Examined: The Backfire Effect

Deeply reported stories about crime, punishment and the criminal legal system AI summary

Pushkin Industries Visit website › True Crime · EN · 72 episodes · latest 2026-10-27 · explicit

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What it is about

About Examined: Overlooked cases that never got the real investigation they deserved. Each season features deeply reported stories about crime, punishment, and the people inside the criminal legal system. Nearly 40 years ago, in the parking lot of a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, a 20-year-old student named Scott Macklem was shot dead in broad daylight. His murder shocked the community. It made no sense. The police quickly found their suspect. There was only one problem: the man said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And he could prove it. In Examined: The Backfire Effect, journalist Josie Duffy Rice talks with eyewitnesses, investigators and local reporters to unravel a shocking story of judicial apathy and expedience — a story that leaves no one off the hook.

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
2026 Western Sound & Pushkin Industries

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Latest episodes

Episode 8: The Looking Glass

2026-10-27 · 39 min

Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee are the hosts of a podcast called Murder Sheet. They have been releasing episodes on the conviction of Temujin Kensu. But they do not believe he is innocent. Josie Duffy Rice tries to find…
Episode 7: The Guilty Party

2026-10-19 · 40 min · Season 6, episode 7

For Temujin Kensu to have a chance at leaving prison, his legal team would have to convince courts that another person killed Scott Macklem. There are theories pointing to at least three suspects. Can any new evidence…
Episode 6: The Women

2026-10-12 · 42 min · Season 6, episode 6

Note: This episode contains descriptions of rape and sexual assault. With his state and federal appeals almost exhausted, Temujin Kensu turns to the work of private investigators like Herb Welser, who’ve managed to…
Episode 5: Time Barred

2026-10-05 · 40 min · Season 6, episode 5

The trial of Temujin Kensu had happened quickly, just six months from arrest to verdict. What came next was unbearably slow. And with every year that passed, his odds of getting out of prison would go down. But then,…
Episode 4: The Alibi

2026-09-28 · 34 min · Season 6, episode 4

At trial, Temujin Kensu’s defense is simple — he was across the state when the crime occurred. In court, he brings multiple witnesses to testify that they saw him in the Upper Peninsula, more than 400 miles from Port…
Episode 3: The Ninja

2026-09-21 · 35 min · Season 6, episode 3

In November 1986, Robert Cleland was the head prosecutor in St. Clair County, Michigan. The morning after Cleland lost a statewide race for Attorney General, Scott Macklem was murdered. Cleland decided to prosecute the…
Episode 2: The Hypnotist

2026-09-14 · 43 min · Season 6, episode 2

Temujin Kensu spent much of his youth wandering, mainly in his home state of Michigan. In 1986 he and his then-fiancée moved to a cabin outside Port Huron, where he briefly dated someone else. A few weeks later, he and…
Episode 1: The Good Cop

2026-09-14 · 32 min · Season 6, episode 1

On the morning of November 5th, 1986, students at a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, heard the sound of what many thought was a car backfiring. It was a gunshot, and it killed a student named Scott Macklem.…
Trailer: The Backfire Effect

2026-09-08 · 3 min

In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Eight days later, a suspect was arrested. But now, almost 40 years later, reporter Josie Duffy Rice is re-examining this case. Has the wrong man been in…
Lost Hills is Becoming Examined

2026-09-04 · 2 min

Lost Hills has been quiet for a bit, so we've decided to do something different: turn this feed into a home for a new kind of story, told fresh each season. Starting this fall, this feed becomes Examined — a show about…

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 03/2021 · over 5 years
Typical length: 33 min
Format: Serial Meant to be heard in order

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