The Alford Plea

In 1995, a tragic fire in Pittsburgh set off a decades-long investigation that sent Greg Brown Jr. to prison. But, after a series of remarkable twists, Brown found himself contemplating a path to freedom that involved a paradoxical plea deal—one that peels back the curtain on the criminal justice system and reveals it doesn’t work the way we think it does.

Special thanks to John Lentini, Amanda Gillooly, Fred Buckner, Debbie Steinmeyer, Marissa Bluestine, Jason Hazlewood, Meredith Kennedy, Kristen Vermilya, Joshua Ceballos and Lauren Cooperman.

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EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by - Peter Smith and Matt Kielty
Produced by - Matt Kielty
Original music and sound design contributed by - contributed by Matt Kielty
with mixing help from - Arianne Wack
Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger
and Edited by - Becca Bressler

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Magazine Articles -
More work by Peter Andrey Smith (https://zpr.io/wXfYn5GMM7dN) for Undark Magazine
The Sniff Test (https://zpr.io/xkDzHsrrpFeR) for Science by Peter Andrey Smith

Books -
"Whythe Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free" (https://zpr.io/wF8KtSFKTmwi), by Judge Jed S Rakoff
“Smokebut No Fire” (https://zpr.io/C3NceBFmhJk4) by Jessica S. Henry
“Punishment Without Trial” (https://zpr.io/AbqT5u5eqSy5) by Carissa Byrne Hessick

** The transcript of Greg Brown Jr.’s plea from 2022has yet to be made public.

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Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.