Case Background

Please read J.J. Maloney's story for a detailed background on the case. Maloney, as an investigative reporter, former convict and assistant to Darlene Edward's attorney Will Bunch, could sense something unjust was afoot with the prosecution's heavy use of jailhouse informant testimony. Maloney's two-part story won the Missouri Bar Association's annual "Excellence in Legal Journalism" award in 1997 and is reprinted on the following pages.

Firefighters Case: Part I
Railroaded, Firefighters Case: Part II

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Documentary Movie

A Quest for Closure: The Kansas City Firefighters Case Part 1

Justice on Fire

The Kansas City Firefighters Case and the Railroading of the Marlborough Five

J. Patrick O'Connor

On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Available at KU Press and Amazon

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Case Background

Documentary Movie

Justice on Fire