4-24-25 -- 15 MINS -- THE PATSY THAT BEAT THE STATE

In the summer of 1996, the world descended upon Atlanta for the Olympics. In spite of challenges like traffic and relocating most of the cities homeless to create the Olympic village, Coca Cola, CNN and Atlanta were ready.

But something was amiss, there was a sense of unease in the air. I was there. Armed troops were everywhere, patrolling the streets. It felt like a weird hybrid of Gaza and Mardi Gras.

During the second week in, a bomb went off in the Olympic village.

A security guard named Richard Jewell actually spotted something unusual in the stands at the Olympic village. Jewell wound up saving lives and yet, he eventually became a victim of a tar and smear campaign. The media went out of their way to turn Jewell into the bogeyman, another angry, white, dysfunctional and delusional male.

It didn't work.

Jewell and his lawyer, Linn Wood eventually cleared his name but not without dragging it though miles of shit and doing everything in their power to stack Richard Jewell on top of Tim McVeigh.