Gray Area

This season, our stories have centered mostly around criminal justice — people caught up in violence, courts and prison. But in Episode Six, we explore how the law intersects with what can be the most intimate and difficult decision a person ever makes — if they get the chance: choosing how to die. Death is […]Episode 06: Unless death wants to fight was first posted on March 13, 2019 at 11:38 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

Welcome to Gray Area’s  special year-end episode. As the days reach their shortest and coldest extremes here in the northern hemisphere, humans of every culture find reasons to come together and celebrate holidays, traditions, and community. So for this episode, we reached out to three people who’ve been separated from their communities, whether by their own actions, […]Episode 05: A Gray Winter’s Tale was first posted on December 17, 2018 at 1:53 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

Lou Hammond started out like lots of kids — playing Little League with neighbors and classmates, getting good grades and attending summer school, just because he wanted to. But by the time he was a teenager, Lou was pursuing a career as a criminal. He built a life around trying to become the "worst of the worst." The law caught up with him, of course, and he wound up with a life sentence in a supermax prison. That’s not the end of Lou’s story, though. Something unexpected happened inside that remote prison’s walls that made Lou change — for good.Episode 04: Lou was first posted on July 11, 2018 at 7:22 am.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

In our latest episode, we explore the story of two brothers, Roy and Reynaldo. Born 15 years apart to different fathers, the two men found very different paths as they grew up. By the time he reached adulthood, Reynaldo decided he’d had enough of his brother’s criminal antics. After Roy died in prison, it took Reynaldo years before he was ready to try to make sense of the life his brother led — in fact, it took a dream. Like many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, Reynaldo assumed his family’s ties to their indigenous roots were severed centuries ago. But as we discovered, that rupture was not so far in the past. The trauma and scars remain alive in the present — from massacres and enslavement to lynchings, extermination and displacement. For Reynaldo what started as a search for insight about his brother turned into a journey that spanned cultures, nations and centuries — a journey of discovery about the ongoing struggle for a sense of place and self in the American West.Episode 03: Reynaldo in Yaqui Land was first posted on February 20, 2018 at 10:58 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

How do you forgive the unforgivable? Cheryl Ward-Kaiser leads us down a path of shocking twists and turns. Her story contains detailed descriptions of violence, so it may not be appropriate for everyone. But by the end, we know you’ll understand why Cheryl’s story inspires us and needs to be heard. SHOW NOTES | This […]Episode 02: Cheryl was first posted on December 11, 2017 at 10:30 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

What makes a man decide to switch sides and buck everything he’s always stood for? Episode One is the surprisingly tender story of an ace prosecutor who goes from putting murderers and child abusers behind bars to — yikes — defending them. With some Gray Area twists and turns along the way, of course.Episode 01: Gary was first posted on November 20, 2017 at 9:03 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

Introducing Gray Area, A Show About Justice and Redemption I’m Julie Reynolds Martinez and for more than 15 years, I’ve reported on criminal justice in the Central Coast. I’ve analyzed our prisons and courts, covered hundreds of crimes, and sat through hundreds of criminal trials. Gray Area tells the stories of people who are dealing […]Episode 0 was first posted on November 10, 2017 at 6:35 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org