For four years, we have covered the Mother’s Day murder of Marianne Shockley. In the season two finale, we discuss why Marcus Lillard was found not guilty, including DNA evidence not presented at trial and the defense naming Clark Heindel as an alternative suspect.

In the most personal episode to date, host Penny Dearmin reckons with the challenges of covering true crime in real time, how she would change the way she told the story, when she should have stopped talking to Marcus Lillard, and why her belief in restorative justice is at odds with the justice system.

Through a careful examination of the discord between the public, the police, and the press, we examine who the victims are and how they are treated. We initiate difficult conversations about who gets to control the way people think and feel about crime and what happens when individuals in the justice system don’t have accountability or are held to a different standard than the accused criminals.

In a final takeaway, we break down what it’s like to be the person who lights up a room, and why they are in danger in a world of people who want to take from them.

Editing and sound design by Engin Hassan.

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