The Collapse of a Conviction: How an LAPD Cop and Two Journalists Unraveled the Case Against Bruce Lisker

At just 17 years old, Bruce Lisker was branded a murderer after being accused and convicted of the violent killing of his mother. He would go on to spend the next 26 years of his life in prison, until a federal judge finally overturned his conviction in 2009. Bruce’s exoneration might never have happened without the investigative efforts of LA Times journalists Scott Glover and Matt Lait and LAPD officer Jim Gavin. In this episode, Michael Semanchik speaks with this trio of truth-seekers about their involvement in the Lisker case. Initially skeptical, each of them set out to poke holes in Bruce’s claims, but as their investigations progressed, the evidence increasingly pointed to his innocence. They share details of their research, explaining how discoveries of both ignored and manipulated evidence in the decades-old case raised red flags in the original investigation, ultimately bringing the truth to light. Matt Lait is Vice President of CNN’s investigative team. Previously, he worked at the Los Angeles Times where he was an investigative reporter, city editor and ran the local investigations team.  Scott Glover is a reporter on the CNN Investigates team. Glover came to CNN with 20 years of experience at the Los Angeles Times where he covered the LAPD, federal courts and law enforcement agencies. Jim Gavin retired from the Los Angeles Police Department in August 2020, as the head of Operations Valley Bureau Homicide. He served 32 years with the LAPD in a wide variety of assignments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices