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The Role of Evidence in the Criminal Justice System
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Robert Baltovich was wrongly convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, in Scarborough, Canada. He was arrested on November 19, 1990, and charged for first-degree murder. On March 31, 1992, he was convicted of second-degree murder. Finally, on April 22, 2008, he was found not guilty of the murder. The Scenario It all started on June 19, 1990, when Elizabeth Bain suddenly disappeared after supposedly visiting the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus. Bain’s car was recovered soon after, with a large blood stain on the back seat identified as hers. Bain’s body was never found. During Baltovich’s first trial, the testimonies of two witnesses stated that it was Baltovich’s intention to kill his girlfriend “in a jealous rage.” One of the witnesses, Marianne Perz, recalled that the couple were seen …show more content…
Help Arrives During the winter of 1999, when all hope that his appeal would be heard became lost, Baltovich decided to contact James Lockyer, a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC), to take carriage of his appeal. The AIDWYC, led by James Lockyer, looked into Baltovich’s case and found numerous problems that were involved in the court proceedings. Two of the biggest problems that they encountered were the reliability of the testimonies from the witnesses, which led the jury to rely too much on information that had a high chance of being false, and the bias point of view of the judge, which led other jury members to follow along with the judge instead of making their own decisions. Many of these issues were brought to the attention of the Ontario Court of
...t his the evidence in front of a jury. Still believing in his innocence Jeff is filing for parole after fourteen years of eligibility. He is hoping to meet parole board criteria so he can be released on parole.
sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely
On Bloodsworth’s appeal he argued several points. First he argued that there was not sufficient evidence to tie Bloodsworth to the crime. The courts ruled that the ruling stand on the grounds that the witness evidence was enough for reasonable doubt that the c...
The evidence presented to myself and the other juror’s proves that Tyrone Washburn is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murder of his wife, Elena Washburn. On March 12, 1979 Elena Washburn was strangled in the living room of her family’s home. Her body was then dragged to the garage, leaving a trail of blood from the living room to the place it was found. Her husband, Tyrone Washburn, found her in the family’s garage on March 13, 1979 at 1:45 A.M. When officer Dale Chambers arrived at the scene he found her lying face down in a pool of blood. The solid evidence in this case proves only one person, Tyrone Washburn, is guilty of murder.
Between 2005 and 2007, Brendan Dassey was tried for the accessory in the murder of Teresa Halbach. I believe that Brendan Dassey should not have been tried for the murder of Teresa Halbach which are supported by several reasons.
R. v. Lavallee was a case held in 1990 that sent waves through the legal community. The defendant, Lyn Lavallee was in a relationship with her partner, Kevin Rust, in which he would abuse her both mentally and physically. On the night of the incident, Lyn and her husband got into a fight, her husband pulled out a gun and told her if she didn’t kill him now he’d be coming for her later. When leaving the room, Lyn shot Kevin in the back of the head killing him instantly. She was convicted of murder, but when brought before the Manitoba Court, she was acquitted of the charges. An appeal was made to the Manitoba court of Appeal on the grounds that expert testimony should not be admitted as evidence in the courts. They argued that the jury was perfectly
...“the Vancouver department had a bias against sex workers.” The majority opinion of the department was evident, the women were no more than misplaced prostitutes. Therefore, they did not require priority status. Rather than, acknowledging the possibility of a serial killer, the VPD and RCMP ignored tips that could have incriminated Robert Pickton. The tips collected consisted of, public complaints regarding a serial killer preying on addicts and prostitutes, individual police suspicion, and a 1999, eye witness statement of a butchered women on the Picton farm. Lastly the report addressed critical devices which could have been used to apprehend Pickton earlier. The two specifically mentioned were, Kim Rossomo, a geographic profiler who was ignored when he warned of a serial killer, and the investigators who were not provided with key information relevant to the case.
Her body had been bathed and thoroughly washed before being placed, it was also completely drained of blood [2]. Two detectives were assigned to the case: Harry Hanson and Finis Brown. When they and the police arrived at the crime scene, it was already swarming with people, gawkers and reporters. The entire situation was out of hand and crowded, everyone trampling all over in hopes of good evidence. One thing they did report finding was a nearby cement block with watery blood on it, tire tracks and a heel print on the ground.
...in the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Mrs. Yosselevska stated that her family members were killed by men in a mass murder ordered by Adolf Eichmann.
from the victim and the scene of the crime be tested and his appeals were denied ("A.B. Butler").
trial of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba.
...c killer. It is easier to be prejudiced against something than to take the effort to understand, so the jury accepted this simple depiction of Meursault, without attempting to understand his more complex nature. And the absurdity of it all is that by lying Meursault could be released, or get a lesser punishment. The court completely disregards the value of human life by giving a man the most severe form of punishment, even though he told the truth.
Michael Thomas Rafferty is a 28-year-old male who has been accused of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm, and kidnapping. This risk assessment report is for his pre-trial hearing, by request, in order to determine risk level and risk management. Methods of assessment included a Static-99R assessment and a Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol (RSVP) assessment on Mr. Rafferty. The sources of information reviewed were: Murderpedia, Huffington Post, City News, The Star, and Canoe. These were all online sources.
Legebokoff began his trial by pleading not guilty to the murders of the four women (Blatchford, 2014a). He claimed that the first three victims,
Throughout the trial, Chikatilo was placed in an iron cage, which was kept in the corner of the courtroom, for protection from the families of the victims. Many had no idea what had happened to their relatives until it was gruesomely described. Chikatilo, throughout the entire trial, interrupted by exposing himself, refusing to answer any questions asked by the court, or singing over those talking. He had to be removed from the courtroom multiple times. On the last day of the trial, one of the victim’s brothers would not handle the pain anymore and threw a large, heavy chunk of metal at Chikatilo. After this hit him in the chest, security attempted to arrest the man but the families of the survivors blocked them so he would not be prosecuted (Robinson, 2016) On October 15, Andrei Chikatilo was finally sentenced to 52 counts of murder. This was one less than the 53 he was tried for. Each count was given the death penalty. When given the chance at a final speech before the verdict, Chikatilo refused. The judge, Leonid Akhobzyanov, once the verdict was announced stated: “Taking into consideration the monstrous crimes he committed, this court has no alternative but to impose the only sentence that he deserves. I therefore sentence him to death” (Blanco, n.d.). Three months later, Andrei Chikatilo was executed by a single gunshot to the