Michael Morton V. State of Texas In 1986, Michael Morton was having a normal life, he had a wife, a kid, and a job. That same year his life change completely. Michael Morton was doing his daily routine, as in going to his job, coming back to his wife, and kid. When he came back from his job, he found his wife murdered in their bed. He was wrongfully convicted of the murder with enough evidence showing his innocence. After spending nearly 25 years in prison for a conviction that he didn’t commit. He was finally released in October 4, 2011 and officially discharge in December 2011. It was 1986 when Michael Morton was celebrating his birthday with her wife Christine and his 3 year old son at a restaurant. The next morning, before leaving work, Morton wrote a letter to his wife saying how he was disappointed because his wife didn’t want to be intimate with him the night before, he then finish the note with a “I Love You”. Later that day, Christine’s body was found in their bed bludgeoned to death with a supposedly weapon that was made out of wood. Because no …show more content…
The day after the body was found, police found a bloody bandana 100 yards from the Morton’s house at a constructions site. Christine’s mother told the police that Morton’s son, Eric was present during the murder. The son told his grandmother that his dad, Michael Morton was not there, He specifically said, “Daddy was not home” and described the murderer as a monster. When police questioned Morton’s neighbors, they were told that a man had repeatedly parked a green van behind Morton’s house street and that he walked off into a nearby wooded area. Police also found that Christine’s credit card had possibly been recovered in a Jewelry store in San Antonio. All this evidence could have kept Michael Morton out of prison. But according to Morton’s defense lawyers, the evidence was not turned in to them during the
Even when Michael’s new defense team, through the innocence project, found a crime that was eerily similar to the method of murder and subsequent events to the one that Michael was convicted of, the new prosecutor in Williamson County fought hard to keep DNA testing from taking place, even stating that they objected to the testing now because the defense hadn’t requested it before (Morton, 2014). There was further evidence of ineffectiveness in that the coroner who’d changed his estimated time of death between the autopsy and trial, had come under scrutiny for his findings in this case, as well as several others, with claims of gross errors “including one case where he came to the conclusion that a man who’d been stabbed in the back had committed suicide” (Morton, 2014). This was only one of the many injustices that were committed against Michael Morton throughout his trial. In August of 2006, the defense was finally granted permission to perform DNA testing on the items that had been taken from his wife’s body (Morton, 2014). Although this testing did not reveal any information about the guilty party, it did at least give Michael the knowledge that Chris was not sexually violated before or after her death (Morton,
Williamson v. City of Houston, 148 F. 3d 462, Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit (1998) Facts: Linda Williamson worked as a police officer in a specialized division in the Houston Police Department. Williamson alleged a coworker, Doug McLeod, engaged in harassing behavior that created a hostile work environment for eighteen months. McLeod continued the harassing behavior after she told him it was offensive and to stop. Williamson reported McLeod’s harassment to their supervisor, Sergeant Bozeman.
Case Name: Williamson v. City of Houston Citation: 148 F. 3d 462 Date Decided: 1998 Facts: A female police officer, Williamson, sued the City of Houston under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in which she alleged she was subjected to sexual harassment, and thereafter retaliation for reporting the harassing behavior. The female officer further alleged the behavior created a hostile work environment. Williamson maintains she was subjected to sexual harassment in the form of sexually explicit comments and behavior after transferring into the division. The individual engaging in the offensive behavior was her male partner, Officer Doug McLeod. Williamson stated the behavior continued for eighteen months and was comprised of unwelcomed physical contact and humiliating comments about her body and her appearance.
On a cool day in Salt Lake City Utah, Gary "Green River Killer" Ridgway was born. July 7th 1982 was a day that would start the change of history in forensic science, this was the day waitress Amina Agisheff would leave for work and never be found alive again. This event started a killing spree that stretched potentially 19 grueling years. The very next day Ridgway kills Wendy Coffield a runaway teen. About one month later Debra Estes reported a man in a blue and white pickup truck who offered the girl a lift but then brandished a pistol and forced her to pleasure him sexually.
Scott Peterson is serving a sentence at San Quentin State Prison in California which will end in death by lethal injection for the murder of his wife and unborn child, who were reported missing on Christmas eve, 2002. At first Scott was not a suspect because his family members and Laci’s believed he was innocent. It was not until other matters that was brought up that they began to question his involvement in the disappearance of Laci. Scott’s stories started becoming inconsistent.
Ronald Williamson was convicted of murdering her 5 years after her death. Williamson was sentenced to death row and Fritz was sent to life in prison. The two were tried separately. Williamson’s trial began on April 21, 1988.
It’s been eight years since Malik received the guilty verdict and was sentenced to life without parole in the California state prison for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend Sara Bolson. He spent everyday crying not because he was guilty but because he was about to spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit. New victims with the same M.O. as Sara’s killer have been found all over the city of Los Angeles, so the detectives thought that it was possible that the wrong guy was put away and that the killer is now resurfacing or they may have a copycat trying to be like Malik. However, the three bodies found in the past two weeks had the same bruises and strangulation marks around the neck as Sara did and there was evidence showing the same type of drug used to subdue the victim.
The Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 in the case of Hernandez v. Texas was the start of a breakthrough for Mexican Americans in the United States. The case was brought to existence after Pete Hernandez was accused of murder in Jackson County, a small town called Edna, Texas. The special thing about this case that makes it significant was the jury that were including in this trial. It was said that a Mexican American hadn’t served on a jury in the county of Jackson in 25 years. With the help of a Mexican American lawyer, Gustavo Garcia, the case was brought to the highest court level and was beheld as a Violation of the constitution.
Overview of Clements v. State The case of Clements v. State is an example of how the legal framework of stalking laws in Texas should be interpreted and the effectiveness of this law to ensure justice for the victims. The case depicts how the law should operate despite certain vagueness in aspects of the First Amendment. The decision of the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas to uphold the conviction while disagreeing with some conclusions arrived at by the trial court proves that stalkers will not be allowed to slide through cracks in the legal system. The case, based on a sequence of events where the complainant, Jennifer Clements, was subject to psychological trauma accompanied by an imminent physical threat to her from Nathan Clement, her estranged husband, is a forthright condition of stalking which complies with the Statues of
Leslie Gomez Hernandez v. Texas During the 1950 life for Mexicans was really difficult, they were not considered intelligent, they were considered invisible. They were not allowed in some parts like restaurants, movie theaters and other parts. But things changed by the early 20th century, they were now considered white by law, largely owning to the treaty’s grant of American citizenship. But still their status has citizens didn’t meant a lot.
In this country, our justice system continually strives to seek restitution and retribution for both the victim and the accused in its entirety. As a country, we have seen many tragic deaths and this one, in particular, struck the hearts of many. Tim Bosma a young, 32-year-old man was struck down on an early morning in May 2013. Bosma set out in hopes of selling his truck to two prospective buyers. Though, what he did not know was that he would never come home to his wife Sharlene and little girl.
Charlie has been arguing with his wife for a while and gets angry the longer it goes on. Christine tries to explain her perspective and de-escalate the situation; however, Charlie would not back down. ‘He caught her by the wrists; his small white teeth were locked tightly, his blue eyes blazed into hers’ when he said, “Christine, do you dare doubt my honour towards you? You, whom I should have died for” (Johnson 9). Charlie takes his anger out on Christine.
On January 29, 1991, a vile crime occurred in the Heikkila home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Twenty-year-old Matthew Heikkila, the adopted son of Richard and Dawn Heikkila loaded up a “sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun” (Sullivan). He labeled shotgun shells “Mom” and “Dad”, and shot his parents both in the head. Matthew plotted the murder to get the chance to steal his parent’s credit cards, and treat his girlfriend to a birthday dinner. Matthew then left his parent’s dead bodies on the floor of his home and he and his girlfriend enjoyed a night in NYC.
"The State of California versus Scott Lee Peterson (Case number 1056770, 2005)", was an interesting case. This case was interesting because Laci was a very beautiful and seemingly young, friendly, and happily pregnant woman with lots of friends. Her husband, although attractive, had a kind of macho tough guy womanizer type of persona about himself. It is hard to believe or fathom someone being so cruel as to kill their pregnant wife, regardless of their marital problems. Laci came up missing on December 24, of 2002, the day before Christmas.
The following scenario will show how one case can involve a numerous professions. 911 received a call at 3:30am on April 13, 2014 reporting a house fire with pregnant woman thought to be inside. The fire department was called to disperse the fire fighter. After entering the home, they realized the woman was still alive and rushed her to the hospital! The fire investigator came to figure out why the house caught on fire after the firefighters saw possible signs of arson.