Stories on “Bringing Ben Home”
Featured
Ben’s story reveals how criminal trials can go off the rails and why innocence is not enough to undo the mistake. But it is also a story of faith. Ben’s spiritual journey can be traced in some two thousand pages of letters to his wife, Debra.
—Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author of Bringing Ben Home
Read Ben’s letters from prison here.
Benjamine Spencer is serving a life sentence for a violent crime he insists he didn’t commit. But he lacks biological evidence—and old-fashioned detective work may not be enough to clear his name.
January/February 2018 | The Atlantic
Open PDF version here
Photo: Nathan Bajar
Benjamine Spencer is the luckiest of the unlucky.
January 2021 | The Atlantic
Open PDF version here
Photo: Nathan Bajar
My reporting forced me to confront some bigger lessons about life, truth, and faith.
August 6, 2024 | The Atlantic
Open PDF version here
Photo: Harmon Li
Listen to the 90 minute, three-part Radio Atlantic series, which explores Spencer’s story.
Part 1: No Way Out
Part 2:Who Killed Jeffrey Young?
Part 3: How Innocence Becomes Irrelevant
February 2018 | Radio Atlantic
Photo: Nathan Bajar