WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A controversial case from Winston-Salem will be one of the subjects of a new serialized documentary series coming next month to MTV, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
The case of Kalvin Michael Smith will be one of three stories examined in “Unlocking the Truth,” which will make its debut on MTV Aug. 17. In the series, Ryan Ferguson, who was exonerated in 2013 after spending 10 years in prison, travels around the country with an investigator from the Exoneration Project looking at other cases of inmates claiming they are innocent and fighting for their freedom.
Smith was convicted in 1997 of armed robbery and assault in the beating of Jill Marker, an assistant manager at the Silk Plant Forest store in Winston-Salem. She was pregnant at the time. The beating left Marker with severe brain injuries and she gave birth to a son while she was in a coma. She lives in Ohio under 24-hour care.
Smith has maintained his innocence, and has sought to get his conviction overturned in state and federal courts.