Next Witness. Please

01/18/2025

This latest episode of WOUB Public Media's podcast Next Witness. Please focuses on the legal issues surrounding the impending ban of TikTok in America. Our retired judges explain the legal issues and talk about what might happen to save TikTok from going dark on Sunday, Jan. 19. Listen here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tiktoks-future-in-america-hangs-by-a-threadtiktoks/id1744219180?i=1000684520174

01/10/2025

On this edition of Next Witness...Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Beyers and Tom Hodson detail the road traveled to the sentencing of Donald Trump for 34 felonies in New York. They analyze Judge Juan Merchan's decisions leading to sentencing.
The U. S. Supreme Court failed by a 5-4 vote to stay (postpone) Trump's sentencing. Please Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-trump-awaits-sentencing-as-legal-battles/id1744219180?i=1000683376897

01/02/2025

On this episode of "Next Witness...Please." retired judges Gayle Williams Byers and Tom Hodson examine MAGA and Conservative attacks on transgender rights. The attacks are coming from both the courts and state legislatures across the country. Learn more...Listen at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/transgender-rights-under-fire-legal-battles-and/id1744219180?i=1000681199251

12/21/2024

On this episode of "Next Witness...Please." retired judges Gayle Williams Byers and Tom Hodson examine the Right's attacks on transgender rights. The attacks are coming from both the courts and state legislatures across the country. Learn more...read below.

From the U.S. Supreme Court to state legislatures, the fight over gender-affirming care and LGBTQ+ rights intensifies across America.

12/12/2024

The blanket pardon of Hunter Biden by his father President Joseph Biden has sparked widespread controversy and there will be more pardons to come before President Biden leaves office. In this episode, retired judges Tom Hodson and Gayle Williams Byers unpack the controversy over the Hunter Biden pardon, compare this to past presidential pardons, and look ahead at pardons yet to come. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hunter-bidens-blanket-pardon-sparks-controversy-whats/id1744219180?i=1000680047464

12/04/2024

This episode of Next Witness...Please features the fascinating case against Rapper Young Thug. Our experts delve into the strange sentence he received from the court after his trial lasted more than a year. Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/young-thugs-legal-saga-a-sentence-that-defines-a/id1744219180?i=1000679105524

Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty in Atlanta, in October, to gang, drug, and gun charges a year after his racketeering trial had begun. His story is one of a long a protracted legal proceeding with twists and turns that are material for a novel. His trial was the longest in Georgia history. This episode of "Next Witness...Please" unpacks a complicated sentence that includes probation with unusual conditions and potential prison time of 20 years. Hear what happens to Young Thug and what his future might hold. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/young-thugs-legal-saga-a-sentence-that-defines-a/id1744219180?i=1000679105524

11/26/2024

On "Next Witness…Please," retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson unpack Donald Trump’s pending criminal and civil cases, explaining the legal pathways ahead as he prepares for his second term as President. LISTEN: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-legal-storms-whats-next-for-the-president-elect/id1744219180?i=1000678311298

11/13/2024

After a Netflix documentary about their case, the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, are trying different legal strategies to be released from prison after 35 years of incarceration. Listen as retired judges Tom Hodson and Gayle Williams-Byers break down the new efforts and translate everything into plain English for all to understand. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-to-freedom-the-menendez-brothers-final-bid/id1744219180?i=1000676539707

10/25/2024

The U.S. Supreme Court reconvened the first Monday in October.
Court observers are watching how the court will handle key cases to determine if the Supreme Court will continue in its MAGA direction or will it right itself and become more centrist.
In this episode of the “Next Witness…Please” podcast, the “Judicial Twins,” retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson, delve into some of the key cases coming before the court in its 2024-2025 Term.

Podcast Episode · Next Witness...Please · 10/25/2024 · 52m

10/18/2024

Hundreds of election related cases are being filed across the country and most of these cases land in the laps of state trial judges. On this episode of Next Witness... Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson delve into the cases coming before state courts in Georgia, one of the seven swing states in the upcoming presidential election. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/state-judges-in-the-hot-seat-navigating-election/id1744219180?i=1000673581638

10/15/2024

The latest edition of "Next Witness...Please" examines the chaos of state by state abortion laws by examining three states: Georgia, Louisiana, and Ohio. Please listen and subscribe.

During this presidential campaign, former president Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have said that the abortion issue is resolved because each state now has the right to pass its own laws. "Next Witness...Please" finds the abortion issue is far from settled. Retired judges Tom Hodson and Gayle Williams-Byers focus on three states as examples of abortion chaos at the state level: Georgia, Louisiana and Ohio.
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1248539126/next-witness-please

10/09/2024

Why is Sean “Diddy” Combs still in jail and not out on some type of bond, bail, or pretrial release? On this edition of Next Witness…Please, retired judges Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson explore the federal criminal charges against Combs and look closely at why he currently is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City and not released on bond.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-sean-diddy-combs-remains-behind-bars-judges-break/id1744219180?i=1000672148404

10/02/2024

ON THIS WEEK'S "NEXT WITNESS PLEASE." America’s criminal courts are facing a crisis, namely the lack of public defenders and court appointed attorneys to defend people charged with crimes. Over the past decade, the paucity of defenders for the indigent has grown from an issue lurking just beneath the surface of our judicial system to one of an acute nature. In some states it has grown beyond acute and is, in fact, a critical problem. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-public-defender-crisis-how-the-system-fails/id1744219180?i=1000671471660

09/23/2024

What should judges expect from courtroom participants, and what happens if a judge crosses the line? In this episode of Next Witness...Please, retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson tackle the often-overlooked topic of judicial decorum. They offer both insight and entertainment, with personal and humorous examples of maintaining—or losing—judicial decorum.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-bench-how-judges-maintain-decorum-and/id1744219180?i=1000670448604

09/10/2024

Donald Trump is currently entangled in two major federal criminal cases plus a criminal case in New York and at least two civil cases on appeal. On this episode of "Next Witness...Please", retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson guide listeners through Trump’s legal troubles—not as advocates, but through the lens of judicial analysis. Please listen and subscribe. It's free. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LUvf7WcjctUwk9HclNalA

08/22/2024

Judge Merchan’s decisions are important because they will be the first lower court judicial interpretations of the Supreme Court’s controversial presidential immunity decision. Please listen to this fascinating discussion. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-motions-put-judge-merchan-in-the-hot-seat/id1744219180?i=1000666134209

WOUB Public Media is an NPR and PBS affiliate from Ohio University. The WOUB Center for Public Media

08/14/2024

How do judges and journalists cope with personal bias and objectivity? Listen as retired judge Gayle Williams-Byers and retired judge/journalist Tom Hodson compare the qualities of judges and reporters. Fascinating conversation. Please listen, subscribe, review, and rate... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/judges-vs-journalists-who-masters-objectivity/id1744219180?i=1000665161468