The Other Victims of a Wrongful Conviction

Photographs by Desiree Rios “I bet you’re extremely happy,” Jay Young texted me. “So you and the slimy media going to fawn over his side and forget about my dad’s family and friends now?” It was March 10, 2021, and Benjamine Spencer, the man serving a life sentence for murdering Young’s father, Jeffrey, was about to be freed. The state of Texas had concluded that 34 years before, it had almost surely convicted an innocent man; a Dallas judge was expected to rule in Spencer’s favor any day.…