Bringing Home the Story of Ben Spencer

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Barbara Bradley Hagerty is an eclectic journalist: In her working life at NPR and later at The Atlantic, she has relentlessly pursued stories that somehow connect the divergent tent poles of religion and criminal justice. Forced to leave her 19-year-long radio career by a paralyzed vocal cord in 2014, Hagerty began to rethink her life. In 2016, her search for deeper stories—and for answers about life’s meaning—brought her to Jim McCloskey, who years before had abandoned his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary to “reinvestigate the case of a prisoner he believed was wrongly convicted and persuaded a judge that the man was innocent.”

It was McCloskey, the founder of Centurion Ministries, a man who at that point had already helped exonerate 54 people, who told her about an imprisoned Texan whose story haunted him: Ben Spencer, a “Black man convicted of robbing and killing a white man in Dallas in 1987.” 

Locked up on a life sentence for decades, Spencer was McCloskey’s “unfinished business, his heartbreak,” Hagerty writes. Despite Herculean efforts, Centurion Ministries had been unable to win Spencer’s release.

Then, as her new book, Bringing Ben Home, describes, Spencer’s story also became her business. Hagerty plunged into a seven-year-long search for new evidence that could help free Spencer and for the deeper reasons behind his wrongful conviction. She began with an investigative piece for The Atlantic in 2018 that recounted how he’d helped a private detective interview previously unheard witnesses.

At one point, she stood on the doorstep of a modest Dallas home alongside that detective hoping to find a witness when he abruptly “placed his hands on my shoulders and silently moved me to the side,” she wrote. His experience, he told her, was that sometimes hostile witnesses shot through a door before answering. It was a precaution that as a door-knocking journalist she’d never previously considered. The evidence they uncovered, along with a review by a different Dallas DA, John Creuzot, ultimately led to Spencer’s release in March 2021.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Michelle Pitcher)

But she kept thinking about Spencer long after that. For Hagerty, covering this case has been a transformative journey. As she shares in a related essay, “My reporting forced me to confront some bigger lessons about life, truth, and faith.”

The resulting book is a compelling page-turner both about Spencer, a hard-working married Texan who was unjustly convicted of murder, and about the causes of his wrongful conviction that include mishandled and lost crime scene evidence, flawed eyewitness testimony, discounted alibi witnesses, a lying jailhouse snitch, and the failure to investigate an alternative suspect—a violent serial robber from the same neighborhood.

Somehow, Hagerty managed to deftly dissect nearly all of America’s principal sources of unjust and flawed convictions as revealed in the National Registry of Exonerations, a growing list of more than 3,500 people that spans 35 years. Indeed, she briefly describes myriad other cases, even as she deeply reveals the life and motivations of Spencer himself. Her book includes an encyclopedic review of nationwide exonerations of the innocent that led to new revelations and research about flaws in America’s criminal justice system.

Hagerty’s book deploys a mantra, repeatedly describing Spencer as one of the “luckiest of unlucky men,” deftly repurposing a battle survivors’ trope to describe an innocent man unjustly sentenced to prison for life who is ultimately, and against all odds, finally freed.

A lyrical writer and a gifted radio storyteller, Hagerty is a skilled collector of compelling anecdotes and quotes that contribute to making this book of more than 400 pages both informative and a pleasure to read. Early on, she shares a family story about Spencer, a boy so idealistic that after watching Mary Poppins he jumped off the roof with an umbrella, expecting to fly. “And the umbrella flipped up, and he came crashing down!” his younger sister Juanita recalled, chuckling. But as Hagerty recounts, “Nothing was hurt except his ego. … Ben Spencer thought he could defy gravity.” 

Much of her material comes from Spencer himself, including lines from 2,500 pages of letters he wrote from prison. She opens the book with his words from a September 2016 missive: “My fervent prayer is that I will not fail in my objective by pointing out the serious wrong that has been imposed upon me, my family and the family of the victim, Jeffrey Young. My prayer is that after reading about the details in this particular case, that you can find it in your heart to come up with a solution to this problem of injustice.”

The trouble is that Spencer is an innocent man unable to be exonerated through incontrovertible DNA or fingerprint evidence. The man he was convicted of killing, Young, a father of three and a successful businessman, was robbed and locked into the trunk of his BMW by his assailant in March 1987. Young then apparently fought his way out of the trunk, ending up on the street, initially still alive. Therefore, no homicide detectives arrived to collect evidence at the scene. Prints later lifted from the BMW were lost. 

Spencer was one of only several suspects named by witnesses—and perhaps the least likely of the bunch. He had a good job, wife and a baby on the way, and only one prior: He’d pled guilty to joy riding after being stopped inside a car stolen by a friend. 

Ben Spencer and his wife Debra Spencer (Michelle Pitcher)

You know from the beginning of this story that ultimately Spencer will be released. And yet this is a suspenseful tale with myriad twists and turns. There are so many moments when, as a reader, you think surely now he’ll be freed as more witnesses come forward, as more lawyers and a private detective and a reporter turn up to help, and as a series of progressive Dallas DAs and an open-minded judge review his innocence claims.

But what makes the story most compelling is Spencer himself—a man who took solace in prison in his own spirituality as a leader of religion and education programs. At first, Ben takes such pride in his appearance and has such hopes for release that he crisply presses his uniform by putting it under his mattress. Over time, Ben pushes away his wife, encouraging her to divorce him and remarry after he loses appeals and almost loses hope. 

Yet year after year, he never stops declaring his innocence or his love for her. Time after time, he turns down probation deals that require him to admit his guilt, and at one point he helps exonerate another innocent man by connecting him with McCloskey, of Centurion Ministries.

In the end, this book delivers a truly happy ending—34 years in the making. And yet, this true crime tale haunts the reader, just as McCloskey was once haunted by Spencer’s story. Even now, the criminal justice system’s many flaws remain unaddressed and other unlucky innocent men remain behind bars. As Hagerty writes: “Yes for now, Ben Spencer is lucky. But in America, should one’s freedom depend on luck?” 

Editor’s Note: Observer Staff Writer Michelle Pitcher assisted Barbara Bradley Hagerty with fact checking for the book reviewed here.

Cynthia M. Allen: Harris’ VP pick of Minnesota’s Tim Walz is a gift to Donald Trump. Here’s why

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Until Tuesday morning, it looked like Vice President Kamala Harris was going to help her chances of winning in those unpredictable swing states by choosing Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her presumptive running mate.

Instead she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a candidate whose liberal bona fides equal her own. The pick clearly was intended to mollify the left flank of her party.

In so doing, she has potentially handed Donald Trump and the Republican Party the greatest gift they could hope for at this stage of the campaign — a Democratic ticket without room for moderates.

Shapiro, considered the top contender as late as Monday night, is Jewish and staunchly pro-Israel. That made him an unfavorable selection for the vocal left, but he’s more aligned with the views of most Americans.

His selection would have moderated Harris’ pro-Palestinian inclinations.

Walz instead shares Harris’ sympathies; his selection should be viewed as a shift away from current administration policy on Israel.

Also Walz, unlike Shapiro, does not govern a swing state.

Pennsylvania will be crucial in the November election, and passing over Shapiro may make it less secure for Democrats.

Minnesota, while a political oddity, generally has been a progressive stronghold.

Under Walz’s watch, Minnesota was the epicenter of the George Floyd riots of 2020, which were punctuated by the destruction of swaths of Minneapolis.

The state government — again, with Walz at its helm — has also been implicated in a series of scandals, including a $250 million fraud scheme involving the use of federal pandemic relief funds.

Walz’s policy record on abortion — he signed a law codifying the right to obtain the procedure — and gender transitions is to the left of many in his own party.

His selection is telling, to say the least.

It’s also not without precedent.

Harris picking Walz is effectively the same as Trump picking Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.

The choice doubles down on Harris’s most extreme policy positions and indicates not only the direction she intends to take her party but her confidence in that course.

If Trump’s selection of Vance was propitiation of the populist right, the Walz pick is much the same for the left: a clarion call that the party is going to become a less and less comfortable place for the middle.

It’s a bold and risky move.

In an election cycle as unpredictable as this one, it’s hard to know what happens next.

But it seems like Trump and his campaign has been handed a gift. What they do with it is anyone’s guess.

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Her email address is cmallen@star-telegram.com

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Other voices: Welcome to the big leagues, Gov. Walz

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Given the time constraints, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris conducted a cautious and orderly process as she vetted her various options for vice president. It was pretty clear by Monday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was going to get her nod over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, but we were impressed that what is now known as the Harris-Walz campaign avoided leaks. It was a skilled rollout of a man who is well liked by the Democratic Party’s attentive progressive base but who is little known to most Americans.

Indeed, according to an NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll released Tuesday and conducted over the last few days, more than 70% of Americans have no opinion of the 60-year-old Walz, either favorable or unfavorable. That’s a high number, given the focus on the race.

And we’ll wager that had we gone out on the streets of Chicago a month ago, relatively few Chicagoans would even have heard of the 41st governor of Minnesota, a West Point, Nebraska-born graduate of Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska; a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who served for 24 years in the Army National Guard; and an educator who once taught geography and coached football at Mankato West High School in Mankato, Minnesota.

West Point, Nebraska, for the record, has a famous name and a population of 3,459.

As fellow Midwesterners, we congratulate Walz and his family on his ascendancy to this candidacy and note the distinctive nature of that achievement: it is far from easy for the child of a school administrator and community activist in small-town Nebraska to achieve such heights and his biography suggests he did it the hard way, on his own. Whatever your political views, this year’s two vice presidential candidates, the other being JD Vance of Middletown, Ohio, shine a spotlight of those who spent their formative years in bedrock Midwest communities, became undergraduates at public universities and served their country in the military.

Now Walz has to introduce himself and explain his positions to Americans even as his Republican rivals try to fill that gap first.

We’re also waiting for the person at the top of the Democratic ticket this fall, Vice President Kamala Harris, to find some time to answer some independent reporters’ questions on matters of substance. And we are calling for all candidates to arrange the debates that are so important to Americans learning about those who aspire to the nation’s highest offices.

— The Chicago Tribune

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Today in History: August 9, U.S. bombs Nagasaki

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Today is Friday, Aug. 9, the 222nd day of 2024. There are 144 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress code-named Bockscar dropped a nuclear device over Nagasaki; the bombing and subsequent radiation poisoning killed an estimated 74,000 people.

Also on this date:

In 1173, construction began on the campanile of Pisa Cathedral—better known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

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In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.

In 1969, actor Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1974, Gerald Ford took the oath of office to become US president after Richard Nixon’s resignation; in a speech following, Ford declared that “our long national nightmare is over.”

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.

In 2014, Michael Brown Jr., a Black 18-year-old, was shot to death by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Missouri; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, spawning a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Today’s Birthdays:

Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 96.
Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 86.
Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 82.
Comedian-director David Steinberg is 82.
Actor Sam Elliott is 80.
Singer Barbara Mason is 77.
College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player John Cappelletti is 72.
College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Doug Williams is 69.
Actor Melanie Griffith is 67.
Actor Amanda Bearse is 66.
Rapper Kurtis Blow is 65.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is 64.
Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull is 60.
TV host Hoda Kotb (KAHT’-bee) is 60.
Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is 57.
Actor Gillian Anderson is 56.
Actor Eric Bana is 56.
Producer-director McG (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) is 56.
NHL player-turned-coach Rod Brind’Amour is 54.
TV journalist Chris Cuomo is 54.
Actor Thomas Lennon is 54.
Rapper Mack 10 is 52.
Actor Nikki Schieler Ziering is 53.
Latin rock singer Juanes is 52.
Actor Liz Vassey is 52.
Actor Kevin McKidd is 51.
Actor Rhona Mitra (ROH’-nuh MEE’-truh) is 49.
Actor Texas Battle is 48.
Actor Jessica Capshaw is 48.
Actor Ashley Johnson is 41.
Actor Anna Kendrick is 39.