James Richardson Court Case Study

James Richardson Court Case

During late October in 1967 a man named James Richardson was charged for the murder of his seven children. The children were poisoned and it is believed that he was the one who poisoned them. There is no solid, or reasonable evidence that it was him. Anything that even remotely points to him is all people’s speculative opinions. Everything seemed to be stacked against him. James Richardson was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his seven children, and there is some evidence that points towards who most likely did it.

In the small town of Arcadia Florida, on October 27, 1967 all seven of James Richardson's children died from ingesting poison. High amounts of parathion were found in the children's food and digestive system. Even though Richardson had already left to go

to work and left the babysitter, Bessie Reece to feed them he was still found guilty. After a while of going back and forth with the case, they decided for him to be freed because they didn't have enough, actually any evidence on him, but then a prisoner claimed Richardson confessed to him about killing his children and so Richardson was found guilty because of that. The sheriff claimed he killed the children to receive five hundred dollars off a life insurance policy. Though it was later found to be false. After twenty one years of being imprisoned he was released on December 15th 1981. The person that people think it was the babysitter. In her past she killed her first husband by poisoning his breakfast (supposedly) and her second husband with a gun. Her third husband left her for James cousin and it is thought she wanted revenge, so she took it out on Richardson’s children. No one knows the true truth, her memory and speech is bad so she can't confess if it was her. Making it very hard to bring justice to this case.
It could not have been Richardson due to lack of evidence, but it points much towards, Reece. The day the children died, Richardson’s left for work with his wife and left to Reece take care of them. Once the kids were sent to the hospital after being rushed there from school they died. It was found out they were poisoned and Reece. denies poisoning them, she was the one who knew where the poison was and what was wrong with the kids before it was determined what killed them. This just shows she knew more than anyone knew, andthat’ There’ s not only this but her violent behavior and mental issues. Her third husband left her for Richardson’s cousin and her killing his kids is her revenge. According to Frazier, a employee of a nursing home Reece was at said she confessed to them numerous times between 1985 and 1987 and felt really bad about what she did Frazier said, “.. Reece confessed to her more than 100 times between 1985 and 1987.. when she was asked about the Richardson children, Reece's eyes filled with tears and she said, '' 'Yeah, I did it.'...But the women can't say whether Reece was confessing to murder or only felt responsible for the children's death because she fed them the meal ‘(Johnson 3). Reece felt bad for what happened. Obviously it can’t be determined what she meant but with all this together is does point towards her more than anyone else.
The jury of the town was all white and very judgemental to Richardson since he was black, also relates to Tom Robinson case.

There is little to no evidence that James killed his children. All the accusations towards him are filled with no proof and make little sense. A jail mate said he confessed to him while being in the jail cell. That is what sent Richardson to prison because they believe the jail mates word over actual proof since he’s white. ”He was tried in a climate of . . . an all- white jury in a small town with its own brand of justice.'' The jury was all white and showed prejudice towards James. They didn’t want to do a reasonable court hearing. It wasn’t till many years later this court case was since as bad because of how racist to jury was. No one at the time saw too much wrong with it. This also relates a lot to Tom Robinson’s in to kill a mockingbird. The jury was all also all white and blamed him for something just because a white person said he did it. A black person’s word couldn’t overrule a white persons at this time. Even though all the evidence was put aside as false he was still found guilty. They’re both very prejudice in many similar

ways.
When it comes to what is right and wrong it is seen this case has many flaws. Since there is no clear evidence Richardson killed his children, he should have never been put away for so many years. If there was some evidence pointing it towards him it would've been different, but he seems to have little connection with the murder. It is a clear example of the justices people did not receive . It’s not something that should happen because it is morally wrong. The prejudice of the town lead this case down the wrong path and caused this man to get unfairly thrown into jail.