Bringing Ben Home: A Discussion of Injustice, Faith, and Forgiveness, with Barbara Bradley Hagerty and Ben Spencer

In 1987, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t commit. From the day of his arrest, Spencer insisted that it was “an awful mistake.” The Texas legal system didn’t see it that way. It allowed shoddy police work, paid witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct to convict Spencer of murder, and it ignored later efforts to correct this error. The state’s bureaucratic intransigence caused Spencer to spend more than half his life in prison.

Award-winning journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty has spent years digging into this issue. In the book Bringing Ben Home she threads together two narratives: how an innocent Black man got caught up in and couldn’t escape a legal system that refused to admit its mistakes; and what Texas and other states are doing to address wrongful convictions to make the legal process more equitable for everyone.

Come hear Barbara Bradley Hagerty and Ben Spencer talk about this powerful story of pain, resilience, and the power of listening to those whom society would prefer to ignore. Tom Hibbs, Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus, will moderate the event. 

This lecture is sponsored by the Institute for Faith and Learning, Honors College, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, and Student Life.