This is Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files.
A podcast where one man’s fight for freedom begins with a single question:
Was justice served… or just buried?
I’m a former Military Police Officer with 20 years of service.
Not here to spin stories.
Not here to defend the guilty.
I’m here because I read the files.
All of them.
Discovery. Transcripts. Appeals.
And when something doesn’t add up — I say it out loud.
This season, I’ll take you inside one case:
A man known only as ‘The Client.’
Convicted on testimony —
No gun.
No DNA.
No forensic link.
Just a story the system chose to believe.
Over nine episodes, I’ll walk you through the evidence —
The crime scene.
The witnesses.
The autopsy.
And the truth buried in the file.
This isn’t entertainment.
This is an investigation.
I’m WARSTONE, and this is Locked Up.
Episode 1: The Truth Is in the File.
"The laws of physics don't have an expiration date, but in the courtroom, 'procedure' often tries to bury the truth."
In this explosive episode, Detective Rogelio Guerra takes you behind the closed doors of a high-stakes legal battle. After months of digging through decades-old files, Rogelio uncovers the "Smoking Gun" that should have ended this case years ago—only to find it missing from the latest court filings.
What happens when an investigator finds the truth, but the legal system refuses to look at it?
The 101-Grain Bombshell: Rogelio breaks down the forensic fraud at the heart of the conviction. The prosecution claimed a .40 caliber weapon was the murder weapon, but the lab’s own bench notes show a 101-grain bullet. In the world of ballistics, that isn't just a mistake—it’s a scientific impossibility.
The Mechanical Paradox: We dive into the testimony of the prosecution’s own weapons expert. How could a gun equipped with a slide-disconnect safety—which cannot fire on contact—be responsible for a "hard contact" wound? Rogelio exposes the moment the state's experts contradicted the laws of physics to fit a narrative.
The Buried Timeline: Discover the suppressed statement of Mahelia Wesley, the woman who actually possessed the weapons at the time of the murder. Why was her testimony buried for twenty years while a "cooperating" witness was allowed to trade a lie for his freedom?
The Wall of Fear: Rogelio discusses the January 6th Superior Court ruling and the "Due Diligence" trap. He challenges the court's logic, explaining why it is "untenable" to expect an incarcerated man to pierce the wall of silence created by the infamous Philadelphia Homicide Unit.
A Calling from God: Beyond the files and the forensics, Rogelio shares the personal fire that keeps him going. He discusses the responsibility of the investigator, the frustration of "forgotten" evidence, and the spiritual conviction that the truth will eventually shake the gates of the prison.
"The House of Cards is shaking. We aren't just contesting a narrative; we are dismantling it."
Join us as we prepare for "The Day"—the moment the Client walks free and the truth is finally shouted from the rooftops.
Follow the Investigation: Use the hashtag #The101GrainTruth to join the conversation.
The Evidence: Visit our website to see the diagrams of the slide-disconnect safety and the caliber weight charts discussed in today’s show.
Support the Search: Share this episode with three people who believe that justice should be based on science, not scripts.
16 Jan 2026
Episode 10: The Laws of Physics vs. The Laws of Men
Roger reveals the raw, personal story behind the legal setback: from a chance "near-miss" encounter with the Pastor at a legal event, to the heartbreaking 1:00 AM phone call that changed everything. While the lawyers were focused on attacking the investigation and making "insignificant paperwork mistakes," they missed the mountain of evidence that proves the state's case is a physical impossibility.
We break down the "Forensic Triad"—the hidden facts the jury never heard:
The Ballistics Lie: Why a .40 caliber confession cannot explain a 9mm bullet.
The Contact Wound: How an autopsy report proves the "confession" defies the laws of distance and physics.
The Phantom Gun: Proof that the murder weapon was still with its legal owner days after the crime.
The lawyers thought this was heading to the US Supreme Court, but the battle is currently in the PA courts—and the stakes have never been higher. It’s time to stop arguing over procedures and start looking at the science.
26 Sept 2025
The Final Appeal
Episode 9: "The Final Appeal" – Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files
In the powerful finale of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, Roger Warstone hands the torch to a formidable new legal team—and watches as The Client’s fight for freedom ascends to the highest court in the land.
After exposing coerced testimony, mismatched ballistics, and a pattern of police misconduct, Roger’s on-the-ground detective work becomes the foundation for a historic appeal. With the unwavering support of a determined pastor and a brilliant attorney who tracks systemic corruption like a forensic map, the case rockets through Pennsylvania’s appellate courts—and against all odds, lands before the United States Supreme Court.
Only 1% of petitions are accepted by the Court. This one made the cut. Now, as briefs are filed and oral arguments loom, the nation waits in silence for a decision that could not only free an innocent man—but expose a dangerous flaw in America’s justice system.
This isn’t just about one conviction. It’s about truth, accountability, and what happens when ordinary people refuse to look away.
As Roger reflects on his role in this journey—and prepares to share his own story of military injustice in the next chapter—he leaves listeners with a challenge: If you see injustice, will you act?
The gavel hasn’t fallen yet. But the final appeal has been made. And history is watching.
19 Sept 2025
The Witness Locked Up
Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files
In the final episode of this season, “The Witness Locked Up,” host and private investigator dives deep into his last and most crucial task: interviewing "Victim 2," the very man whose testimony helped convict his client. This person is now also incarcerated, serving a murder charge, but a face-to-face meeting with him is the last piece of the puzzle needed to prove his client's innocence.
For months, the host has been meticulously dismantling the prosecution’s case, exposing every lie and inconsistency—from the flimsy alibi of the key witness to the scientifically impossible bullet timeline. Now, with the new evidence in hand, the host has to go see the only witness who can provide the definitive proof to exonerate his client.
Join the host as he recounts the high-stakes journey and reveals the shocking truth that was hidden from the beginning. With the final piece of evidence now secured, the case is handed over to a new legal team, but the fight for freedom is just beginning. This episode is not just about a case; it's a testament to hope, perseverance, and the belief that the truth, no matter how deeply buried, will always find its way to the surface.
13 Sept 2025
A Meeting of Disbelief and Destiny
In this episode of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, the investigation shifts from auditing the past to fighting for the future. I meet with the pastor and a new lawyer to present my findings. We expose the scientific impossibilities of the prosecution’s case—a contact wound that doesn't match the alleged gun and a bullet that doesn't match the caliber. With a new legal team now armed with undeniable evidence, our fight for justice officially begins.
8 Sept 2025
The Verdict
n this episode of Locked Up, host Roger Warstone recounts the most disheartening moment of the case: the jury's verdict. Despite overwhelming physical and forensic evidence pointing to The Client's innocence, the jury ignored the facts and delivered a guilty verdict, sentencing a man to life in prison. The episode details the prosecution's desperate and emotionally-driven closing arguments, which focused on unreliable witness testimony rather than evidence.
Warstone describes how the jury’s short deliberation wasn't based on the facts on paper but on their perceptions and biases about The Client's character and environment. He explains that they saw a man who admitted to being at a chaotic scene with a gun and concluded that was "guilty enough."
The episode takes a sharp turn as Warstone reveals two crucial pieces of new evidence he uncovered in the case files: a letter from the key witness, JW, confessing that he lied in his testimony, and a forensic detail about the bullet found in the victim's lung. Warstone discovered that the bullet's weight was inconsistent with the .40 caliber gun the police claimed was the murder weapon, suggesting a different firearm entirely. This newly discovered evidence, buried in the appeal documents, gives The Client a new chance at justice. The episode closes with Warstone's determination to build a new team and present his findings to a pastor and a new lawyer, setting the stage for the next phase of the fight.
2 Sept 2025
The Experts Who Broke The Case
In this episode of Locked Up: The Wrongful Conviction Files, we open the court transcripts and go inside the courtroom. As a detective, I’ve already exposed the lies and impossibilities in the police investigation. Now, we'll see how the prosecution convinced a jury with a case built on nothing but a story. The evidence was there, but it was never shown. This is how a wrongful conviction happens in plain sight.
25 Aug 2025
The Autopsy Report - The Bullet's Final Word
In this episode, we follow the one piece of evidence that can't lie: the victim’s body. We go inside the autopsy report of Victim 1, the deceased, to find the answers no witness would give. But the truth is also found in the smallest details, like the bullet fragment a mother recovered from her surviving son, Victim 3. What does the forensic evidence—from the specific wounds on the deceased to the fragment recovered from the other victim—tell us about the nature and direction of the attack? We examine why this critical physical information was buried by the police and prosecution because it didn't fit their narrative. We look for the truth that no witness ever spoke.
20 Aug 2025
A Gun, a Lie, and a Timeline
In this episode, we follow the physical evidence—or the lack of it—that should have been central to the case. We dig into the story of the alleged murder weapon, a gun that was reportedly stolen six days after the shooting. We examine the police’s failed attempt to connect it to the crime through a bullet fragment given to them by a victim’s mother. The entire narrative of the crime, built on contradictory witness statements and a flawed timeline, starts to unravel. We show how a case can be built on a foundation of contradictions and a lack of forensic evidence, and how a man can be convicted when the most important piece of the puzzle is missing.
16 Aug 2025
The Story that didn't Add Up
In Episode 1, we looked at the crime scene, the vehicle, the victims, and the arrest.
Now, in Episode 2: The Story That Didn’t Add Up — I’ll show you how the prosecution built its case on a single witness… whose story contradicts the evidence, the timeline, and even the reality of North Philly street life.
This is Locked Up. Let’s begin.”
11 Aug 2025
The Truth is in the File
On December 24, 2003, at 11:32 PM, a shooting occurred at 2100 N Franklin Street in North Philadelphia. Three men were shot — one fatally. They arrived at Temple Hospital in a silver Oldsmobile Alero, its passenger-side windows shattered, the interior stained with blood.
No gun was recovered.
No forensic evidence linked anyone to the scene.
Yet one man — known only as “The Client” — was charged with murder, based almost entirely on the testimony of a close friend who claimed he was the shooter.
In this episode, a former Military Police Officer turned private investigator takes on the case. With 20 years of law enforcement experience, a Bachelor’s in Business, and an MBA, he doesn’t start with surveillance or assumptions — he starts with the file.
He reviews the discovery packet, court transcripts, and police reports — and begins to uncover serious gaps:
- A crime scene with shell casings and glass, but no trajectory analysis
- A vehicle preserved but never tied to The Client
- A victim who died from a gunshot to the back, found nude upon arrival at the hospital
- And a case built on one uncorroborated story
This is Episode 1: The Truth Is in the File — the beginning of a 9-part investigation into whether justice was served… or simply closed.
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