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When Edgar Barynta-Clintana left the prison last November, he told reporters: “Happy to be here. … This is the best week. And still ahead.” It was a low moment from a man who had been in prison for almost 16 years for the murder that he had not committed. And this gave a sharp contrast from the reality, which reflected the investigation, which led to his arrest.
Barrientas-clinton was released after the department of the Prosecutor General Minnesota considered that he had been illegally convicted and recommended to release his conviction. The 180-page report of the unit refers to the failures of the police, the prosecutor’s office and the Barrient Clinton’s own lawyers. But he also mentioned that the reporter Jessica Lusenob had never seen in an illegal case about the conviction: the participation of the popular true crime “first 48”. The show begins in each episode with the prerequisite that the likelihood of solving the murder is “cut twice” if the police do not have a significant advantage within 48 hours after the murder – which also creates a sense of pressure.
In two PROPBLICA stories recently published, Lussenhop monitors the show’s participation Investigation of the murder that landed Barrientos-Qintana In prison, and the way two decades are shot in the US cities remained a sophisticated trail Problems and municipal regret.
I talked to Lusenhop that she learned about how the “first 48” works and why so many cities stopped working with the show.
What did you think we are strange about this story?
Finding out that these episodes often come to the defendant’s trial. The show refuses the effect “every person is not proven guilty”, but these words pass instantly, and, as the viewer, I certainly did not pay much attention to them. This man is still innocent until the guilty is proven, but the show works well, reflecting them as guilty.
It was still surprisingly only a large number of times. There are shows such as “Live PD” that had extremely loud disputes and have been canceled. But the “first 48” has been aired for 20 years, and several cities have ended their relationship with the show. This is not just a defensive bar that is upset. This is the prosecutor’s office, judges, Mary, residents of the city council, everyone say: “Why did our police department decide to do so?”
Why do police departments participate in this show?
As far as we understand it, police departments do not make money on this show, and if you consider lawsuits, sometimes the show wrapped the money that cost cities. Then the question is, well, why would any police department agree to do it? I think the answer is that the police departments are often the subject of negative news lighting. They want the light to shine at work detectives and all who support the investigation.
But one of the other important things is often household killings that are not going to attract much attention. “First 48” often interview the victim’s family; They will show the picture of the victim on television and say a little about their lives. This can be much greater in the media than these victims will otherwise receive. They are often bad, they are often people in color, and the types of killings that can get very little attention from their local media. So I think in a sense it provides a service.
How is it similar to other cases of illegal conviction?
Much of what is in the report on the criminal conviction of Barrientos-Qintana are the distinctive features of illegal beliefs: young witnesses, sometimes without parents and lawyers are being questioned; Police do not comply with photosene procedures; The defense claims that the prosecution contains evidence. But, as far as we know, this is the first release, which, if, was associated with “first 48”.
Several people, including Hennepin County Prosecutor, told me that the very prerequisite of the show is extremely problematic because it sounds the way you have to rush. The show has a literal clock that is interested in the corner of the screen. Obviously, you want good leading wound but you have to keep your mind to get the evidence that will enroll in the game later. One of the great evidence in the release of the barium-clinto-voices of the observation tape in it in a grocery store with a girl approximately 33 minutes before the shooting occurred. It was not proof that they had for the first 48 hours or even during the first two weeks.
Also, there is only an opinion that if you have a camera shooting group, you will behave in a different way. Especially if it is a show shoot name called “First 48”, which means that you better do something to happen in 48 hours. This may affect your actions as an investigator.
What did you hear from the family of Jesse Mikelson, the victims of the barium clinton, was convicted of murder?
Several family members have accepted that barrientos-quintana is not guilty. These were some of the most entertaining conversations I had. If you have spent 15 years, not only believing that he is guilty, but also in some ways hates him for destroying your family and hand over new evidence, and then it will be: “Wait a minute, I think we’re wrong” – it just requires a lot of courage and heart.
I talked to Mikelson’s half -sister, Tina Rosber. She viewed the show as a document of this horrible experience that her family survived, but it was what she recognized her brother’s life. She found the source of comfort to watch the episode. But now she has very different feelings, and she draws a bright line that connects the TV show with the fact that their family will never know who shot Mikelson. Perhaps these investigators did not do such a good job as they could do because they were in a hurry to meet this 48-hour thing. For various reasons, the opportunity to catch the one who did it went, and she could not but wonder whether the show was wine.
Companies that produce the show did not answer numerous requests for comments or a detailed list of questions. The detectives involved in this case also refused to comment. One prosecutor in the original case against Barrientos-Qintana is now a judge and thus appears from the press in the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct; Another one arose from many characteristics in the report on the consideration of beliefs, but agreed that the “first 48” was a problem.
