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Paul Butler / Consulting Editor

Molly Miller

Molly Miller is a journalist and screenwriter whose work centers on policing and the criminal legal system. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an MFA in Screenwriting from USC. After graduate school, Molly worked as a reporter for Crime Story Media where she wrote about LA's criminal courts and covered major cases for The Jury Duty Podcast, including the trial of Robert Durst and the trial of Harvey Weinstein. She was a writer on the Spectrum TV drama LONG SLOW EXHALE and is currently a writer for the upcoming Apple TV miniseries FIREBUG.

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$7.99 Half Rotisserie Chicken

The sign read “Half Rotisserie Chicken — $7.99” On June 1, 2019, 43-year-old Mario Morataya stepped into the Super A Foods while his wife waited outside with their six-month-old baby. Morataya worked a minimum wage job at the recycling center, but it wasn’t nearly enough to pay his family’s bills. His wife was hungry. He was hungry. The rotisserie chicken glistened on its heating tray. According to loss prevention agent Adrian Murphy, Morataya looked to the left and looked to the right, then shoved the half chicken in his sweatpants. While holding the concealed bird in place, Morataya milled through the front...

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The law of unintended consequences is that actions always have unanticipated effects. Ms. Roberts, a homeless trans woman, was shaking. Her thin frame stood protectively over her upended shopping cart of belongings. It contained everything she owned in the world. Some people would call it trash, but to her it was her wardrobe, her pantry, and the place where she kept all items of sentimental value. Now it lay scattered on the pavement, mixed with dirt and unsanitary debris. Roberts stared at the ground and then looked up at the woman who had thrown her cart. Back-lit by the streetlamps, what Roberts...

The Truths of Louie Cordero

“You do solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the cause now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” This is the oath taken by all witnesses who give testimony before a California court. It is the oath that Louie Cordero took when he was called to the stand.  Cordero is testifying in the trial of his step-brother, Cristian Iraheta, who is charged with attempted murder. Cordero looks small on the stand, slack jawed with bushy eyebrows, his five-foot-two-inch-frame swimming in a plaid collared shirt....

It’s Kind of Like a Heist… Or Dodgeball

It’s kind of like a heist — think Ocean’s Eleven. You assemble a rag-tag team of 12 to 14 professionals to carry out your operation. There’s just one problem: they have no skills. Even if they do, they are expressly forbidden from using their skills during the heist. They can’t research the heist online or talk to reporters about the heist. It’s really best if they don’t know anything about the heist before it begins.  That’s jury duty: a random selection of citizens without specialized legal knowledge who are assembled to give a verdict on a case. Anything from shoplifting to...

The Matter of the Intersex Shooting

Editor’s Note: Out of respect for the privacy of some of the people depicted in this story, the defendant and the victim's names have been changed. All usernames altered. All identifying details erased. Deputy District Attorney Allyson Ostroswki begins her second day of cross-examination. Her tone is casual as she poses her first question, “In addition to having a vagina you also have what you describe as a small penis?” The defendant, Jackson Wilson, looks up from his wheelchair. He nods his head, “Yes.” Wilson is intersex, meaning that he was born with sex organs that do not fit a binary notion...

Twenty-Four Young Hopeful Faces Went Pale

Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Blatt addresses the jury in her closing argument. Her first words are: “What you saw yesterday was not normal.” I know. I was there. The first abnormality appeared minutes before the trial began. Twenty-four high school students filed into the courtroom at 9:30 am, announced by their well-postured leader as members of UCLA’s mock trial camp. The boys wore sneakers while the girls tottered in their shiny patent leather heels. These brace-faced, bespectacled young adults were a shining example of professional courtesy. Their phones remained entrenched in their pockets and their lips restrained from whispering. I marveled at...