Subject Of "Conviction" Podcast's Second Season Was just Vindicated

 Conviction is a podcast anthology series from Gimlet / Spotify about crime and justice. Each story examines a new case and asks: Who does the justice system work for, and who does it work against?

That is a question more relevant today than ever for several compelling reasons. First, true-crime podcasts and organizations like The Innocence Project identify and then work to overturn wrongful convictions.

The Innocence Project works "to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone" 

Second, improved forensics tools have led to an increasing number of convictions being overturned. 

Third, expanded visibility via podcasting, social media, and investigative journalism continues to discover that law enforcement and prosecutors are too often guilty of racism, shoddy work, or, worse, a desire to prosecute an innocent person simply to close a high-profile case.

Recently, several true-crime podcasts --including Season One of Serial -- have been instrumental in exonerating people who have been convicted.  

Now, the Conviction podcast has witnessed another such victory for justice.

Conviction Season 2: American Panic, a Spotify/Gimlet Podcast that premiered in February 2020, takes listeners inside one of the darkest and most bizarre chapters of American history, telling the story of Melvin Quinney. When John Quinney, Melvin’s son, was ten years old, he took the stand to testify against his own father. He had come to believe that his dad was the murderous leader of a satanic cult.

It would be decades before John would learn that his family was just one of many swept up in a panic that gripped America in the 1980s—one in which hundreds of people were accused of taking part in underground satanic cults that sacrificed infants and sexually abused children. By the time the panic had subsided, scores of people were in prison, convicted on little to no evidence—people like Melvin Quinney.

On Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Melvin Quinney’s conviction. The timeline of the case is outlined below:

●      In July 1991, Melvin was convicted of indecency with a child and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

●      In 1999, Melvin was released from prison and required to register as a sex offender.

●      In 2020, Melvin’s children reached out to the Innocence Project of Texas for help in clearing their father’s name. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus was presented to the district court asking that Melvin’s conviction be vacated.

●      In June 2022, an evidentiary hearing in the case was held and Melvin’s children, John and Sarah, along with experts in psychology and the Satanic Panic, testified of Melvin’s innocence.

○      Listen to a September 2022 update episode (HERE) from Conviction Season Two: American Panic, where listeners are taken inside the courtroom as John recants his testimony and tries to get his dad exonerated. Spotify had exclusive access to the exoneration hearing, with multiple witnesses called, referencing Conviction Season Two.

●      In September 2022, the writ was approved by the court and sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

●      On Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Melvin’s conviction. 

Photo by Estella