The Confession Tapes 2017 - New America online -
The gruesome discovery was made in a rain-soaked alley in the 800 block of H Street north-east, an alley where junkies go to use drugs. Inside a vacant dilapidated brick garage the partly nude body of a young woman. The victim has been identified as 48-year-old Catherine Fuller … She has been sexually assaulted and beaten to death. The Confession Tapes s1e5, news report, Netflix 2017
People in the community said they weren’t aware of a gang, and the police insisted there was a gang. ibid. Patrice Gains, The Washington Post
They [rozzers] just sort of snatching everyone in the neighbourhood. ibid. local
They [rozzers] were just kicking down doors. ibid.
Seventeen people were arrested for the crime. ibid. caption
Clifton, Yarborough: ‘Nobody to speak for him’ … ‘Very high on the suggestibility scale’ … ‘retarded, especially slow learner’ … ibid. mother and lawyer
James McMillan commits essentially the exact same murder as what happened to Catherine Fuller. ibid. defence dude
On October 1st, 1984, Catherine Fuller was brutally killed in the H Street Corridor in northeast Washington, DC. Her murder not only scarred the nation’s capital for decades, but it also resulted in the arrests of 17 young Black Washingtonians — the most arrests in DC history for a single murder. Of those charged, eight young men were sentenced to life in prison.
Years later, evidence previously hidden by prosecutors was discovered, ultimately leading to the case being reopened in the early 2000s. Now, almost 40 years after they were convicted, the accused men — for the first time, in their own words — recount their decades-long saga with false confessions, U.S. prisons, and the American criminal justice system that failed them. Listeners will also hear from attorneys, law enforcement, journalists, and criminal reform advocates to help shine a light on the flaws and biases of our legal system still present today. New America online article 14th June 2023, ‘What Really Happened at 8th & H? [viz podcast]