Alleged Lies and Deceit Sent an Innocent Man to Prison in 'The Thing About Pam' What Happened?

The district attorney in 'The Thing About Pam' successfully sent a man to prison for his spouse's murder. Was he in truth innocent? What did the DA do in the Pam Hupp case?

According to The Washington Post, when an individual is released from prison as a result of they're wrongfully convicted, "54 percent of those defendants are victimized by official misconduct, with police involved in 34 percent of cases, prosecutors in 30 percent, and some cases involving both police and prosecutors." Those numbers are each shocking and alarming, and most likely wouldn't marvel Russ Faria.

In NBC's The Thing About Pam, in line with the Dateline podcast of the same name, Russ (played by means of Glenn Fleshler) is convicted of murdering his wife, Betsy Faria (Katy Mixon), and because of this spends three years in prison. Eventually he would be exonerated, and Betsy's friend Pam Hupp (Renee Zellweger) could be charged with her murder. However, Russ had years of his life taken away due to alleged wrongdoings on the a part of then-district attorney Leah Askey (played by means of Judy Greer). But what precisely was once DA Leah Askey accused of doing in the Pam Hupp case? Here's what we all know.

What did the district attorney allegedly do in the Pam Hupp case?

On a cold night time in Troy, Mo. in December 2011, Russ Faria returned home after an night out with pals to to find his wife Betsy lifeless, lying their living room ground. She were stabbed 55 instances. Russ frantically called the police and once they arrived, he was once instantly taken in for questioning. Two years later, Russ can be convicted of murdering Betsy, despite having a solid alibi and most effective circumstantial evidence to make stronger the conviction.

Pam Hupp was once Betsy's close pal and, 4 days sooner than her dying, was once suspiciously added to Betsy's lifestyles insurance coverage after Russ was removed. Upon Betsy's demise, Pam would obtain $150,000 but was once suggested to arrange a consider for Betsy's daughters. Pam may no longer had been extra helpful to the police, essentially putting in Russ Faria as Betsy's killer. He was once convicted of murder in the first level in November 2013.

However, in past due 2015, Russ used to be exonerated and briefly sued the prosecutors and investigators, claiming that DA Leah Askey and the police "fabricated evidence, ignored exonerating evidence, and failed to investigate the other obvious suspect," which was once Pam Hupp (in line with NBC News). During Russ's retrial, two new pieces of evidence came up that definitely should have been integrated in his initial trial.

Firstly, at the evening of the murder, Pam insisted on driving Betsy house from a visit to her mom's space, even supposing Betsy used to be intended to stay the evening there. Secondly, Pam was once in line to receive $150,000 from Betsy's life insurance coverage, however this information have been suppressed by means of the judge. Also, despite Pam being an integral witness in opposition to Russ Faria, having spoken at length about him to police, the defense was once now not allowed to cross-examine her.

Russ would later receive a $2 million agreement from this lawsuit, despite the fact that it is necessary to point out that, by means of that point, Leah Askey's title was once not at the civil go well with. What about her aspect of the tale?

What does Leah Askey have to say about how she handled the Pam Hupp case?

In July 2021, former Lincoln County district attorney Leah Askey (now Chaney), spoke with KSDK about the accusations referring to how she treated the Faria case. She came ahead after current Lincoln County prosecutor Mike Wood announced that Pam Hupp was officially being charged with the homicide of Betsy, whilst also pointing out that Russ's case was "driven by ego and a prosecutor who was working toward an agenda rather than the truth."

As KSDK cites, following Betsy's dying, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department known as in the St. Louis Major Case Squad, a "conglomeration of detectives from police departments across the St. Louis area who, when called, send about 20-30 detectives into a jurisdiction for about five days to investigate a murder." Leah claims that all the proof they brought to her implicated Russ Faria most effective in the death of Betsy.

As some distance as Betsy's insurance policy goes, Leah knew that Pam (who worked for an insurance coverage agency) would be aware of the fact that 4 days was probably now not enough time for any updates to be effective. "To me, it's as much of a motive to kill someone to get insurance money as it is to kill someone to preclude insurance money from leaving them," Leah told KSDK. When Leah would ask the Major Case Squad questions, she was once disregarded and instructed things like, "Don't Nancy Drew it, Leah."

Leah also didn't feel like Pam Hupp had the bodily energy vital to fatally stab an individual Fifty five instances. (At the time, Pam Hupp walked with a cane.) Because Leah used to be handiest 5 years out of legislation school when she was district lawyer, she requested the Attorney General's workplace for assist, who then sent more than a few prosecutors to aide her in this example. She was actually doing all that she may.

Leah claims she was equally as surprised by means of Russ's in charge conviction in 2013 as a result of she "knew we had a largely circumstantial case, and they didn’t even go for the second-degree murder charge we had included." Soon after Russ's conviction, his attorney Joel Schwartz lodged bar lawsuits against Leah claiming she was withholding evidence from him. Those court cases were "not sustained."

During Russ's 2015 retrial, Leah had even more evidence in opposition to him that was once not submitted all through his preliminary trial and felt extra confident this time round that his conviction would be upheld. When it was once overturned, Leah was "devastated." While Leah used to be named in Russ's lawsuit, she was "dismissed out of it and discovered now not to have committed the things that they allege that I committed,” she published to KSDK.

Leah then asked an investigation be introduced into her habits and, again, no wrongdoing was once found. She used to be also accused of ordering evidence be destroyed, however it used to be just relocated to another county. It stays to be seen if Leah's facet of the story shall be depicted in The Thing About Pam, however we sincerely hope so. If no longer, we are in a position for a sequel.

The Thing About Pam airs on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on NBC and is to be had to move on Peacock the next day to come.

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