James Richardson was convicted and charged for murder and rape in Cross Lanes, West Virginia on May 18, 1989. First, Richardson noticed the neighbor’s house burning. He then ran and kicked down the door and rescued a 3 year old girl, and then called the police.The girl’s mother was found inside. She seemed to have been raped and beaten to death (Gzedit). This shows how Richardson became a suspect, since he was at the scene at when the police arrived. Next, Richardson suspects that Fred hid the evidence. Richardson alleges they hid evidence of Zains Faked crime lab tests and false trial testimony four years before others uncovered the lie (Messina, Lawrence). This helps back up the information on Richardson’s case.
Throughout the whole investigation of the Gail Miller rape and murder case there were many wrongs committed leading up to the false conviction of David Milgaard. The authorities were pressured by the public and other groups to convict someone of this heinous crime and in doing so this action of theirs put an innocent man behind bars for twenty-three years.
In 1983 a young 11-year-old girl, Sabrina Buie, was found in a soybean field in a rural area of Red Springs, NC. She had been raped and murdered. There was no physical evidence as to who committed the crime. However, suspicion was cast upon two half-brothers, Henry Lee McCollum, 19, and Leon Brown, 15, who had recently moved to the area from New Jersey and were considered outsiders. Both men were considered mentally disabled. The brothers were arrested. After many long hours of threats and questioning, McCollum broke down and admitted to a story that he made up so the questioning would end. He thought he would then be able to go home. Afterwards, Mr. Brown was told of the confession and that he would be executed if he didn’t cooperate. They both signed the coerced confessions. The men were tried in court and found guilty though they both stated the confessions were coerced and they were not guilty. Both were found guilty and given the death penalty. In an appeal, the death penalty was upheld for Mr. McCollum, but Mr. Brown’s sentence was changed to life in prison.
“America’s Unjust Sex Laws” argues that the sex offender laws in America are too harsh. It begins by discussing “Megan’s Laws” and the Adam Walsh Act of 2006 to describe the current sex offender laws. The author then goes on to discuss how large the sex-offender registry is in order to support their first point that harsh penalties shouldn’t be imposed for minor crimes. The author argues that with so many people on the list it makes it hard to distinguish between people who are really threats on the list and those who are not. The second point the author argues is that sex-offender registries shouldn’t be made public because it causes sex offenders to be harassed and even fired from their jobs (“America’s Unjust Sex Laws” 655). The author suggest that the list should be held by the police who could then share it with people who need to know instead of the public having easy access to it (“America’s Unjust Sex Laws” 656). The author then explains how many teenagers have sex before they are legally allowed too and how this shouldn’t be reason to
In July 1984 Jennifer Thompson, a 22-year old white woman, was raped by a black man in her apartment. A man named Ronald Cotton was arrested and identified by Thompson in a line-up and a phot-spread. According to her interview with CBS’s 60 minutes in 1999, Thompson explained how she was confident in her identification. In 1985, Cotton’s conviction of raping Thompson was based largely on her identification. While in prison, two years later, a fellow inmate of Cotton confessed to the rape of Jennifer Thompson. However, it wasn’t until 1995 when DNA showed that Ronald Cotton was innocent. According to the Innocence Project, Ronald Cotton spent 10 years in prison before being exonerated.
He docent took into consideration that “ having so many petty sex offenders on registries makes it hard to keep track of the truly dangerous one, and that the majority of sex offenses aren 't reported” (The Economist 656). In the essay of the Economist (2009) talks about public registers drive serious offenders underground, which makes it harder to track and more likely to reoffend.And registers give parents a false sense of security (656) . On top of that we cannot be sure of his credibility because all of the examples that he gave are from people that call him, so it docent have a name, we cannot be sure if these persons are even real. And he is defending why the newspaper keeps publishing the names of sex offenders even that maybe people docent what to give them more recognizement or maybe they are not really sex offenders. As a writer for the newspaper we can 't be really sure if his really wants to
In America today it is hard for certain families to make a living and to keep a job. College is very expensive and not many people can afford to go to college. And when it comes to finding a job that pays enough to support a family and gives you the hours you want so that you can still spend time with your family is nearly impossible. Family time is very important to sustain a healthy, strong relationship with all the members of your family. Divorce is very common when both parents work and never have time to spend time together. But money makes the world go round and if you don’t have any then you are left out to dry.
Lees, M., & Tewksbury, R. (2006, February). Understanding Policy and Progmmatic Issues Regarding Sex Offender Registries. Trade Journals , 68(1), 54,56-57.
Dennis Brown, a black male from Louisiana, has been one of many people that have been wrongfully convicted without proper DNA evidence. First off, he’s been falsely convicted of rape and burglary. In 1984, Dennis Brown offered to be a filler in a police lineup to be presented to a rape victim (Innocence 1). This information already highlights the issue with his conviction, because the victim observing the lineup could easily mistake people that look alike. Another issue with his conviction is the way in which he was convicted. The victim observing the lineup chose Dennis, out of everybody else, without proper
The most common myth the sex offender registry office receives daily is, “An offender was on the registry yesterday, why are they not on there now?”
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. On August 25, 1981, a white woman reported that she raped while riding her bike at White Rock Lake in Dallas. She told police that
This article is about a man named Marcellus Williams. Marcellus was supposed to be pumped with poison and die. But just hours before planned death penalty the governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens called it off to review his case again. Marcellus was on trial for the murder of Lisha. At the time he was charged with the murder in 1998, he also had a criminal record of burglary and armed robbery. Even with that criminal record and his ex girlfriend telling the police he confessed to her they still did not have full belief that Marcellus killed Lisha. Marcellus’s girlfriend told the police he did it for drugs. But, hair fibers and bloody foot prints that were at the scene did not match Marcellus. In 2015 the Missouri Supreme Court moved his execution date up. But, then his attorney argued for a DNA testing on the weapon that was used, and the DNA did not match
The samples from one victim were too deteriorated to be conclusive, but the samples from the other victim’s vaginal swab and underwear were subjected to PCR based DNA testing and it showed no match to Richard Cotton. At the request of the defense, the results were sent to the State Bureau of Investigation’s DNA database, containing the DNA patterns of convicted felons in North Carolina prisons. The DNA proved to be a match for the convict who earlier confessed that he was the one who actually committed the
Between the years 1979 and 1981, Wayne Williams is suspected to be the murderer of more than 20 youthful boys, although, he was only convicted of killing two adults both in Atlanta, Georgia. Even 30 years after his trail, there is still some debate and doubt, on whether or not he was Atlanta’s serial killer. After watching, Atlanta Child Murders, it’s believable Wayne Williams committed and caused the majority of these tragic deaths. By continuing to read, you will gather textual evidence as to why I believe Wayne William is guilty.