In Oklahoma, a man named Richard Gossip got sentenced to be put to death for a crime he said that he did not commit in 1997. In 1997, Gossip was convicted of demanding and ordering the brutal beating of Barry Van Treese. Barry Van Treese was a man who owned a motel where the inmate, Richard Gossip worked. According to “evidence”, Gossip hired another young coworker of the motel, Justin Steed, to brutally beat and kill Treese.
According to the jury and the Court, they didn’t have any actual evidence that Gossip had anything to do with it. They couldn’t even place him at the crime scene. Although Gossip didn’t have any proven evidence, that’s another story for Justin Steed though. According to the Crime Scene Investigators, Steed’s fingerprints and DNA were all over the crime scene; even in the car of the victim.
Policemen told Steed that he would not face a life sentence and a death sentence if he told the police what really happened. Steed was quick to respond that he was ordered to kill Van Treese by Gossip but yet, he admitted to the crime. Because of Steed committing to the crime about Gossip, he was just given a life sentence instead of a death sentence. When the cops came after Gossip because of Steed’s testimony, the jury persecuted Gossip. Even though they didn’t have actual
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evidence of Gossip, because of Steed’s testimony, Gossip was convicted and indicted of the brutal crime of Van Treese. The jury ended up overturning the verdict saying that Gossip’s lawyer, evidence didn’t prove anything of Gossip.
In 2004, a second trial was appealed. Before the judging and verdicts ended, the prosecutors offered Gossip a deal: if he were to plead guilty to second-degree murder, he would only receive a lifetime sentence and a possibility of parole after the first twenty years. Gossip was determined to make the jury, judge, and prosecutors believe that he was innocent so he refused the offer. In 2004, the second jury even found him guilty and sentenced him to death just the like first trial. According to the jury, they found him being inconsistent changing his story from
1997. Recently, Gossip was supposed to be sentenced to death Wednesday, September 16, 2015. His lawyer strongly believed that Gossip was innocent and determined to get him off the death penalty. Gossip didn’t want to suffer from the death penalty that they were planning to do which consisted of a lethal injection. Two documented accounts of which they performed the legal injection, the two inmates suffered several amounts of minutes before actually dying. This being said, the two inmates basically suffered in front of the jury, the prosecutors, and the people of the court. Moments before Gossip’s execution on Wednesday at 3 P.M., his lawyers filed new evidence saying that Steed’s inmate roommate, Michael Scott, overheard Steed numerous times say that he had set up Gossip and that Gossip was really innocent. Although the court and prosecutors tried to get Gossip to plead guilty and take a lifetime sentence, Gossip still had refused. The day before his execution, Tuesday, they gave Gossip one last chance to change his mind. Gossip was still determined that he was innocent and continued to remain that way. Together, Gossip was not negative about the situation at all. Although he didn’t want to suffer, he had told people in an interview that you shouldn’t be angry and negative about it and that they won’t ever take his innocence away. Gossip prays that his execution will be halted.
In this paper, I will discuss the key facts and critical issues presented in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.
On the night of November 28th 1976, 28-year-old Randall Adams was hitchhiking on a Dallas road when 16-year-old David Harris picked him up. Harris, a runaway from Texas had stolen the car along with his father’s shotgun. They spent the day together and that night went to a drive-in movie The Swinging Chandeliers. Later that same evening officer Robert Wood was shot and killed when he pulled a car matching the exact description as Harris’s over. Two witnesses-including Harris, named Adams as the murderer. Adams received a death penalty sentence that in 1979 that later was reduced to life in prison. It was early in the 1980’s when director Errol Morris happened upon Adams’s court transcripts whilst shooting a different documentary about a Dallas psychiatrist who was frequently consulted in death row cases. Convinced of Adams innocence and the false accusations made against him Morris began making a film on the subject.
The suspect had a chip tooth and Antonio had A gap that was really the only reason he got convicted. There three other suspects didn’t even get close to how Antonio Beaver had allot of similarity’s like the victim that did that crime. The best way to know if the suspect did the crime is doing allot of deep research instead of just going off a shecht artist.
The psychological abuse that the four suspects were exposed to made them make a wrong confession. In addition, being in an environment where the interrogation room is tight and dark increased the suspect’s anxiety. Moreover, the Frontline documentary stated that the suspects were held in custody for long hours with Robert Ford who used threatening language in order to make them confess. Not only that the suspects made a false confession, but they also told Ford different stories on how they murdered the victim. The coercive interrogatories, led Joe Dick to accept the label Ford put on him and the others. Although Ford was supposed to act just, he acted upon his self interest. Thus, he denied all facts because of fear of embarrassment of being wrong. However, after serving many years in prison, the four suspects were released to face stigmatization and labeling from the society. Indeed, this case proved that there is a malfunction in the justice system and that there’s a need for an immediate
On January 13th, 1999, a high school girl from Baltimore, Maryland, Hae Min Lee disappeared after school. Hae was found just a few miles away in Leakin Park, a few weeks later, where it was determined that the cause of death was manual strangulation. Not long after, Hae’s ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed was arrested and tried for her murder and is now spending life in prison. After hearing Sarah Koneig’s Podcast, Serial where she went back to re-investigate the trial it became clear that the jury does not have enough evidence to convict Adnan Syed for the murder of Hae Min Lee for many reasons including, the lack of evidence, lack of motive, and the reliance of memory is not enough to convict Adnan Syed.
It was Labor Day weekend, 1997, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and Holly Dunn's world seemed full of possibilities. She was a popular sorority sister, and the 20-year-old had a new boyfriend, a theater major named Chris Maier. That August night, the couple took a midnight stroll to the railroad tracks and kissed under the stars. Suddenly a man appeared; he was holding what looked like an ice pick. Terrified, Chris offered him money. "No, I don't want that," the man said as he tied up the couple. A moment later he picked up a rock and smashed it against Chris's skull, killing him; he then raped Holly and bludgeoned her with a wooden board, breaking her jaw and eye socket. "I was screaming in my head," Holly recalls. "Then I was unconscious—I don't know how long. I just remember appearing in someone's front yard."
In his article, “The Nightmare of the West Memphis Three”, Rich explores how the people of Memphis drew horrific conclusions about people based on the lifestyle they chose to practice. The article highlights the trials and tribulations faced by the accused three young teenagers. Rich does this by citing the popular documentary series “Paradise Lost” which is an in depth analysis into the lives of the accused, the victims’ families and members of the community. This paper outlines how the belief system of that time superseded the inconclusive evidence, which ultimately led to an unfair trial. By “othering” and “marginalizing” those three teens, the society and police created a scenario that aligned with their belief system at the time. Lastly, this paper highlights the influence of the media and celebrity in changing the course for these boys.
On September 13, 1986, Jonathan Wayne Nobles broke into a home in Austin, Texas and stabbed to death Mitzi Nalley and Kelly Farquhar, who were both in their early twenties. Ron Ross, while attempting to intervene, was also stabbed by Nobles nineteen times but survived losing only an eye. Nobles was sentenced to death for murder and was executed after twelve years on death row. While in prison Nobles became a pin pal of Steve Earle, a popular country music singer, and author of this essay. Earle struggled with drug addiction in the past and had spent some time in prison himself. Earle is familiar with life behind bars and is well aware of the changes people can go through while locked up. In the essay “A Death in Texas” Steve Earle writes about
...lation that surrounded the case ended with the torturous deaths of most of the alleged conspirators. Some where burned at the stake and others were hanged. Still more were broken on the wheel. The deaths of several men and a family were carried out largely on the basis of one 16-year-old servant's ever changing word.
In 1989 Westley Allan Dodd was hanged to death for sexually assaulting and heinously murdering three defenseless children; all boys aged 11, 10, and 4. The details and events from his shocking diaries portray horrific accounts of the murders he committed and those he planned to enact had he not been finally brought to justice by one of his potential victims.
In 2015, Joe Smith was falsely convicted of robbery and battery. In the city of Hickory, North Carolina. Joe was perceived as a robber and a thief he was known for robbing a local grocery store. The case happen on May,2015 at Wal-Mart Express. One slow afternoon ‘Peter’ the cashier was working he had approximately two customers in the building. The customers’ names were Brian and Unknown. Suddenly the ‘Unknown’ customer appeared with a guy pointing at the employee demanding for money. The cashier was stun with shock and disbelief, the nervous employee gave the unknown the cash from the register. The Unknown took the money and ran.. Approximately fifteen minutes later the local Hickory Police arrived. Asking Peter questions about the tragedy.
...ing him, and the expectation was that there would be a well-publicized trial rather than a brief in which Ray admitted his guilt and was sentenced.” (Clark 240)
In 1999, a home invasion occurs where two burglars break in and kill Clyde Shelton’s wife and daughter. A terrifying incident that happened simply by Shelton opening the door without checking for who was entering. He and his wife were tied down while being stabbed, and their daughter was taken away (we assume she is killed as well). Shelton seeks justice from prosecutor Nick Rice, but Rice is unable to find any evidence against the two robbers. Rice is a high ranked prosecutor with a high conviction rate. He wishes to keep his stats high by making a deal with one of the robbers, Clarence Darby, to a lesser charge if he testifies against his partner in crime, Rupert Ames. Shelton gains knowledge of this deal for Rice’s career and feels as if he is cheated by the law system and plots for revenge. Ten years later, one of the robbers, Ames, is being executed for another crime and is put to death by a toxic injection. Normally this type of execution is meant to be painless, but in this case the injections were tampered with and Ames experiences a traumatizing death. When the investigators try to find who would have done this, they first turn to Darby. Darby is about to be arrested by the police when Shelton calls him with a disguised voice leading him to an abandoned warehouse. Shelton, revealing himself paralyses Darby and kills him in his warehouse in the most vicious manner by dismembering him while recording it. When the investigators find Darby’s body they turn to Shelton. Shelton willingly gives himself over into custody, and tries to make a deal with Rice. He says that if Rice gives him what he wants, he will give him a real confession. All the while, investigators discover that Shelton owns a property near the prison with an u...
“It’s difficult to believe a human being would inflict so much pain and… so much brutality towards another human being,” said Detective Daniel Villars. In the documentary, “The Confession Tapes: 8th and H”, emphasizes on how a false confession tape ruined the lives of five innocent teenagers. Catherine Fuller was the victim of the brutal assault and murder that occurred at the alley of 8th and h street. The documentary argues that the suspects of the murder were teenage boys that were classified as “wolfpack” by the media. Some of them were questioned without their parent’s knowledge, and were all questioned for hours and hours without any break. There were found guilty for the crimes and sentenced 35 years to-life for a murder they didn't
This case is on Gary Ridgway who went on a twenty year killing spree. “The man whom cops would call the Green River Killer was to murder at least 49 women. Some investigators think he killed as many as 90, which, if true, would make him the biggest serial murderer in U.S. history. At his peak in '83, he was murdering as many as five women a month” (Mcarthy, 2002). This case happened throughout the eighties but he wasn’t caught until 2001 because of new technology with DNA testing which connected him to them in which he then admitted to the rest of the murders. This man was charged with forty-eight murders in which turned into forty-eight consecutive life sentences without the chance of parole. He agreed to show them where all the bodies were