Pamela Colloff is an investigative criminal justice reporter for The New York Times Magazine and ProPublica. She and Christopher Leonard talk about a case that shows what happens when the justice system rests the outcome of a case on an inmate’s testimony.

Colloff spent 10 years looking for the right jailhouse snitch to illustrate how dangerous an inside informant can be. She needed someone whose behavior was so outrageous and whose involvement as a snitch ran so deep that he would be able to bring the issue to life.

Ultimately, a man named Paul Skalnik became the subject of her debut book, Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast. The Texan spent decades slipping in and out of fake identities and conning dozens of people out of their fortunes, including more than nine women he married — some of them simultaneously. But likely the most damaging of his crimes occurred from behind bars when he lied to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges about his fellow inmates.

She tells the story of Jim Dailey, a Kansas man who has spent 40 years on Florida’s death row for a crime he didn’t commit, according to a signed affidavit by the murderer — one that Skalnik says Dailey discussed with him.

Leonard is the executive director of the Watchdog Writers Group at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. He’s also the author of three books, including The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business.

This program is part of the Watchdog Writers Group series and co-presented by the Missouri School of Journalism.

The Kansas City Pop-Up Book Group meets at 5 p.m. to discuss Catch the Devil prior to the event. Contact KaiteStover@kclibrary.org to participate.