Bill Rankin, the newspaper’s legal affairs reporter, has worked for the AJC for more than 30 years. Since 2015, he has been the host and narrator of the AJC’s Breakdown podcast. Covering the state’s court system has allowed Bill to cover some of Georgia’s most sensational trials: Atlanta lawyer Fred Tokars, NFL star Ray Lewis, the infamous Gold Club and the hot-car case against Justin Ross Harris. Bill has also conducted lengthy investigations the exposed inequities and breakdowns in Georgia’s indigent defense system, its administration of the death penalty and its civil and criminal justice systems. Bill is a product of the city of Atlanta’s public school system, and his father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years before retiring in 1986. Ralph McGill, the former Pulitizer Prize-winning editor of The Atlanta Constitution, gave Bill his first dog, a dachshund named Heidi. Bill is happily married to Carol, the love of his life and who he first met in a 10th grade high school typing class. He’s also the extremely proud father of James, Sylvia and Errol. Bill can be reached at william.rankin@ajc.com and on Twitter @ajccourts.