The Rodney King case transformed the public debate over police violence in the United States. In 1991, King was beaten by LAPD officers after a car chase in Los Angeles, and the incident was recorded on video by George Holliday. This episode reconstructs the arrest, the impact of the footage, the state trial of the officers, the 1992 acquittals, the Los Angeles riots, and the later federal civil rights trial, which ended with two convictions. A case about racism, use of force, video evidence, juries, and the gap between what society sees and what a court declares proven.

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The Steven Avery case combines two legal stories that are difficult to separate: a wrongful conviction and a later murder conviction. Avery spent 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003, and was later accused of murdering photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. This episode reconstructs the investigation, the evidence presented at trial, the civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County, the defense theory of planted evidence, Brendan Dassey’s role, and the impact of Making a Murderer. A case about institutional trust, forensic evidence, reasonable doubt, and justice under suspicion.

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The Eichmann case brought one of the Holocaust’s key administrative organizers to trial. Adolf Eichmann, a former Nazi official, was captured in Argentina in 1960 and tried in Jerusalem in 1961 for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. This episode reconstructs his escape, his life under a false identity, the operation that brought him to Israel, the debate over jurisdiction, his defense of following orders, and the testimony of Holocaust survivors. A case about bureaucracy, memory, individual responsibility, and the impossibility of hiding mass crimes behind obedience.

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The Oscar Pistorius case shocked the world in 2013, when the South African athlete killed his partner, Reeva Steenkamp, by firing through a locked bathroom door. This episode reconstructs the trial, Pistorius’s claim that he believed there was an intruder, the prosecution’s theory, the neighbors’ testimony, the ballistic evidence, and the legal debate over intent. It also explains the initial conviction for culpable homicide, the appeal that changed the conviction to murder, and the final sentence. A case about fame, violence, fear, criminal responsibility, and justice.

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The Casey Anthony case triggered one of the strongest public reactions in recent American criminal justice. In 2008, two-year-old Caylee Anthony disappeared in Florida, and her remains were later found near the family home. This episode reconstructs the investigation, Casey Anthony’s false statements, the circumstantial evidence, the internet searches, the forensic disputes, and the defense strategy. It also explains why the jury acquitted her of murder in 2011, although she was convicted of giving false information to police. A case about reasonable doubt, media pressure, public outrage, and the limits of what a courtroom can legally prove.

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The Central Park Five case became a defining wrongful conviction in American legal history. In 1989, five Black and Latino teenagers were accused and convicted in the assault and rape of Trisha Meili in Central Park. This episode reconstructs the investigation, the interrogations, the disputed confessions, the media pressure, the trial, and the convictions. It also explains how Matias Reyes’s confession and DNA evidence led to the convictions being vacated in 2002. A story about racism, public fear, false confessions, due process, and the danger of mistaking a fast answer for real justice.

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The Dreyfus Affair divided France and became one of the most powerful symbols of wrongful conviction in modern history. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was accused in 1894 of passing military secrets to Germany and convicted of treason in a trial shaped by secret evidence, antisemitism, and institutional pressure. This episode reconstructs the accusation, the public degradation, the imprisonment on Devil’s Island, the doubts pointing to Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, Émile Zola’s intervention, and Dreyfus’s final rehabilitation in 1906. A case about justice, prejudice, national pride, and truth.

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The Sacco and Vanzetti case became one of the most controversial trials of the twentieth century. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants and anarchists, were accused of robbery and double murder in Massachusetts in 1920. This episode reconstructs the trial, the climate of fear surrounding political radicalism, the doubts over witnesses and ballistic evidence, Judge Webster Thayer’s role, the rejected appeals, and their execution in 1927. It is a story about prejudice, politics, due process, and a question that still matters: when does a court judge a crime, and when does it judge the people it fears?

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