Breakdown Season 11 Bonus
Looking back on seasons past with Bill Rankin and what's next for Albert and Ashley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 25, 2025•45 min
Breakdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's award-winning podcast "Breakdown," tells deeply human stories about the Georgia justice system. Season 11 explores how a young military couple found themselves at the center of something neither expected. Something terrible. Something… criminal.
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Episodes
Ep 6: A Very Dangerous Argument
Ashley and Albert's attorneys have fought all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. The stakes couldn't be higher. Ultimately, the justices find fault with what happened at the couple's trial and vacate their sentences. But they aren't free hanging over their heads is the chance the district attorney will try them again. But an unexpected turn once again changes the couple's lives forever. And they each must adapt to a new life, one haunted by loss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
Aug 18, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 11Ep. 6
Ep 5: The Dream Team
Wisconsin Innocence Project attorney Carrie Sperling has a specialty: freeing people wrongly convicted of child abuse. When she receives a letter from Ashley Debelbot and reads the case file, she decides to take the case. A team of skilled Georgia attorneys and medical experts join her to find out what really happened to baby McKenzy. What they discover lands them in court, arguing their clients' innocence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Aug 11, 2025•56 min•Season 11Ep. 5
Ep 4: Hitting the Floor
A jailhouse snitch says Albert told him a shocking story. Ashley and Albert take the stand in their own defense but they're no match for a hard-charging prosecutor. They're convicted and sentenced to life in prison. But the couple makes a vow: they will fight. They will prove their innocence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 04, 2025•34 min•Season 11Ep. 4
Ep 3: Speedy Trial
Charged with murder, Ashley and Albert find themselves with few resources. Ashley's lower-middle class family hires a local attorney while Albert gets a public defender. The couple maintains their innocence, but they're up against tough odds: their attorneys are at loggerheads and the judge in the case has a concerning past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 28, 2025•41 min•Season 11Ep. 3
Ep 2: Isolated
In a matter of a few days, Ashley and Albert have gone from excited new parents to a couple utterly devastated. Their infant has died. And as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and local police close in on them, the couple makes a critical decision to remain united. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 21, 2025•26 min•Season 11Ep. 2
Ep 1: Mack
In their 20s and in love, Georgia military couple Ashley and Albert Debelbot are overjoyed to welcome their baby girl, McKenzy. After a 15-hour labor, she arrives. The couple take her home and settle in for the night only to be awakened by a disturbing sound. Ashley and Albert then make a startling discovery…kicking off a series of events that will turn into a living nightmare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 21, 2025•35 min•Season 11Ep. 1
S0 2, Ep 8: The jury panel is assembled
Jury selection isn’t fast, but it is fascinating. Prospective jurors in the Harris case speak of magical powers, preconceived notions and their favorite TV shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Season 5, Episode 2.5
Neither the prosecution nor the defense is ready. The prosecution asks for a continuance, saying it would be unfair to proceed because the defense is unprepared. The defense calls the move "transparently disingenuous," saying it's really the prosecution that wants more time. Meanwhile, prosecutors get slammed for continuing to search for a motive long after they indicted Tex McIver for murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 17, 2025•17 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Coming soon: Back to the Tex McIver murder case
After a long winter’s delay, the murder trial of The State v. Claud “Tex” McIver is to begin on March 5. Tex says his wife Diane’s death was a tragic accident; the district attorney says he intentionally shot her in the back. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Bill Rankin returns to bring you Season 5 of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•6 min
SO5, Ep6: McIver goes to trial
The state opens the Claud "Tex" McIver murder trial by detonating some new bombshells. McIver, the prosecution says, provided six different versions of what happened to his wife on the night she was shot. Or did he? Among the first prosecution witnesses was Emory University Hospital ER physician Suzanne Hardy, who treated Diane McIver the night she died. Yes, Hardy testified, Diane told her the shooting was an accident. And no, Hardy testified, Diane did not want to see her husband before she wa...
Jul 17, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Coming soon: The 7th season of Breakdown
Anthony Hill was a loving son, talented musician and an Afghanistan War veteran. In 2015, Hill was shot and killed by DeKalb County Police officer Chip Olsen, who was responding to a 911 call of a naked man wandering an apartment complex. Hill was unarmed and off of his medications. Olsen claims he acted in self-defense. In our new season of Breakdown, hosts Bill Rankin and Christian Boone tell the story of Hill's life and death, and will follow the trial of Officer Olsen, who is charged with mu...
Jul 17, 2025•6 min
Coming soon: The next season of Breakdown
Coming soon: Season 5 of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Breakdown podcast. This season, the AJC's Bill Rankin and Craig Schneider take you deep inside the case against Atlanta lawyer Tex McIver. He says his wife's death was a tragic accident; the district attorney says it was murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•5 min
Coming soon: The next season of Breakdown
Reginald "Reggie" Coicou was 24. Quincy "Fat" Wytche was 22. Both were killed in a sudden outburst of gunfire in the parking lot of an Atlanta Burger King in the spring of 2016. Kevin Riley, editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, gives you an extraordinary inside view of this horrific double homicide, the investigation by the Atlanta police and the prosecution of the man accused of pulling the trigger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 17, 2025•5 min
Coming Soon: A New Season of Breakdown
On July 17, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will launch Murder Below the Gnat Line, season four of our award-winning Breakdown podcast. Bill Rankin returns to explore a murder case with many unresolved questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•4 min
SO8, Ep.8: He ran. And ran. And ran.
Join host Bill Rankin on the one-year anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery's death as he explores who the man was in life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•42 min•Season 8Ep. 8
SO8, Ep.10: The defense makes its case
During a hearing, the attorneys for the men accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery formally asked a judge to allow evidence about the slain man's past before a jury. But that's not the only major update in the case. We have a federal hate crimes indictment, a change to Georgia's Citizen's Arrest Law, and a trial date. Join host Bill Rankin as he recounts the latest on the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 17, 2025•50 min•Season 8Ep. 10
SO8, Ep. 12, The Ahmaud Arbery murder trial begins
The trial for the three men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery will begin Oct. 18, almost 20 months to the day after he was shot and killed. Join host Bill Rankin ahead of what is expected to be one of the most closely followed trials in Georgia history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•36 min•Season 8Ep. 12
SO8, Ep5: The Elephant in the Room
Prosecutors building a case against the three men accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery have passed several motions regarding what evidence can be submitted in court. Meanwhile, the contention that gunman Travis McMichael uttered a racial epithet while standing over Arbery's body remains the most explosive element of the case. However, jurors may never hear about it. Join host Bill Rankin as he explores how issues raised now could shape the outcome of a trial. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Jul 17, 2025•38 min•Season 8Ep. 5
SO8, Ep. 11, A fourth defendant is indicted
A grand jury has indicted a former Glynn County district attorney, saying she violated her oath of office while responding to Ahmaud Arbery's death. Join host Bill Rankin as he takes a closer look at the indictment and explores the events of a pre-trial hearing in the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•49 min•Season 8Ep. 11
SO8, Ep.4: Father and Son
Since Ahmaud Arbery's death, father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael have been condemned by many as racist vigilantes who targeted a Black man running down their street. Attorneys for the men claim that is far from true. Join host Bill Rankin as he explores the McMichaels' history prior to their fateful meeting with Ahmaud Arbery. Nothing could be further from the truth, lawyers for both Travis and Greg McMichael recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Learn more about your ad choice...
Jul 17, 2025•44 min•Season 8Ep. 4
SO8, Ep. 13, Jurors express some strong opinions
Jury selection for the murder trial of the three men charged in Ahmaud Arbery's death is underway in Brunswick and many prospective jurors have expressed very strong opinions. Join host Bill Rankin as he unpacks the first week of jury selection and what it could mean for the upcoming trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•37 min•Season 8Ep. 13
SO8, Ep. 14, We’re almost there
The second week of jury selection ended with the end in sight. It is expected that 64 Glynn County residents will be qualified into a pool from which 12 jurors and four alternates will soon be chosen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•41 min•Season 8Ep. 14
S5, Ep. 12 The Tex McIver Case: Georgia Supreme Court strikes again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast drops a special episode on Friday for Season 5: “The Tex McIver Case.” McIver, an Atlanta lawyer, was convicted of murder during a trial in Fulton County for killing his wife on Sept. 25, 2016. The killing happened when Tex and Diane McIver returned home to Atlanta from their 84-acre ranch in Putnam County. Diane McIver’s best friend, Dani Jo Carter, was driving the Ford Expedition. Diane McIver was sitting in the front passenger seat, her hus...
Jul 17, 2025•38 min•Season 5Ep. 12
S2 Ep. 18: A Momentous Decision
This is the murder case against Justin Ross Harris, who left his 22-month-old son Cooper to die in a hot car on June 18, 2014. Harris, a Home Depot web developer, took Cooper that morning to Little Apron Academy, the in-house daycare center at work. They stopped at a Chick-fil-A for breakfast. But when they leave, Harris doesn’t make the turn to the daycare. Instead, he drives to work, parks his car and walks in to the office. Within hours, Cooper is dead of hypothermia. The intense publicity of...
Jul 17, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 18
S01, Episode 8 - After a year’s wait, a concluding decision
Justin Chapman awaits the all-important decision from the state's prosecutors: will they put him back on trial for murder and arson or end the long-running legal drama that put him in state prison for eight years? This concluding episode has all the answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 8
S01 Episode 0: Before You Listen
A state prosecutor is now deciding whether to put Justin Chapman back on trial for murder. His first trial ended in a guilty verdict after the jury deliberated about 40 minutes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•5 min•Season 1Ep. 9
S01 Episode 7: A New Trial or a New Life?
The case goes back to the Georgia Supreme Court – and this time there would be a much different outcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 7
S01 Episode 6: Could Justin Chapman Be Guilty?
Justin Chapman tells his side of the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 6
S01 Episode 5: Young Lawyers and Old Hands
Justin Chapman’s new defense team sifts through the evidence and uncovers critical breakdowns in the prosecution of Chapman, including several pieces of evidence that Chapman's public defender Jan Hankins says she never received, and the testimony of witnesses that Hankins never had time to visit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 17, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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