I stand waiting in trial for the act of killing a man. A stranger I had never known once in my life. But I killed him all the same and now I must take penitence for my action. The jury whispers words and keeps glancing at me while I wait for it all to begin. The prosecutor looks at me and begins his questioning waving a fan to cool from the sweltering summer heat. “Is it true that you never cried at your mother’s funeral?” It was. I hadn’t cried once at the funeral because I hadn’t felt sad. The funeral director had yelled at me asking why I had not cried. If I had loved Mother. Mentions of what kind of woman doesn’t cry at their Mother’s funeral. I just shrugged and drank coffee going through the motions of the service. I think they thought I was cold and reclusive. That something about me was more than inhuman for not crying. I could have cried but it hadn’t felt necessary. So I didn’t bother. “When did you start dating Marie Cardona?” I recount the date. It was after Mother’s funeral when I was in mourning. I suppose going to the movies and having a date was unconventional and by some means wrong… Yet, I couldn’t see why …show more content…
Sometimes flirt. Often flirt… I hadn’t thought much of him until he invited me over for food. He complained about his mistress, talked of how she was cheating on him. I knew that Raymond did unsavory business, but as a person he was okay. He talked of mad he was at her. Asked why woman were such cheats. I just shrugged and said I couldn’t say. He asked me for sex and I said no. I was worried for a bit that Raymond would be forceful but he seemed more interested in his rage. Then he asked if he had the right to beat his girl and I said yes. The courtroom took harsh note of that and I continued. When he beat his mistress, and asked me to testify for him I had said I would. It has nothing to do with thinking abuse is right. But, it was his money he was being cheated
Steve Bogira, a prizewinning writer, spent a year observing Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse. The author focuses on two main issues, the death penalty and innocent defendants who are getting convicted by the pressure of plea bargains, which will be the focus of this review. The book tells many different stories that are told by defendants, prosecutors, a judge, clerks, and jurors; all the people who are being affected and contributing to the miscarriage of justice in today’s courtrooms.
...History of the Date” she does an efficient job in asserting her claim and strengthens it in various ways. She has a great amount of authority because of her occupation and personal education what the subject matter. Evidence is shown throughout the article to verify the allegation she asserts. Bailey appeals to the audience’s values and needs by exhibited feelings of belongingness and self-esteem. By also using slanted language and slogans, she adds to the support of her argument. The argument in the article was very effective and gives the reader more knowledge about the way dating used to be. Many people do believe that dating was better in different times, but as Bailey presented it was not perfect in older times as well. Dating will always receive negative opinions, but it depends on how we feel about the idea and the knowledge we have about the topic itself.
could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you don’t cry in that case”
It is the 1940's, in a small Cajun community, there is a trial for the murder of a white liquor store attendant. The defense is Jefferson, a poorly educated black man. His appointed attorney is closing his argument in an attempt to spare his client the death penalty. His attorney states, "Gentlemen of the jury, be merciful. For God's sake, be merciful. He is innocent of all charges brought against him. But let us say he was not. Let us for a moment say he was not. What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this." (p. 8)
The funeral was supposed to be a family affair. She had not wanted to invite so many people, most of them strangers to her, to be there at the moment she said goodbye. Yet, she was not the only person who had a right to his last moments above the earth, it seemed. Everyone, from the family who knew nothing of the anguish he had suffered in his last years, to the colleagues who saw him every day but hadn’t actually seen him, to the long-lost friends and passing acquaintances who were surprised to find that he was married, let alone dead, wanted to have a last chance to gaze upon him in his open coffin and say goodbye.
In “The Death Penalty” (1985), David Bruck argues that the death penalty is injustice and that it is fury rather than justice that compels others to “demand that murderers be punished” by death. Bruck relies on varies cases of death row inmates to persuade the readers against capital punishment. His purpose is to persuade readers against the death penalty in order for them to realize that it is inhuman, irrational, and that “neither justice nor self-preservation demands that we kill men whom we have already imprisoned.” Bruck does not employ an array of devices but he does employ some such as juxtaposition, rhetorical questions, and appeals to strengthen his argument. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of supporters of capital punishment such as Mayor Koch.
“I still recall… going into the large, darkened parlor to see my brother and finding the casket, mirrors and pictures all draped in white, and my father seated by his side, pale and immovable. As he took no notice of me, after standing a long while, I climbed upon his knee, when he mechanically put his arm about me and with my head resting against his beating heart we both sat in silence, he thinking of the wreck of all his hopes in the loss of a dear son, and I wondered what could be said or done to fill the void in his breast. At length, he heaved a deep sign and said: “Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a
In the film, Jules did not want to be on epidural because she wanted to give birth as natural as possible. A guest speaker, Tabitha, gave the class an advice that, especially women, we should not be on epidural for more than 6 hours because that can affect your baby and you as well (personal communication, March 28, 2016). Mostly the guest speakers talked about how the doctors and nurses treat them during their stay at the hospital. From what they were saying, some nurses were more understandable than others and it also depends on the location of the hospital. In the movie, Wendy had to do C-section after many long hours of labor-inducing activities. The dangerous part is that she lost too much blood, but she was okay at the end. In my opinion,
Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the death penalty to be abolished.
“The day that I found out about my mother, I was at school,” he said, “I remember I was on the playground. Somebody came up and said ‘you’re laughing, huh?’ from behind the gate. ‘Your mother is dead.’ The man said.
Imagine a close friend, or someone you know has been brutally murdered and raped and the only suspect the police has is you but you know you’re innocent. The judge sentences you to life in prison plus death by lethal injection. Suddenly everything changes. You aren’t that person people came to know and love. You’re a cold blooded killer to society. Now, imagine sitting on death row for ten years and your time is finally up. You walk down the hall to meet your death face to face. Your future awaits you in a room where you’re held down with long leather straps to a hard metal table and a needle is being pushed into your arm, slowly killing you for a crime you did not commit. You sat in a cement room for 10 years. No one to talk to, no family, no friends. The only thing you have is hatred and anger building up in you for so long you forget what its like to love, to laugh, to feel any emotion at all and now you feel this poison flowing through your body, the only other feeling you’ve had for 10 years. You feel the injection shooting through your veins, setting your insides on fire more and more with every pulse of your still beating heart. Everything goes quiet, the room fades to black, your heart slows and f...
The books The Last Day of a Condemned Man and In Cold Blood, both narrators tell the tale of two criminals awaiting and serving out their punishment to a capital offence. While The Last Day of a Condemned Man is told in a first person view, In Cold Blood is told from a third person. Although from different views, each tells the trials and tribulations of approaching the death penalty. Whether the death penalty is a humane punishment or not is a very controversial subject. One of the major issues with the death penalty is how it is conducted. Death row is a very flawed system and has been for a long time and both of these literary works show the major problems concerning it.
The death row not only consists of murderers, but it could also include a large number of innocent people whose lives are at risk. In the past 35 years, over 130 people have been taken out of the death row because of new evidence proving their innocence. This shows that the death penalty process is very faulty and contains many errors when it comes to convicting a person of a crime. There was an average of three exonerations per year from 1973 to 1999 which soon rose to an average of five per year between 2000 and 2007 ( Cary, Mary Kate). The ...
A small, scrawny man comes to collect you. Your whole life rushes past you as you take your few, final footsteps to the execution. chamber. The sand is This is the thought 7,000 people have experienced in the last 18 months. Then there are the days.
Sentence was passed and in that moment my whole life completely changed. In the background, you could hear the people chant, “Justice has finally been served!” They don’t know me I thought. Everybody makes mistakes, right? But, where was my second chance in life. My luck, the death penalty became legal again and eagerly waiting for me to become its newest member. My palms grew sweaty as always when I grew nervous and scared. There was nothing I could do. These people wanted me to pay for what I put them through.