Bringing Ben Home
A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice
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Narrated by:
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Barbara Bradley Hagerty
About this listen
In 1987, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t commit. From the day of his arrest, Spencer insisted that it was “an awful mistake.” The Texas legal system didn’t see it that way. It allowed shoddy police work, paid witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct to convict Spencer of murder, and it ignored later efforts to correct this error. The state’s bureaucratic intransigence caused Spencer to spend more than half his life in prison.
Eventually independent investigators, new witness testimony, the foreman of the jury that convicted him, and a new Dallas DA convinced a Texas judge that Spencer had nothing to do with the killing, and in 2021 he was released from prison.
As Spencer’s fight to clear himself demonstrates, our legal systems are broken: expedience is more important than the truth. That is starting to change as states across the country implement new efforts to reduce wrongful convictions, and one of the states leading the way is Texas.
Award-winning journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty has spent years digging into this issue, and she has immersed herself in Spencer’s case. She has combed police files and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and had extensive conversations with Spencer, and in Bringing Ben Home she threads together two narratives: how an innocent Black man got caught up in and couldn’t escape a legal system that refused to admit its mistakes; and what Texas and other states are doing to address wrongful convictions to make the legal process more equitable for everyone.
By turns fascinating and enraging, personal and provocative, Bringing Ben Home is the powerful story of one innocent man who refused to admit that he was guilty of murder, and how his plight became part of a paradigm shift in how the legal system thinks about innocence as it institutes new methods to overturn wrongful convictions to better protect people like Ben Spencer.©2024 Barbara Bradley Hagerty (P)2024 Penguin Audio
Critic reviews
“Ben Spencer’s story is beautifully told by a gifted and determined journalist: There is great suffering, injustice, corruption, waste, and, in the end, redemption. Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s vivid account of his nightmare is simply unforgettable.”—John Grisham, author of The Exchange
“A spellbinding story of resilience and faith. It’s a fascinating account of a broken justice system and what people are doing to help mend it.”—James Martin, S.J., author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage
“Bringing Ben Home achieves a rare feat: simultaneously infuriating, fascinating, and inspiring. The author’s personal commitment to her subject and his family filled me with awe. This is a luminous book.”—Allison Leotta, author of The Last Good Girl
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Wow!
- By Valerie Moore on 12-19-24
By: Tanya Smith
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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Eye Opening
- By Edward Odell on 09-01-24
By: Joe Conason
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All the Worst Humans
- How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians
- By: Phil Elwood
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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After nearly two decades in the Washington PR business, Elwood wants to come clean, by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that’s made him so successful. The first step is revealing exactly what he’s been up to for the past twenty years—and it isn’t pretty. Elwood has worked for a murderer’s row of questionable clients, including Gaddafi, Assad, and the government of Qatar. In All the Worst Humans, Elwood unveils how the PR business works, and how the truth gets made, spun, and sold to the public—not shying away from the gritty details of his unlikely career.
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Wow, what a story!
- By DHaston on 07-05-24
By: Phil Elwood
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There's Always This Year
- On Basketball and Ascension
- By: Hanif Abdurraqib
- Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others weren’t. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling.
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Love and Basketball
- By Mónica on 08-23-24
By: Hanif Abdurraqib
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Framed
- Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
- By: John Grisham, Jim McCloskey
- Narrated by: Jim McCloskey, Michael Beck, John Grisham
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In his first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, #1 bestselling author John Grisham and Centurion Ministries Founder Jim McCloskey share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. Impeccably researched and grippingly told, Framed offers an inside look at the injustice faced by the victims of the United States criminal justice system.
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Believable but unbelievable
- By kimberly on 10-20-24
By: John Grisham, and others
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All That Glitters
- A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art
- By: Orlando Whitfield
- Narrated by: Orlando Whitfield
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick met in 2006 at London’s Goldsmiths University where they became best friends. By 2007 they had started I&O Fine Art. Orlando would eventually set up his own gallery and watch as Inigo quickly immersed himself in a world of private jets and multimillion-dollar deals for major clients. Inigo seemed brilliant, but underneath the extravagant façade, his complicated financial schemes were unraveling. With debt, lawsuits, and court summonses piling up, Inigo went into a tailspin of lies and subterfuge.
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Gripping
- By Anonymous User on 09-01-24
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Challenger
- A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research—a riveting history that flows like a thriller.
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Even though I have read a lot of books about this disaster. This has been the most comprehensive and enjoyable.
- By Andy on 05-25-24
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Autocracy, Inc.
- The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Pulitzer-prize winning author, an alarming account of how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how we should organize to defeat them.
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Brilliant explanation of the realignment of world powers
- By Elizabeth on 11-06-24
By: Anne Applebaum
What listeners say about Bringing Ben Home
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-14-24
Profoundly well written, incredible and timely story
Our justice system has been anything but for much of the history of this nation. It is a racist, caste driven system that assumes guilt before innocence unless you’re wealthy and white. The story of Ben Spencer is a story that could describe thousands of American prisoners. This is a story that needs to be heard all over this country. The author did a masterful job of keeping the listener/reader enthralled with the story while not skimping on any of the facts and history of this case and the overall innocence movement. Her experience reporting for NPR was clearly evident in how thorough this book was. Overall, this was one of the best books I’ve read or listened to in years.
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- Dee
- 08-25-24
Outstanding
Outstanding investigation which will lead to a phenomenal documentary of series. Perfectly written and this looks ready!!
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- A customer
- 12-21-24
Absolutely engrossing. Hard to let it go even for a moment.
I liked everything about the book and the reading was excellent. Many thanks to the author.
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- Amy
- 08-25-24
Couldn’t stop listening!!
Inspiring, heart wrenching…. A thorough excavation of the criminal justice system interwoven with the riveting story of a wrongfully incarcerated man. This book has been life changing. I have been educated. I am so grateful to the author for how she has shined the light of truth into the darkest recesses of the courts and police stations. I am hopeful this book will serve as a catalyst for the continued evolution of our justice system…. So that it can actually be just.
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- Elizabeth H May
- 08-09-24
Compelling story & great narration
I listened to the author on NPR for years. When I heard that she wrote a book about a wrongful conviction, I downloaded it immediately. Great listen!
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- ConsciousConsumer
- 11-04-24
Expertly Written and Read; Couldn't Stop Listening
If you (like me) need a personal story to help you understand the big picture problems in our criminal justice system, make it this one.
Bradley Hagerty is an expert at weaving together the human elements of Ben's story with the statistics and research that illuminate our national justice crisis.
The storytelling and facts of the case brought back memories of the hit podcast, Serial (season one), but this was much easier to follow.
You wont regret using your credits on this one.
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