"48 HOURS" SATURDAY DOUBLE FEATURE

July 24, 2021

9:00 PM - 48 HOURS: "The Troubling Case Against Kevin Cooper" - San Quentin State Prison death row inmate Kevin Cooper has maintained for three decades he did not kill three members of a California family and a guest staying at their house in 1983. Now, with new witnesses, lost evidence that could have proven him right and a DNA test that doesn't link him to the crime, the question remains: will Cooper ever walk free again? Erin Moriarty and 48 HOURS investigate the controversial murder case against Cooper and explore the two new witnesses who came forward after watching 48 HOURS, new DNA testing and the California governor who could spare his life in an encore of "The Troubling Case Against Kevin Cooper" to be broadcast Saturday, July 24 (9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. This is a case Moriarty has been reporting on for two decades. Cooper's case has drawn international attention from the likes of Pope Francis and Kim Kardashian West. The heartbreaking story about the brutal assault that left Doug and Peggy Ryen; their daughter, Jessica, 10; and a family friend, Christopher Hughes, 11, dead in Chino Hills, Calif., also raises questions about the initial police investigation, the loss of key evidence and whether the real killer remains free. Watch a preview.

10:00 PM - 48 HOURS: "The Case Against Mary Katherine Higdon" - Mary Katherine Higdon called 911 to report she had shot her boyfriend, Steven Freeman. It was all an accident, she told first responders. She said she was handing the gun to Freeman when it went off and that she didn't know the weapon was chambered. When she talked with investigators at the police station, they say she confessed to murder. But there was a major problem - the audio on the tape where she allegedly confessed was impossible to hear due to a feedback hum. Correspondent David Begnaud and 48 HOURS report on what happened that night and the police investigation in an encore of "The Case Against Mary Katherine Higdon," to be broadcast Saturday, July 24 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. It's a case that rocked the small town of Griffin, Ga. Higdon and Freeman were high school sweethearts and were living together the night Freeman died. The investigation into what happened revealed a toxic relationship with allegations of abuse that left two families shattered. It's also a case that raised many questions about what went wrong and who was at fault for the violence that erupted that summer night in 2018. Investigators believed it was no accident and that crime scene evidence and Higdon's conflicting statements all led to a clear case of murder. At her trial, Higdon testified that although she didn't know the gun was chambered, she held the gun up that night because she was scared of Steven. Higdon testified that she suffered abuse at the hands of Steven. But what would a jury think? Watch a preview.

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