The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "eyewitness" ...
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Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Cooper
Scapegoat is the true story of the horrific Chino Hills murders -- the highest profile crime in San Bernardino County history. It shows how law enforcement ignored eyewitness information implicating three white men as the perpetrators in order to pin the crime on Kevin Cooper, a recently escaped black prisoner from the nearby prison in Chino, California. It shows how his public defender lost the case before the trial even began and how the justice system has failed Cooper at almost every turn. It also shows the heroic work of an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco that adopted Cooper's case pro bono just three months before his scheduled execution in 2004 and won him a stay and how lawyers from this firm continue to appeal his wrongful conviction.
Tags: Murders; crime; law enforcement; police; prison; justice system; wrongful conviction
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Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border Parts 1 & 2
Few, if any, pieces published or broadcast in 2012 had as much impact as “Crossing the Line at the Border,” a joint project of the weekly PBS newsmagazine, “Need to Know,” and the Nation Institute that was in the best tradition of American investigative journalism. Within days of its broadcast, 16 members of Congress demanded that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the killing of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican whose death at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents was detailed in our report. A few months later, a U.S. attorney in convened a federal grand jury. It is currently considering criminal charges in the case. And months after that, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the incident had prompted it to launch a full-scale review of its use of force. Hernandez Rojas had a fatal heart attack shortly after being subdued by agents, beaten, and shot with a Taser gun at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28th, 2010. His death was largely ignored until the "Need to Know” team, in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, unearthed never-before-seen eyewitness video of the incident.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; border; killing; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Taser
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Identity Evil
"Identity Evil" is an in-depth look at a violent fake document cartel operating in states across the country. The cartel is the largest and most sophisticated fake id ring federal investigators have ever encountered. They were funneling millions of dollars from U.S. cities south of the border into Mexico. The cartel became synonymous with murder and torture as they sought to protect their turf from rival gangs and enforce discipline within their own organization. Using eyewitness accounts, federal wiretaps, and interviews with victim’s families, investigative reporter A.J. Lagoe and photojournalist Ben Arnold take viewers inside the cartel and document the violence that would prove to be their undoing.
Tags: Fake ID; federal wiretaps; violence; fake document cartel
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Marvin Harrison Investigation
The investigation examines the involvement of former NFL player Marvin Harrison in a shooting on a north Philadelphia street in 2008.
Tags: Marvin Harrison; Philadelphia; NFL; shooting; eyewitness; evidence
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Wrongful Arrest?
On a tip that a viewer's 74-year-old father was in jail for a string of Wal-Mart robberies he did not commit, KCTV investigated the challenge of righting a conviction wrong when found on the wrong side of the law.
Tags: wrongful arrest; wrongful conviction; criminal justice; crime statistics; criminal record; eyewitness testimony
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The Mysterious Death of Janie Ward
This hour-long report is a result of a five-year investigation into the death of a 16-year-old girl 20 years ago in a small town in the Ozarks. It's about two daughters -- one wealthy and popular (a cheerleader and beauty queen); the other poor and self-conscious. It's about two fathers -- one a powerful judge who allegedly shielded his daughter from the law he's sworn to uphold; the other a bail bondsman who is trying to avenge his daughter's death. And it's about one family's fight for justice against what they believe is a corrupt judicial system that closed ranks around the powerful judge to cover-up a murder. When 16-year-old Jamie Ward fell off a 9-inch porch in the woods near Marshall, Ark., on September 9, 1989, her parents refused to blieve that the fall had killed their healthy teenager. Instead, they began to suspect to suspect she was murdered by the judge's daughter. After years of demanding an investigation into her death, an independent medical examiner associated with Parents for Murdered Children exhumed Janie's body a second time for an extremely rare third autopsy. Because the case was 20 years old, most of the files were not digital; rather, the investigation focused on old-fashioned reporting: finding and interviewing eyewitnesses (all of whom had not been reinterviewed since the original investigation); analyzing inconsistencies in the witness statements, double-checking the forensics with independent experts.
Tags: autopsy; unsolved death; forensic science; criminal justice system; reopened cases; Arkansas
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Mistaken Identities
DNA-based exonerations of wrongly convicted men hit a record high after it was discovered that police used suggestive lineups procedures and pressured witnesses to pick out a suspect. Sometimes shaky identifications were preserved by withholding evidence that would lead to other suspects in the cases.
Tags: accusation; eyewitness; false conviction; DNA test; genetic; rape;
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Stolen Youth
Erick Daniels was sent to jail for 10 years "Based on the shape of his eyebrows." After investigating the case, Secret found that there were discrepancies starting with the eyewitness testimony.
Tags: line up; gambling; burglary; evidence; trial; eyewitness; Erick Daniels; Ruth Brown
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In the Shadow of Justice
A feature-length, investigative documentary, this piece follows Dan Slepian on a five-year investigative story involving the true identity of a shooter. His story lead to the "release of two innocent men, David Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo, who had wrongfully spent 14 years in prison for murder; prompted the arrest of the real shooter, Thomas Morales; and convinced whistleblowers - including the jury forewoman, eyewitness to the murder, and even the DA who's argued to keep the two men in prison - to come forward and speak out."
Tags: documentary; double jeopardy; innocent; Dan Slepian; Thomas Morales; David Lemus; Olmedo Hidalgo; detective; Palladium murder; wrongful conviction
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The Cantu Case: Death and Doubt
An exclusive investigation into the case of a teenaged accused murderer executed in 1993 in Texas.The story documented for the first time substantial new evidence, including statements from the lone prosecution witness, the co-defendant, and the alibi witness, that strongly suggests Cantu was wrongly executed. Also the lone eyewitness may have been urged to identify Cantu by the sergeant in charge of the case.
Tags: juvenile offender; Texas; murder; murderer; evidence