Bringing Ben Home: A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice - Hardcoverby Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Author) How states are making their legal systems more equitable, seen through the story of a Black man falsely imprisoned for thirty years for murder. 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.