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 …show more content…
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
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
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.
This case was very shocking and scary amongst the state of Washington, due to the fact that this case was the largest serial murder investigation since the early 1980’s in the Green River Killings committed by Gary Ridgeway. This case was very similar not only in the fact that both crimes were in the same state but their targets were prostitutes. He strangled the women unlike Yates who shot his victims. After strangling his victims he as well would dump the bodies. Ridgeway earned his name as the Green River Killer because when authorities found the first 5 victims located in the Green River. He is known to have murdered a minimum of 71 women, and was found convicted through DNA evidence, the same as Yates. Unlike Yates who is currently on death row and was sentenced to death, Ridgeway did not receive the death penalty due to confessing about missing women who authorities had not
In conclusion, the story of Randall Adams’ unjust imprisonment is presented as an intersection of several people’s lives. Instead of simplifying the case for the sake of clarity, Morris points out where many stories are invited - the imagination of the witnesses, TV crimes dramas, and scenes from the drive-in movie Adams and Harris attended. He complicates the legal storytelling and his film tells that it is not easy to build these aspects of an investigation into a very structure and style. Morris however successfully closes the film by gaining the audience’s distrust of the legal system and proving that Adams was innocent. With Morris’ effort on The Thin Blue Line, the truth is found; Adams was eventually released from the death row and the Texas legal system admitted its wrongly conviction.
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 this paper, I will discuss the key facts and critical issues presented in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.
“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
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...
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.
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