According to the John Grisham of “Teresa Lewis didn’t pull the trigger. Why is she on death row” in The Washington Post, there are many mistakes to the murder case of Teresa’s husband and stepson, such as poor defense counsel and Virginia laws. Teresa Lewis was living happily in Danville with her second husband until she had an affair with a man named Matthew Shallenberger. He was thug who had his reputation spread all the way to New York. Lewis and Shallenberger planned to murder her husband for money with Shallenber’s partner named Fuller. Although they managed to murder her husband and stepson, all three were arrested and charged with murder. Without any evidence in 2002, the judge ends up executing Lewis for being the ringleader of the
murder under Virginia Law. However, judge’s decision was wrong because after two years of Lewis’s execution, a private investigator did an interview to found out that Shallenberger was the one who planned the murder and manipulated Lewis to get some money because she was easily duped into a scheme. Also, her defense counsel did not support wisely to persuade the judge because the lawyer did not appeal Lewis’s important evidence before the execution. From these many mistakes, people believes that Virginia Law should change to not executing the wrong person with lack of evidences.
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
In July of 2008, one of the biggest crime cases devastated the United States nation-wide. The death of Caylee Anthony, a two year old baby, became the most popular topic in a brief amount of time. Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, became the main suspect after the child supposedly was kidnapped and went missing. To this day, the Casey Anthony case shocks me because justice, in my opinion, wasn’t served. I feel as if the criminal conviction system became somewhat corrupted in this case. The entire nation, including the court system, knew that Casey Anthony was behind this criminal act, but yet she escaped all charges. I chose this case not only because it’s debatable, but also to help state the obvious, this case was handled the wrong way. Clearly the legal system was biased, which worked in Casey Anthony’s favor, freeing a murderer.
I do not believe it would have been just for the state to pardon Tucker’s crimes due to the moral injustice she was responsible for. In Jeffrey Reiman’s article “Against the Death Penalty” he analyzes the principle of lex talionis, which states that one who has harmed another should be penalized to the same or equivalent extent, or as the common phrase goes: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Reiman arrives at the conclusion that there is an equality between human beings by examining the implications of lex talionis, which implies one thinks of other’s pain to be as great as his or her own. Additionally, Reiman explores the Kantian belief that an individual permits the universal form of the objective which guides his action. For example, if an individual kills someone, then he or she authorizes the concept that he or she may be killed, and in doing so there is no injustice done. Thus, this belief also endorses the equality of individuals and helps grant credibility towards Reimans claim. By using Kant’s theory as a basis for his argument, Reiman asserts the concept of lex talionis “affirms both the equality and rationality of human beings and for that reason [lex talionis] is just” (Reiman). Therefore, I believe it would be unjust to grant Tucker a pardon for her crimes because doing so would lose the equality between human beings. Tucker deserved a grave punishment for the brutal murder of two people, but Tucker did not deserve to die.
The facts of the case are now more readily available thanks to the internet. When the story first broke in 1992 the internet was still in its infancy. Most of the media coverage at the time came from print and television coverage and most of that was not comprehensive at all. The initial jury award of almost 3 million dollars was sensational, grabbing headlines all over the world. Now with the advent of the internet in its modern form the facts are coming out about what actually happened. It turns out that Mrs. Liebeck was actually injured far more seriously than most realize and received far less money than was actua...
Andrea Yates was smart, I know for a fact that she knew what she was doing… but maybe at this time she just did not have any control over the actions that she was performing. Before the murder, Yates waited for her husband Russel to leave for work “because she knew he would have prevented her from harming the killing” (Murderpedia). Before the murder, Yates also locked up the family dog whom usually romes free to prevent “interfering with her killing the children one by one” (Murderpedia). After the murder occurred, she called the police to turn herself in. When Officer David Knapp arrived, she stood at the door and repeated, “I killed my kids” twice. She then led Knapps to the master bedroom where “the bodies of Luke, 3, Paul, 2, John, 5, and Mary, 6 months, were laid out on the bed like lumps” (CNN). Insanely did not have an impact on her actions. Being insane is when a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality; uncontrollable behavior – and that was not the case with her (Psychology Today). Yates knew exactly what she was doing at the time of doing so. Yates was well developed and well aware of her actions, but she knew that if she gave her children the opportunity to survive, than it would be hurt fault if they “burned in hell”… so in order to end things quickly she had to end their current lives to protect them from their future
Sister Helen’s first case, Patrick Sonnier, better influenced my opinion on capital punishment. Her strategies in dealing with a convicted killer were brave and courageous. She was always willing to meet with Patrick and to talk about anything he liked. She helped him to realize his mistake, but more importantly, helped him to become a better person. She was always reminding Pat that God had the power of forgiveness, and that if he were truly sorry, God would forgive him. Sister Helen’s best arguments were the details she spoke about prior to Sonnier’s death. When Sister Helen spoke about Pat’s legal defense, it made a big impact on me as a reader. She persuaded me to look at things from two angles, instead of just one. As a reader, I was upset with the comparison between Pat’s sentence and his brother’s sentence. How could two brothers who conspired in the murder together receive two different sentences: Pat receiving a death sentence, while Pat’s brother Eddie receiving a lesser charge in a ...
There are mixed opinions about this question, and many people have wondered about how Teresa Halbach was actually murdered. Steven Avery (Brendan Dassey’s uncle) and Brendan were convicted for Teresa Halbach’s murder in 2005, and both were sentenced to life in prison. In 2017, a federal judge in Wisconsin revoked the murder and sexual assault convictions of Brendan Dassey, and he was ordered a release from prison. Today, Brendan awaits the court’s decision on his freedom. I believe Brendan Dassey should remain in prison because he is responsible for Teresa Halbach’s murder.
Tasmiyah Whitehead, twenty year old of Rockdale County, Georgia who is not guilty has been , pleaded guilty to manslaughter for lying to the police about being within possession of a knife in commission of a crime. “Tasmiyah and her twin sister Jasmiyah Whitehead, were both 16 years old when the police said the teens got into a brutal brawl in the kitchen with their 34-year-old mother, Jarmecca Whitehead. The incident occurred before school on January 13, 2010. Their mother was beaten, bitten, and stabbed repeatedly. The police discovered that their mother’s jugular vein, lung, and neck was plunged with a knife from the back, which caused a fatal severing of the mother’s spinal cord. According to WSB-TV, the twins stayed with their grandmother due to violence and extreme strife characterized the environment they were living in (dailynews.com)”.
In the month of August, a married couple was murdered inside their own house and their own daughter, Lizzie Borden, was accused and trial as if she committed the murder. Lizzie Borden was found innocent even though many found her guilty due to evidence against her. Some might say that justice was done but was it truly done? During the trial, a famous poem about the case was made, “Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”. This poem was written about Lizzie Borden, who was accused of the murder of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892. Both her father and stepmother were violently murdered within their own home at the fall of an ax. Even though the poem did
Sander’s manslaughter plea carries a prison term up to 12 years. Prosecutor Blaine Gadow, his job is to protect the murder victim and prosecute the defendant, but after all the evidence presented and the plea for mercy from all the family members, to include the testimony of George Sanders himself, the prosecutor decided not to send sanders to prison instead recommending probation. The defense attorney did a wonderful job letting sanders tell his story in the stand. He stated, “I don’t know were our society is going to go with cases like this, judge” “At this point in time, what Mr. Sanders did was a crime.” However, “No one in this courtroom has forgotten the victim in this case” (Huffingtonpost, 2013) His story of a life with his best friend and wife of 62 years that ended in tragedy. Prosecutor Blaine Gadow being complimented for being “courageous” in recommending probation and allowing Sanders to walk out of the courtroom (Huffingtonpost, 2013). I do believe that his job was one of the hardest; giving the entirety of the circumstances in this case, his sentence can send mix signals to the community and criminals. Judge Ditworth, job was to make sure law is followed and the proper sentence was given to Mr. Sanders. Judge Ditsworth sentenced him to two years of unsupervised probation. His decision was based on “tempers justice with mercy” “It is very clear that he will never forget that his actions ended the life of his wife” Ditworth said
Don’t get me wrong, if a person proven guilty of murder, especially as heinous as this crime was, they deserve the death penalty but only if there was “no shadow of a doubt” hard pieces of evidence, more real proof, not circumstantial evidence, are connecting that person to the crime.
First, Lorena Bobbitt case was obvious to her defense team that she suffered from some sort of tragedy by the hands of her husband, John, and was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, was acquitted on all charges, and served no time for her crime. It was established that Mrs. Bobbitt, a 24 year-old immigrant from Venezuela was a shy, petite, and likeable by all. It was determined by a jury of her peers that she did not have self-control and was unaware of any wrong-doing for maliciously wounding her husband. If she was found guilty, she would have had to serve 20 years in prison.
During their trial, neither Hindley nor Brady showed remorse. Both were sentenced to life. They are still in prison at this time. The judge has stated that she will indeed spend the rest of her days in prison with no chance of ever being paroled, so why does she still argue against the judges decision ?
It was midnight when it all happened. Tom Peterson was sleeping in bed next to his wife after a tiring day at work, while his two little daughters slept in the next room. Suddenly he was violently awakened by the terrified screams of his wife only to get a glance of a huge man standing over him with a butcher's knife. Tom was stabbed thirteen times, one of his daughters was killed and his wife was severely injured. Now, the Peterson family has just exited the supreme court of justice in which the judge has condemned the murderer of their little girl to the death penalty, for as it turns out the Peterson family had not been the first victim of this murderer.