possible to lose a lot of blood and still survive with prompt medical treatment. My father was in a nasty accident and lost about 75% of his volume

If woman didn't went to places where there have been crimes against them, we couldn't go out of our house.

You are correct Simon. Trump still to this day will not apologize.

Every time Simon expresses any indignation - "Simon, this is America !" Is my response.

A majority of people wrongfully convicted in the US get something like cab fare home, you seem to be under the impression that the US is not a fascist hellscape.

i am from Belize and i love that he said that because its true. the rich just move here to hide

We never heard who the editor was in this; good luck, lengthy-named Comrade on your Blazement Mushroom quest, and thank you for your work!!!

Anybody ever wonder why the internal affairs is usually depicted as the bad guys in cop shows. The one who police the cops are villians? The propaganda machine is always churning.

I work with the developmentally disabled and people have been afraid and them for years even though they're the least likely person to commit any kind of heinous crime

The disabled boys who spent 30 years in prison actually made me want to throw up, wtf. And you just know that there are countless stories like theirs out there. It's sick

19:24 "This is not what I signed up for on Brain Blaze this is the $h!t I have to deal with on Causal Criminalist" Well you lock them all up in ONE basement they are gonna talk to each other and naturally work will spill over!

Flying home on military leave, there was someone in front of me going through with a pool stick, which he couldn't do for some reason. We were going on the same flight, so the TSA agent asked me if I'd check it with my bags. It was a very small airport that had only 2 gates.

Simon is such the artful master of peddling all things :As Seen on TV: ;) How much could I pay you to promote my all-natural, freshly cut cockenball trimmings?

Sad story with the Central Park victim. But when the only info the outside people knew were those boys were mugging people. Then one went too far. Then they confessed. Obviously illegally obtained by the police. But 1 million a year for prison time is a LOT better than many of these freed falsely blamed people have gotten.

I fully support "don't blame the victim", but also believe "don't be stupid." If there were reports of a man-eating tiger running loose in Central Park and it had killed someone just the night before, would you go there? "but that's an animal, it's not the same" I hear some idiot say. What do you think rapists are? They are creatures who look human but whose brain is animal - they do not conform to the norms of society, they do not accept the morals of society, they do not value members of society. For all intents and purposes, criminals are wild animals and to go into their habitat expecting to be safe is foolish.

If your "iPad" made that tone... you may have been sold a Samsung on the grey market disguised as an apple product, mayve check if the "appstore" is the "google play store" or maybe "fdroid".

Trump doesn't believe in apologizing. He has said this in an interview. He also does have any regrets.