Bone Valley: Earwitness – Chapter 4 | Witness or Defendant

Podcast: Bone Valley (Season 4 – Earwitness)
Host: Beth Shelburne (with reporter Mara McNamara)
Release Date: February 4, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Bone Valley: Earwitness, “Witness or Defendant,” dives into the high-pressure tactics used by law enforcement in the investigation of Deputy William G. Hardy’s 1995 murder. The focus is on how investigators leveraged threats of capital charges to extract desired testimony—ultimately shaping who was identified as a witness versus a defendant. Through interviews and previously unheard investigative files, host Beth Shelburne explores the consequences of these tactics for several young Black Alabamians, the reliability of the prosecution's case, and overlooked evidence that undermined the State’s theory. The episode grapples with the human cost of coercive prosecutions and the deep fallibilities in the investigation that put Toforest Johnson on death row.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. "Witness or Defendant": The State’s Pressure Tactic

• The ultimatum: Detectives repeatedly told suspects and potential witnesses, “You can either be a witness or a defendant. It’s your choice.” (11:47)

• Case of Ardragas Ford:

  • Ford, a wheelchair user, was initially brought in as a witness but was held for nine hours and threatened with capital murder charges unless he implicated Toforest Johnson.
  • Quote:
    • Ardragas: “They want me to lie. ... I wasn’t there and I’ve got a dozen or more alibi witnesses that will testify to that. ... I’m not going to lie for anybody.” (06:53)
  • Ford refuses to implicate Toforest, despite the promise of immunity, and is charged with capital murder.

• Lawyer Richard Jaffe:

  • Shares deep regret for allowing Ford’s questioning and highlights the gravity of threatening defendants with the death penalty to produce witnesses.
  • Quote (Jaffe): “Everybody flips sadly enough to save themselves. ... [But Ford] said, No way. Not gonna lie.” (08:10)

2. The Impact on Other Young Black Suspects

• Latonya Henderson’s Ordeal:

  • 16-year-old questioned alone, forced to choose between being a “witness or a defendant;” she maintains she knows nothing.
  • Despite this, she's charged (hindering prosecution, a felony) and spends five months in adult jail.
  • Quote:
    • Detective Richardson: "Some people are gonna be witnesses. Some are gonna be defendants. Defendants going to jail." (12:49)
    • Latonya: “Defendant is someone that's charged with the crime? ... No, I don't want me to be a defendant. No.” (13:44)
  • Later accounts describe how the process traumatized Latonya and destroyed friendships.

• Police Tactics and Critique:

  • Beth reflects on how both Latonya (truth-teller who is jailed) and Yolanda Chambers (star witness subject to repeated pressure and ever-changing testimony) were deeply harmed.

3. The Detective’s Perspective

• Retired Detective Tony Richardson:
  • Freely admits the “witness or defendant” tactic is used as a pressure tool.
  • Quote:
    • “Well, at certain times, you have to put pressure on somebody. That’s just a strategy. That’s just an investigative tool.” (14:54)
  • Later, Richardson says the best advice for a suspect:
    • “The best thing that a person probably can do for themselves that's suspected of a crime is do not talk to the police. Period.” (18:46)
  • This surprising candor from a seasoned detective closes out the segment.

4. The Flaws in the State’s Case & Overlooked Evidence

• Eyewitness Accounts Conflict with Police Theory:

  • Actual hotel guests, Marshall Kelly Cummings (the “Keebler Cookie guy”) and Leon Colvin, both saw a copper/gold 4-door sedan quietly leaving the scene, not the black, loud, two-door Monte Carlo associated with Ardragas Ford.
  • The Monte Carlo’s driver door didn’t open—contradicting witnesses who saw someone get in on the driver’s side.
  • Quotes:
    • “When I looked up, they’re closing...which door? The driver's side.” (22:56)
    • “That door, the driver door won’t open at all.” (26:17)
  • Despite these discrepancies, detectives pursued the suspects that fit their preferred narrative.

• Detective’s Familial Tie:

  • Richardson interrogates his own cousin, Leon Colvin, treating him as a possible defendant based on another pressured witness’s identification. Colvin is charged with hindering prosecution despite only being an eyewitness.
  • Colvin: “I ain’t did none of this here.” (29:45)

• Potentially Key Evidence Not Followed:

  • Hotel worker Jerry McDaniel witnessed Hardy arguing with a group of young men just prior to the murder and saw a group outside later—but police never identified these individuals or pursued the lead.

5. Ignored Alibis and Defensive Policing

• Alibi witnesses:

  • Multiple friends confirm Toforest Johnson and Ardragas Ford were at “T’s Place,” a club, during the murder.
  • Two women (“Mama Cat” and “Quesi”) gave statements to Detective Richardson confirming their presence at the club.
  • Decades later, Richardson can’t recall these witnesses or why their testimony wasn’t believed.
  • Quote:
    • Beth: “There were alibi witnesses on the record that told y’all I saw them at T’s place. ... Whatever went into not believing them is not in any files that we've been able to access.” (47:50)
    • Richardson: "Well, since I don't know who this witness was, I can't remember them. ... Probably not." (48:07)

• Exclusion of Alternate Theories and Motives:

  • Eight tips suggested detectives look into Hardy’s personal life for potential motives, but Richardson says they dismissed any line of inquiry not involving an “interrupted drug deal”—the working police theory.
  • Quote:
    • “If he had been at home in his pajamas, shot and killed in bed, we would have looked at him. Because that's what you do.” (37:46)

6. The Shifting Star Witness and Recantation

• Yolanda Chambers’ Changing Testimony:
  • Chambers’ statements form the backbone of the case, but are inconsistent and eventually recanted.
  • After being key to charging four young men, Yolanda switches her testimony, ultimately saying the original suspects had nothing to do with the murder.
  • Charges against two suspects dropped for credible alibis, but not for Toforest and Ardragas.

7. “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t”

• Both witness and defendant statuses proved ruinous—Yolanda exploited and endangered, Latonya traumatized from jail time.
• The episode highlights that, under pressure, truth-telling is punished and coerced testimony is rewarded, all within a rush to secure a conviction for a law enforcement victim.

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Richard Jaffe on being deceived by police:
  • “[Barber] said, 'He can either be a witness or a defendant. ... Witness or defendant, it’s his choice.’” (05:27)
  • “I felt a little inept and a little foolish as well as a little deceived…” (06:10)
• Ardragas Ford’s refusal:
  • “I would happy to give Taforest up in a heartbeat, except it would be a lie. ... Tell him to take me to jail.” (07:28, 08:14)
• Detective Tony Richardson’s candor:
  • “That’s just a strategy, that's just an investigative tool.” (14:54)
  • “The best thing that a person probably can do for themselves that’s suspected of a crime is do not talk to the police. Period.” (18:46)
• Eyewitness Kelly Cummings describing the car:
  • “I saw a person...closing...the driver's side [door]. ... A copper colored or light brown car with a vinyl top...drove away with the headlights off.” (22:51–23:11)
• Latonya Henderson’s confusion and fear:
  • “Defendant is someone that's charged with the crime? ... No, I don't want me to be a defendant.” (13:44)
• Detectives' rationale for not pursuing alternate leads:
  • “Because Deputy Hardy was a police officer and was killed in uniform...if he had been at home in his pajamas, shot and killed in bed, we would have looked at him. Because that's what you do.” (37:46)

Segment Timestamps (Approximate)

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-------------------------------------------| | 01:31 | Recap of previous episode | | 03:04 | Police bring in Ardragas Ford (w/ lawyer) | | 05:27 | “Witness or Defendant” tactic explained | | 06:48 | Ford is offered immunity to implicate Toforest | | 08:45 | Four young Black men charged | | 12:08 | Pressure on 16-year-old Latonya | | 16:15 | Latonya’s jailing and aftermath | | 21:24 | Discrepancies in car eyewitness testimony | | 32:18 | Jerry McDaniel’s lost lead | | 35:51 | Police ignore tips into Hardy’s personal life | | 42:04 | Overlooked alibi witnesses | | 46:33 | Confirmation of alibis by “Mama Cat” and “Quesi” | | 47:50 | Detective Richardson’s lack of recall/belief | | 50:19 | Yolanda Chambers recants | | 51:03 | New “star witness” teased for next episode |

Tone & Language

• Direct, emotional, and investigative. Shelburne offers patient, clear explanations, but centers the human harm caused by state actions.
• Matter-of-fact but compassionate. The use of tape and witness commentary showcases trauma, confusion, and resistance.
• Highlights systemic failings—the episode ultimately reads as a critique of a justice system warped by pressure, presumption, and expedience.

Final Thoughts

“Witness or Defendant” exposes how the criminal justice system’s demand for closure in a slain-officer case led to the weaponization of witness testimony and charges. The episode reveals how law enforcement’s tunnel vision and coercive tactics undermined the truth, destroyed lives, and shored up a failed case against Toforest Johnson. It is both a granular account of a specific investigation and a wider cautionary tale about the dangers of police “strategy” overpowering the facts.

Next episode preview: The focus will shift to a new surprise witness—Bolly Nelson—hinted as the prosecution's new linchpin.

For more: Visit lavaforgood.com/earwitness or follow Earwitness on social media.