Wrongful conviction investigations; Dateline NBC; Letters from Sing Sing; The Sing Sing Files
Dan Slepian is an American journalist, author, and senior investigative producer at Dateline NBC. He is best known for his reporting on wrongful convictions and the U.S. criminal justice system, including the cases featured in his podcasts 13 Alibis, Letters from Sing Sing, The Last Appeal, and his book, The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice. His work has earned national recognition, including a Pulitzer Prize finalist honor in Audio Reporting (2024)[1]and the News & Documentary Emmy Award for Best Documentary (2025) for The Sing Sing Chronicles[2]
Slepian graduated from Stony Brook University in 1992, where he served as student government president. He began his media career in NBC's Page Program before joining Dateline NBC.[3]
Career
Slepian joined NBC in 1996 after working in the network's Page Program and as an audience coordinator for The Phil Donahue Show. At Dateline NBC, he has produced numerous investigations and documentaries, including Vegas Homicide, Vegas Undercover, and Wild Wild Web. [4]
Slepian frequently collaborates with anchor Lester Holt on justice-related programming, including Justice for All, a weeklong NBC News and MSNBC series examining the U.S. legal system. The series included Emmy-nominated specials filmed at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola Prison) and Sing Sing Correctional Facility.[5]
In 2002, Slepian began documenting the re-investigation of a 1990 Manhattan murder case that led to the eventual release of David Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo after 13 years in prison. The story aired as the Dateline special In the Shadow of Justice (2007).[6]
He later investigated the wrongful convictions of Eric Glisson, Richard Rosario, and Johnny Hincapie, whose cases were reopened and ultimately vacated following new evidence and reporting. His work on Rosario became the foundation for the NBC podcast 13 Alibis.[7]
Slepian's 20-year investigation into the conviction of Jon-Adrian Velazquez culminated in the 2023 podcast Letters from Sing Sing which was named a Pulitzer finalist.[8]
Velazquez was granted clemency in 2021 and formally exonerated in 2024 after a review by the Manhattan District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit.[9]
The Widower
Slepian produced and filmed The Widower (2021), a three-part NBC/Peacock documentary that chronicled the case of Thomas Randolph, a Nevada man accused of murdering his wife and staging the crime scene. Slepian began following the case in 2008, documenting interviews and law enforcement operations over more than a decade.[10]
Publications and podcasts
Slepian is the creator and host of 13 Alibis (2019) and Letters from Sing Sing (2023), and "The Last Appeal" (2025) all produced by NBC News. His 2024 book, The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice, chronicles his investigations into wrongful convictions and was featured in The New York Times[11] and Vanity Fair.[12]
The Sing Sing Chronicles
In 2024, NBC News Studios and MSNBC Films released The Sing Sing Chronicles, a four-part docuseries directed by Dawn Porter. Slepian is an executive producer on the docuseries and is the featured investigative journalist.[13]
The series expanded on the cases featured in Slepian's book and podcast and received awards including the 2025 News & Documentary Emmy for Best Documentary,[14] the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award,[15] and the Hillman Prize.[16]
Voices From Within
In 2013, Slepian co-founded the nonprofit Voices From Within with Jon-Adrian Velazquez, an initiative that supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals through storytelling and education programs created inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility.[17][18]
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