The bogeyman and the hard luck lawyer: from murder trial to redemption | Crime Story

In Ringgold, Georgia, Alvin Ridley was something of a local bogeyman. He rarely left his house and, when he did, he was always by himself.

So when Alvin called 9-1-1 to report the death of his wife – a woman that no one had ever heard about, let alone seen – the town was shocked.

Quickly a narrative began to emerge: Alvin Ridley had held this woman captive for more than thirty years. And then, he’d strangled her.

It didn’t take much for the citizens of Ringgold to believe it. And, before long, police came to the same conclusion and charged Alvin with first degree murder.

But there was one person who came to Alvin’s defence: a down on his luck attorney named McCracken Poston, who would become Alvin’s biggest defender – and his friend.

In his memoir Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom, Poston recounts his experience representing Alvin Ridley, and tells the story of one of the strangest trials in Georgia history.

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About Crime Story: Fraud. Abduction. Murder. Every week, Crime Story host and investigative journalist Kathleen Goldhar goes deep into a tale of true crime with the storyteller who knows it best.

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