Toforest Johnson has been on Alabama’s death row for 25 years. Now, his conviction is being called into question.
Criminal Justice
Crime and punishment, from the street to the courtroom and prisons
We Regret to Inform You
When police kill someone, they have to notify the family. Some officers are using that moment for something else.
Alphabet Boys Revealed
Secret undercover recordings reveal an FBI operation to infiltrate Denver’s racial justice protests in 2020. Reveal partners with the podcast Alphabet Boys to take listeners inside that investigation.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 7: Reasonable Doubt
New revelations cast doubt on the official story that Billey Joe Johnson accidentally killed himself.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 6: Mississippi Justice
There have long been concerns about the quality of investigations into suspicious deaths of young Black men in the state, especially when police are involved.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 5: Star Crossed
Billey Joe Johnson was a Black boy dating a White girl. That made the story behind his death even more complicated.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 4: The Investigator
When a detective with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation finds out what Reveal has uncovered, he begins to wonder whether Billey Joe Johnson’s case should be reopened.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 3: The Autopsy
The autopsy of Billey Joe Johnson helped a grand jury conclude that his death was an accident. But an independent review of the autopsy came to a different conclusion.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 2: The Aftermath
On the morning of Billey Joe Johnson’s death, crime scene tape separates the Johnsons from their son’s body. Their shaky faith in the criminal justice system buckles as authorities fail to follow up on inconsistencies in the official story.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 1: The Promise
Billey Joe Johnson Jr. was a high school football star headed for the big time. Then, early one morning in 2008, the Black teenager died during a traffic stop with a White deputy. His family’s been searching for answers ever since.