Ray Hinton's Reflective Essay: Alternative Spring Break

The Truth Behind The Speech In the spring of 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. made a trip to Memphis, Tennessee to support the sanitation workers who were on strike. The night on April 3 King gave his speech at the Mason Temple Church. As usual many people gathered to listen to the great words he spoke, but at the time they did not know what later events were to occur (History.com Staff). The next day at six p.m. as the great Martin Luther King stood on a second floor balcony of a motel, he was shot in the neck by a sniper (Assassination of MLK). Immediately after the fact they dispatched him straight to the hospital.

It was with them that she recorded the albums I Got Them Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! This band broke up after the lead guitarist, Sam Andrews, left to rejoin with his former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. By the end of 1969, the band had broken up, so Joplin put together another band, the Full Tilt Boogie Band. Her final album, Pearl, was recorded with this band, but she died before it could be completed. As Malcolm Gladwell said in his book, Outliers, one must practice their craft for at least ten thousand hours to master it.

Jerry Douglas Mempa pleaded guilty to joyriding, and had been placed on probation for two years and the imposition of his sentence was deferred. Four months later, the county prosecutor moved to withdraw Mempa’s probation based on his participation in a burglary (Oyez,2017). Mempa petitioned the Washington Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus and claimed that he was denied his right to counsel during the proceedings revoking his probation. The Washington Supreme Court denied his petition. Counsel also assists the defendant in asserting his rights, such as the right to appeal, at the deferred sentencing stage

Where is the proof? These accusations have been ongoing for nearly twenty plus years and not one time has he been found guilty. Do you remember when he was under indictment with Al Lipscomb for the similar accusations and then they both were acquitted of all charges. And the judge moves the trial away from Dallas because of local influences in the matter! North of Oak Cliff west of down town Dallas as always is why Judge Kendall made the statement “My gut feeling is that, from everything that was going on in that case, including the lawyers beginning to try it in the newspapers, as well as the prominence of Al Lipscomb, and John Wiley Price there is no way the duo and the government could have gotten a fair trial in Dallas, Texas," he said.

At the age of 22, Steven Avery was wrongfully convicted of rape. Avery’s first incident with the law was when he was 18; March 1981, Avery was convicted of raiding a bar with a friend and sentenced to two years in prison. The sentence was stayed and instead Avery served ten months in the Manitowoc County Jail, he was placed on probation for

For the past two decades, “The Innocence Project” with the help of updated science methods have worked relentlessly to get innocent people out of prison. Through DNA testing, they have been able to find new evidence that have freed hundreds of prisoners who were wrongfully convicted. Other factors such as eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, government misconduct, and inadequate defense also played keys roles in the wrongful convictions. The case that I would I would like to highlight today is that of, Johnnie Lindsey. Johnnie Lindsey was a 30-year old laundry worker who was falsely accused of rape.

The cops arrived, and calmed me down enough to take my statement my parents were called, and came home the next day. All of us were brokenhearted over Tommy, who got stabbed just for trying to help me. The following years were hard. I was in therapy for a year afterwards, and every anniversary of the event, I think over what happened. The reason my husband asked me about it was, years later after I had begun to date and finally married, I saw a news story about two robbers arrested not far from where we live.

Loving vs. Virginia was one of the most aptly titled cases in American history. Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter married in the nation 's capital 71 years after Plessy vs. Ferguson unraveled in the Supreme Court, then returned to their home in Virginia. However, interracial marriage was banned in Virginia at the time of the move, and they were detained. When the case went to court, Judge Leon M. Bazile claimed, "Almighty God created the races... and he placed them on separate continents... {showing} that he did not intend for the races to mix" (Loving vs. Virginia). Bazile continued to sentence the couple to a year in prison, but guaranteed their freedom if they left the state of Virginia for the following 25 years.

He held boycotts, sit-ins, and even a 47-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. On August 28, 1963 held a march on Washington, in which nearly 300,000 people followed Martin Luther King to the Lincoln Memorial where he delivered his historic “I Had a Dream Speech”. The Jim Crow Laws were repealed at the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Martin Luther King attended. Sadly, his life was cut short when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4,

He received full military honors before a crowd of more than 3,000 people. Medgar Evers was 37 years old when he died. Evers was murdered by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Bryon De La Beckwith was tried for the murder of Evers, but had gotten away. He lived his life until 1994 when the case came back and he was convicted.

There are several incidences in history when someone was accused of witchcraft. Maybe they didn’t have anything to do with witchcraft but if someone said it, everyone believed them. Some many people’s lives were taken because of something they didn’t do not had a part in. From June – September 1692, 19 men and women have been convicted of witchcraft. They were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village for hanging.

Krone felt that he’d win this case for sure. Even in light of this new evidence, Krone was found guilty, again. “I remember the judge saying, this case was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, because it was hard for him to believe that a person like [Krone] was on trial for a murder that [Krone] did not commit. [Krone] was about to be sentenced for something [Krone] didn’t do, He had lingering and residual doubt that his guilt, and he sentenced him to 25 years to life.” Krone said. Krone went on to serve six more years in prison before finally being exonerated based on saliva and blood DNA evidence that matched the true culprit, Kenneth

Connecticut is one of seven states that has banned the death penalty in the last decade (“31 States with the Death...”). In 2012, Governor Dannel Malloy 's signature finalized Connecticut 's abolition of the death penalty, which he claimed was due in part to the cost of the appellate process and low percentage of actualized executions (Arlosto). Malloy is quoted referring to his time as a prosecutor and learning that the justice system is imperfect; sometimes innocent people get convicted. In addition, Malloy considered the arbitrariness of the death penalty and determined it would be best if it were not implemented at all (Winter). In 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill that banned the death penalty and changed the

Eric Potter, our leader for the trip, announced that we would be visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church that morning. While we were at the church, we were fortunate enough to be able to listen to a speaker talk about the bombing of the church in 1963. Once again the lack of value for human life was present as we learned about the four girls who were tragically killed during the bombing of the church. After the tour of the church, we headed to a rough, rundown neighborhood in Birmingham to collect the garbage along the sidewalks and partner with an organization that works to remodel houses for families who are less fortunate to live in. Painting, collecting garbage, and mowing were tasks that I handled throughout the duration of the day.

The jury decided to not side with Dr. Kevorkian and convicted him guilty of second degree murder. Kevorkian was given the minimum sentence of ten to twenty five years in prison with an opportunity for parole. After eight years behind bars, Kevorkian was let out of prison on parole for good behavior. Moreover, he was also diagnosed with terminal Hepatitis C which was causing his kidneys to fail. In addition to being let of prison, Dr. Kevorkian promised he would never participate in assisted suicide again (Morlan).