061: The Last Defense

Produced by, among others, national treasure Viola Davis, The Last Defense is the latest limited series to focus on death-row inmates who may have cases for new trials. The show hasn't gotten to Julius Jones yet, but based on its approach to the Darlie Routier investigation and trial, Dan Patrick Brady and I are looking forward to keeping up with the show during our vacation: there's some over-arty slo-mo, but there's also insightful talking-head interviews with one of my favorite Texas Monthlycrime reporters; excellent access to most of the parties involved in Routier's trial; and a compelling construction that kept one impatient side-Googler in the household from spoiling herself on the case's particulars.

And speaking of that vacation: change things are afoot at the Circle TBP, as the podcast takes a break to retool slightly...and then return with coverage of books, longform articles, other pods, and more. What's your ideal Blotter? Let me know at bunting at the-blotter dot com or here in the comments!


SHOW NOTES

• Watch the first few episodes of The Last Defense (eps are also available on Hulu for a limited time after air, and on On Demand
• The great Skip Hollandworth on Routier from Texas Monthly
• Dig into the archives of famous original Blotter (now finally optimized for mobile)