More and more people are becoming interested in the field of forensic science. Some are interested in entering the field as a career, others need the information for professions such as law enforcement, and the rest are simply curious about the methodologies due to the increasingly popular television shows. This blog will be used on a regular basis by students as an interactive tool throughout the semester. Let's keep it fun, interesting and respectful. -Mr. Doucette
Monday, August 25, 2008
Chap 2.) WHEN EVIDENCE LEADS TO EXONERATION
We've been discussing many different types of evidence this chapter. One type of evidence that we have discussed is testimonial evidence. We have seen in case studies, such as the case of Ronald Cotton, that testimonial evidence is sometimes later proven to be false.
Exonerations are often possible due to biological evidence. On CSI-type shows, this is usually in the form of body fluids found at a crime scene. DNA testing on these shows seems to be a weekly occurrence when in fact most criminal cases out in the "real world" have no biological evidence available. Only a fraction of criminal cases include DNA testing.
Since the mid 1970's when the U.S. Supreme Court legitimized the death sentence (again), over 100 inmates have been exonerated by DNA evidence. So, DNA evidence is not only used to place criminals at a crime but also to prove the innocence of the wrongly accused. According to these figures, approximately 1 in every 7 people on death row in the U.S. have been exonerated throughout the last quarter century! Makes you wonder how many innocent people were executed before DNA testing was available. Furthermore, one must wonder about all the cases in which DNA is not available. Probative evidence would have to be overwhelmingly in their favor to prove them innocent in the absence of DNA testing.
Still today, some exonerations occur only several years after an innocent person has been behind bars or worse...after they have been wrongfully executed. Politicians agree that although not perfect, the U.S. still has the best criminal and judicial system in the world.
Please post your reflections/feelings on this topic while answering the following questions:
1. Share one case of mistaken identity and explain how the wrongly accused was exonerated.
2. Admittedly, human error is inevitable since humans are involved in all aspects of sentencing a criminal. Knowing this, should the U.S. Supreme Court ban the death sentence?
3. How are the wrongly accused currently compensated for their emotional distress, defamation, and lost time spent in jail? Do you have an idea to improve this process?
1) Ray Krone was sentenced to the death penalty based on little information. A waitress was stabbed at a Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona. Krone had been seen hanging out there, lived close by, had type O blood (matching the blood found at the seen), and because an ondontologist said his teeth matched the bite mark on the breast, he was sent to jail. He was going to go through the death penalty. By the time he was tried again in court, DNA testing was available and they tested for saliva on the shirt that the victim was wearing. They found saliva of Kenneth Phillips who was already in jail in Florida and Ray Krone was free.
ReplyDelete2) The death penality should be banned because this man was going to die. If it was not for the fact of DNA testing he would be dead today. He was an innocent person that the government was going to kill.
3)They recieve moneyn for their time spent in jail, where they should not have been there. This is the best way I see fit for them to compensate these innocent people.
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ReplyDelete1.)Nicholas Morris was accused of killing 2 year old David Pacheco. David was in his mom's minivan when he got shot by a gang crossfire. Nicholas was fingerprinted but denied that he was ever there. He was put in jail and then his lawyer made the case for mistaken identity. The murder who killed the baby had tattoos on his arm and Morris doesn't have tattoos. After being in jail for 2 years they found the real killer and Morris was released.
ReplyDelete2.)The death penalty should be banned because some people are accused of a crime they didn't commit and they get sentanced to the death penalty but they never committed the crime.
3.)I think they should get money.
1.)Michael Lee Ainsworth of temple terrace has been confused with a man named Michael Ray Ainsworth. Clearwater Police had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for Michael Ray Ainsworth for carrying an open container in 1992. Even though they don't look alike and have different middle names, Michael Lee says when airport security workers or local cops check his i.d. or license plat, they think hes the Michael Ainsworth with the outstanding warrant. The sheriff department even gaveh im a letter with his id and a note saying he isnt the man with the warrant which hasnt stopped the local police.Ainsworth contacted a Matthew Schwartz and asked for his help, who then found out that there was a Michael Ray that has been the one he has been getting confused with. For 6 years he has been arrested, stopped, and thrown in jail all because a guy has the same name and birthdate as him.
ReplyDelete2.) I dont feel the death penalty should be banned although there is human error and some people die who are innocent there are the ones that do the horried crimes and should be sentenced to death for the death they brought upon others.
3.) It seems they are recieving money for the time they have spent in jail during the mixup, which seems to be the only way that can help them. Not saying money is the best way but its hard to give a person years back to their life.
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ReplyDelete1)Upon traveling back to their Christan Institution known as Taylor University, Whitney Cerak and 8 others had been struck head on by a tractor trailer who had fallen asleep at the wheel. Five died, taylor was supposedly one of them. With whitney supposedly dead, her name became her friend's name Laura Van Ryn. and Laura Van Ryn was buried as Whitney Cerak. After five weeks of being hospitalized, whitney realized she wasn't laura, and was reunited with her family who had been devasted with the false news they had recieved.
ReplyDelete2)The U.S. should not ban the death penalty because there are some sick people in this word and if you are a serial killer you do not deserve to live. I can understand if the case is not an obvious one then the death penalty should be thrown out but in cases where it's obvious then it should be implied.
3)The wrongly accused are sometime's given money to compensate the time lost in jail, but it doesn't give back those years they lost. I think money is a good way to look at it, along with a lifetime freedom from work. haha
1) James Curts Giles spent 10 years of his life behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. A man went to prison for the rape and told officials of two others who were also involved with the rape, James Giles and Michael Brown. The police arrested James Curtis Giles in a town about 25 miles away from the crime scene. They ignored the fact that he did not even look like the description that was given and they also ignored the fact that in the same town that the rape occured there was a man by the name of James Earl Giles who was actually the one involved with the rape. So because of the carelessness of officials James Curtis Giles spent 10 of his life in jail but, with the help of DNA testing Giles could be cleared of his conviction over a decade after his release from prison.
ReplyDelete2)In cases where people will be arrested and accept the fact that they are going to die and admit to their crimes I would understand if they needed to be put to death by the severity of their crimes, but if a person goes to jail sentenced to death and they swear with all that they have they are not responsible for the crime then maybe just maybe they are telling the truth and if they would be sentenced to death for a crime they didnt commit that would be wrong.
3)One of the best ways to compensate a person fasly accused would be to give them money. Most people sue anyway so they are alread going to get money out of it why not spare the process and give them the money sooner.
1) Dean Cage, who spent nearly 14 years in Illinois prison for a rape he didn't commit. Cage was locked up after someone saw a police sketch of a rapist and led police to Cage. The 15 year old victim also identified Cage as the man who raped her. With lack of any physical evidence tying him to the crime, Cage was convicted and sentenced to 40 years behind bars. After nearly 14 years they cleared the innocent man of rape charges thanks to DNA testing.
ReplyDelete2)The death penality should be banned because many innocent men have been killed for nothing.
3)They should give money for their time in jail. Thats what they did for Dean Cage. They gave him 150,000 dollars for 14 years.
1)Willie Earl Green was a free man thursday after serving nearly 25 years in prison for the execution-style murder of a Los Angeles women. Green insisted that he never committed the crime. The judge set him free after ruling that the star witness, Willie Finley, lied to a jury during key portions of hes orignal testimony. Finley recanted his story. Green had been serving 33 years to life for the murder, burglary and robbery of Denise Walker, 25, at a Los Angeles crack house in 1983. Los Angelos police detectives found no evidence connecting Green to the crime scene. Walker's case has never been solved.
ReplyDelete2) The death penalty should be banned because Green could have died for no reason. If Green had other offenses he could be dead today.
3)They should be given money, so they can start their life again. Even though money will not bring back the time they lost in jail, but it helps them when they get out.
Testing for sign in
ReplyDelete1.) INNOCENT VICTIMS CONVICTED OF FELONIES A defect in a computer with the ominous name “Livescan” manufactured by Dept. of Homeland Security contractor Identix, poses the potential for an epidemic of false convictions that has already put innocent people in jail. Charles Carreon, the attorney for two men suing biometric scanning manufacturer Identix in San Jose, California says that both of his clients were “literally slandered by a machine, a computer that spit out perfect forgeries of real criminal histories, and convinced police that my clients were convicted felons
ReplyDelete2.)no because some people are clearly the criminal in some of these cases and deserve the death penalty.
3.)Some states or counties give reperations to the people that were put in jail by accident. There is really no was to improve this besides give them more money or just not put them in jail.
1)One of these cases invloves a man names Eddie Joe Lloyd who was falsy accused for the murder and rape of a 16 year old girl named Michelle Jackson. After 8 years of not finding the girls kill this man called in with a serious of amount of information that was never released to anyone, prior to this murder he was involuntarily sent to a mental institution due to a disput at a welfare office. the jury convicted him of the crime because of all the facts that he knew , after spending 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit he was released due to the dna evidence from the scence that did not match his dna.
ReplyDelete2) I think that they should ban the death sentence for many different reasons because it is not morally right seeing as how we are punishing them for killing we are killing that person, and also because not in every case do we make the right conviction so it is not totally shocking if we were to kill an innoncent person using the death penalty.
3)Well, the wrongly accused should be scrutinized, but what can you do to give someone back their life that was wasted in prision, the best way to help a person like this out is to financially help them out along with whatever they need even if its physically or emotionally
1.)On April 26 two students named Whitney and Laura were riding with a group from their university when an 18 wheeler slammed into their van killing 5 of the people. Whitney's family was told she was dead, and Laura's family was told that she was alive but she was in a coma. For weeks Laura's family stayed by her side and helped her though her process of coming out of the coma, while Whitney's family went through a funeral with 1400 people. Laura's family kept saying that the things she was saying werent making much sense. Then one day the doctor came in and broke the news that this wasnt their daughter and that their actual daughter was dead, but Whitney was reunited with her real family.
ReplyDelete2.)Not everyone is perfect and people are going to make mistakes, but the death penalty should be banned anyways because it shows the people that since the murderer killed someone, we are going to kill them. That is not a great message to send.
3.)Most of the time the innocent are given money, but they have still all of those years that they wasted, and not because they wanted to.
1. Daniel Anthony Miller was accused of stealing someone's landscaping lawnmower. someone had called in the missing mower and gave the police the wrong race. daniel was not the suspect and the charges were dropped. the real felon was Daniel PAUL Miller and was white and though Daniel ANTHONY was black.
ReplyDelete2)yes the death penalty should be banned unless you desrve it because if you kill someone than yeah you should be put in jail for life.
3)all they should do is triple check thier DNA and fingerprints and make sure that they are the right person to be accused
1.) Scott Peterson was accused of the abduction and murder of his pregnent wife. Scott's defense called a witness to suggest that his pregnent wife's abduction and murder may have been the result of mistaken identity, a crime carried out by an attacker looking to attack a woman, who looked just like Laci.
ReplyDelete2.) The Death penalty should be stopped. noone is this case was sentenced to the death penalty.
3.) the wrongly accused hasn't gotten off with anything yet. they still think that he had something to do with a murder, but that of his wife Laci and unborn child.
1. James Lee Woodard was put in prison for 27 years. The state now agrees that Woodard was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of killing a girl he had been dating. The man that really killed the women he was dating was still out there.
ReplyDelete2.They should ban the death sentences, because you could sentence someone to death, then find out after that it wasnt really them, because scientists have to do testing, but sometimes there are mistakes, so i think that they should ban the death sentence.
3.After 27 years behind bars, he was let go, Woodard says he wants to have a family, but no girl would want to be with him because of this mistake. As the year went by he never gave up writing letters and writs to naybody who might prove his innocence.
1) Willie Earl Green became a free man after serving nearly 25 years in prison for the murder of a Los Angeles woman, which he insists he never committed. A Los Angeles judge set the 56-year-old free after ruling that the prosecution's star witness, Willie Finley, lied to a jury during key portions of his original testimony. Green had been serving 33 years to life for the murder, burglary and robbery of Denise "Dee Dee" Walker, 25, in 1983. Green told police he was in the San Fernando Valley at the time of the murder. But he also had no one to corroborate his alibi. Los Angeles police detectives found no evidence connecting Green to the crime scene, according to court documents. Finley had failed to reveal that he suffered from hemophilia and that his vision had been impaired after the two beatings on the day of the killing. Finley was also under the influence of cocaine during the crime and his testimony.
ReplyDelete2) I do not believe that the death sentence should be banned because there are some criminals in this world that are completely heartless and will never change. These people live to kill and will do anything possible to continue their addiction. These people deserve a death sentence. What I do think should happen to the death sentence is limitations. Only the worst of the worst criminals should be executed. For example, criminals who have repeatedly committed severe crimes, criminals who are proud that they committed these crimes, and criminals who admit to these crimes because getting rid of them is much safer for the rest of the country. Also, these criminals must be 110% identified as the criminal of that crime, otherwise innocent people could be executed.
3) Currently, wrongfully accused victims are given money when they are exonerated and released from prison. Different states give different amounts. I believe this is the best possible way to repay victims of their lost time in jail. I believe that they should receive money based on how long and how harsh their time in prison was. Other than that, there is not much else that can be done. They have their life back, and that alone is enough for some people.
1.) James Curtis Giles, who was 53 yearls old, spent 10 years of his life behind bars for a gang rape he long claimed he didn't commit. Vanessa Potkin and the Dallas County District Attorney's office told the court they had obtained evidence proving Giles played no part in the 1982 gange rape of a Texan women. DNA testing proved that it was a case of mistaken identity. They later found that they had mistaken James Curtis Giles with James Earl Giles, who was the real criminal and lived in the same neighborhood.
ReplyDelete2.) I believe that the U.S. Surpreme Court should ban the death sentence because many people die because of it for crimes in which they did not commit.
3.) People who are wrongly accused of a murder are given money for the time they spent behind bars. Although I believe that there is nothing to make up for years spent in prison, I think that money is probably the best thing people can be offered.
1) James Curtis Giles spent 10 years in jail for a gang rape that he long said he did not commit. Giles, now 53 is the 13th Dallas County man to be exonerated since 2001 with the help of DNA evidence. The police were misinformed and didn't investigate further, overlooking a man who lived across the stress from James Curtis Giles who had been accused of other crimes previously, James Earl Giles. Texas leads the nation with 27 DNA exonerations, one more than Illinois, according to Innocence Project figures. There have been 198 exonerations nationwide.
ReplyDelete2) With this information as an example case of mistaken identity the death penalty should be banned. It is a criminally insane act because, according to statistics, over 75% of the cases of DNA exonerations have involved mistaken eyewitness identification.
This was an innocent person of many that are killed because of criminal acts they did not commit.
3) They are currently compensated for their lost time in jail, emotional stress and defamation with money. This is not the best way to compensate them, but what can you do when you have taken 3 to 5 to 10 years away from an innocent person. These people don't easily assimilate back into their everyday life and society. To improve this compensation, I think they should be given counseling and opportunities to get back into school, a job, money to give them security and direction to move forward and not live in the past.
1. Ray Krone was convicted of murder,kidnapping,and sexual assualt. His first trial he was convicted primarially on a bite mark on the victims body. He made his appeals and in Krone's second trial DNA evidence was able to clear his name. The DNA evidence did implicate a Kenneth Phillips had really commited it all but, it is still not clear. He had spent 10 1/2 years in jail and is finally free.
ReplyDelete2. I think it doesn't matter wether they ban it or not. It takes forever for criminals on death row to be put to death most just die in the jail.
3. The wrongly accused recieve money. I would at least have programs to show them what has happened in the world to give them a background so its not so overwhelming.
1. In Dallas County DA, Steven Charles Phillips served time for a 1982 rape that he confessed to, but did not commit, in hopes it would shorten his sentence. DNA evidence found the real perpetrator is Sidney Alvin Goodyear who died 10 years ago in prison.
ReplyDelete2. The death penality should stay in effect because the people that do a turely bad crime should be put to death, and now a days with DNA test as good as they are, people are not get wroungly accused anymore.
3. They receive money for their time spent in jail, where they should not have been there. This is the best way I see fit for them to compensate these innocent people, or maybe a get out of jail card for any future crimes.
#1) Michael Lee Ainsworth was mistaken for Michael Ray Ainsworth. Both don't look alike and have a different middle name but police still mistaken them. When police and airport people checked Michael Lee's ID, they thought it was Michael Ray, who has an outstanding warrant. The police department of his town gave Michael Lee a letter with his ID saying he wasn't the man with the warrant, but that didn't stop the airport people. Michael Lee was thrown in jail, and arrested for 6 years because some man had the same name and birth date as him.
ReplyDelete#2) The United States should ban the death penalty because too many innocent people died for no reason at all.. if somebody did something super wrong, like murder, they should just be put to jail for life. You're punishing someone for killing someone by killing them, not good.
#3) They should give money to the people who went to jail for no reason. Even though they can't have the lost years back, they can at least have a new beginning.
1. Anne Laura was raped and murdered. A man named Robert Lee Miller Jr. was charged and sentenced to death. 10 years later after DNA testing it was found that Gilchrist a forensic scientist had put the wrong man behind bars. This doesn't just happen once, many other people have been wrongly accused of crimes they did not commit.
ReplyDelete2. The U.S Supreme court should ban the death penatly. This would help stop putting people to death when come to find out they might have actually been innocent. And also sentenced to life in prison is more of a punishment then being killed.
3. People who are let out of jail when they have been proven innocent are given money. Money is a good thing but that does not help the stress and emotion caused by what has happened. But i guess it is the best way to try and make up for what has been lost.
Ryan Matthews was sentenced to death on little information. in Bridge City, Louisiana, a grocery store owner was working in his back office when a masked man came in and held him at gun point and demanded money. when the worker refused, the masked man shot him and fled in a waiting car. the evidence against Ryan was never strong. witnesses said that the suspect was about 5' 6'' but ryan was close to 6'. a witness picked ryan out of a police line up and was postitve of her choice. DNA testing on the ski mask that was found ruled out ryan and the case against him was dropped.
ReplyDeletei dont think the death penalty should be banned because life in prison isnt as bad as dying. if people knew they weren't going to dye if they did something horrible than worse things would happen.
they are given money for their time.
1.) Ronald Cotton was put in jail with a life sentence for a rape he did not commit. He was exonerated through DNA but not after 10 and half years of prison.
ReplyDelete2.) I think the death penalty should stay reinstated because there are some criminals in this world that just need to die. Charles Manson; John Allen Muhammad, the DC Beltway sniper; Richard Crafts, the woodchipper killer; etc. I'm not talking killing a serial robber or something like that, I mean serial killers, people that have killed many times, and everyone knows they will do it again if they get out. I say kill them, save the taxpayers some money
3.) Exonerated convicts receive monetary compensation for their years spent in jail, but that is not enough. Can money buy back almost 11 years of someones life, all their lost oppertunities, they get out after 11 years and everything they had before is gone, the new world is strange and different, in ten years they could spend about 1/8 of their families lives. Monetary compensation is a start, but its just not enough
1. A Georgia man named Robert Clark was proven innocent by DNA testing after spending 24 years in Georgia jails for the violent 1982 Cobb County rape. He contacted the Georgia Innocence Project and they helped him claim his innocence and won in 2005. he just resently got a $1.2 million check from the state of Georgia for his wrongful conviction.
ReplyDelete2. The Supreme Court should not ban the death sentence because there are some people that deserve to be sentenced to death for what they did. People are being proven innocent as quickly as the tests can go.
3. With all of the cases i have read, it seems to me that they get a large amount of money for spending such a long time in jail because the court thought that everything pointed to that person when all that time they were innocent.
1)In a book that i had read, a young boy was accused of killing his girlfriend. He was put into prison until his trial and until he could be proven innocent. Even though he didn't intentionally do it, it was considered first degree murder without any saying. He had to spend over a year in prison, missing his graduation just to go to court and be proven innocent.
ReplyDelete2)The death penalty should be banned because some people that are convicted of murder and do not actually do it lose their life because of an accusation. It is not fair and i find it to be very inhumane. Just because someone killed another person, it will not be solved by killing that person. Two wrongs do not make a right.
3)People in prison, who aren't yet proved innocent or guilty, should have some rights and be able to continue with work or school but just under some supervision. That would be a fair way, so if they are dangerous the people watching them can easily be in reach and successfully stop any bad behavior.
1.) In a show I previously watched, a young basketball college basketball player went home to his unsafe neighborhood. When he left his house to go see one of his friends a few houses down from him, when he was only a few houses down four gun shots went off. This young mans family didn't think anything of it considering how unsafe this neighborhood was. The person who shot at him went up to him and noticed it was the wrong person, and ran off, because he was scared, and didn't know what to do. The family then went out to see what happened when they noticed it was there very own family member. The mother was torn to pieces. The young boy lived yet he now is unable to walk, and has no way to move his fingers. The doctors told the family that he was quadriplegic, and that there was a very little chance he may be able to walk again.
ReplyDelete2.)Yes they should. Because there are so many people out there that believe it is always good to give people a second chance in life. Instead of killing somebody because of there wrong doing don't give them a punishment that they can't learn from. I mean people say "learn from your mistakes." So how can these people learn from there own mistakes if they don't get the chance to.
3.)People who sit in a jail cell day in and day out not yet proven innocent nor guilty should be able to do somethings instead of nothing. Weather they did the crime or not they should have to do some sort of community service till they are proven innocent, or guilty. I mean if people do community Service maybe they can make a difference in others.
1) A famous mistaken identity case in the UK was the case of Adolph Beck. He was accused of stealing valuables from numerous women. He would introduce himself as "Lord Willoughby". After having a pleasant conversation with the woman, he would establish trust and eventually ask the women to borrow their jewelry so he could replace them. He would then leave with the valuables and never return. Police created a line up of suspects and the victims pick out the only gray haired man with a mustache. Adolph Beck was sentenced to seven years in prison. While in jail the suspect struck again. John Smith was the real criminal.
ReplyDelete2)I think that to the death penalty should be banned because this man could have been sentenced the death penalty even though he had done nothing wrong. I think that DNA testing should have been done. I think that if there is a death penalty, there should be definite proof that the suspect committed the crime.
3) They are compensated with money for the time lost. I think that this is the only thing that they can really do. They cannot turn back time. I think that they should not be wrongly accused in the first place.
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ReplyDelete1) In June of 1993, Kirk Bloodsworth’s case became the first capital conviction in the United States to be overturned as a result of DNA testing. On July 25, 1984, a nine-year-old girl was found dead in a wooded area. She had been beaten with a rock, sexually assaulted, and strangled. An honorably discharged former Marine and Maryland resident, Bloodsworth was convicted of sexual assault, rape, and first-degree premeditated murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death on March 8, 1985. The ruling was appealed a year later on the grounds that evidence was withheld at trial, and Bloodsworth received a new trial. He was found guilty again and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
ReplyDeleteAfter years of fighting for a DNA test, evidence from the crime scene was sent to a lab for testing. Final reports from state and federal labs concluded that Bloodsworth’s DNA did not match any of the evidence received for testing. On June 28, 1993, a Baltimore County circuit judge ordered Bloodsworth released from prison due to the results of his DNA test, and in December 1993, Maryland’s governor pardoned Bloodsworth.
By the time of his release, Bloodsworth served almost nine years in prison, including two on death row for a crime he did not commit.
2) My stand point is it doesn't really matter. If anything death row may be a privilege for a criminal because some of these people have 3 life terms... This is more inhuman then a death sentence. If anything the system should make these criminals work and do community service. Guilty or not its better then rotting in a cell or having thousands of volts run through you.
3) Some states pay the accused for each year they spent in jail. Some just give free healthcare, counseling, and tuition. At that point thats the best they can do. These people most likely wanna get their lives back on track and spend what time they lost with friends or family. Maybe even just by them selves.
Question 1: James Curtis Giles, 53, spent 10 years of his life behind bars for a gang rape he long claimed he didn’t commit. Over a decade after his release from prison, a prosecutor recognized that Giles arrest was a case of mistaken identity, and a judge urges that he be cleared of his conviction.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I believe that they should not ban the death sentence, as long as they do not execute the people it is perfectly fine for them to stay in jail until they die.
Question 3: There is no way that they can recover fully from the damage that has been done to them while in jail. But they do receive some money for the time they spent in jail.
!. In 1997 three British men, Michael Hickey,Vincent Hickey and Jimmy Robinson, were released after 18 years in jail for the murder of a 13-year old boy. Another man, Patrick Molloy, was convicted with them but died in jail of a brain hemorrhage. The conviction was based on two confessions made by Molloy and Vincent Hickey. However Molloy only made his confession after reading the one written by Hickey, which was later revealed to be forged by the police. After several appeal attempts the men were released from jail.
ReplyDelete2.The death penalty shouldn't be banned, while there are some mistakes most convictions are upheld in appeals courts and prosecutors rarely attempt to convict, much less execute, with being sure of guilt.
3.The accused are given money to compensate for the time spent in jail, some places add further benefits like housing or medical insurance.
1.) Ronald cotton was put into jail for the 1984 rape of Jennifer Thompson. Thompson identified Cotton in a line up and was positive he was her attacker. After serving 10 ½ years for his sentence DNA testing proved that another man attacked Jennifer Thompson. Cotton was released after these DNA testing results had been confirmed. Cotton was awarded $110,000 compensation.
ReplyDelete2.) I do not believe that the U.S. Supreme Court should not ban the death sentence. There are many people out there that are convicted of a terrible crime and plead guilty to what they have done. There also should be good amounts of DNA evidence that supports the killing. We need to have hard sufficient facts before we put anyone in line for death row.
3.) Giving the inmates money back for there lost time in jail is helpful, but its not enough. Its terrible that there is no way to make up for lost time, and there is no way to get it back.
Another case demonstrating mistaken identity is the case of Ronald Cotton. In 1984 Jennifer Thompson was raped. During the attack she studied the attacker's face, determined to identify him if she survived the attack. When presented with a photo lineup, she identified Cotton as her attacker. Twice she testified against him, even after seeing Bobby Poole, the man who boasted to fellow inmates that he had committed the crimes Cotton was convicted of. After Cotton's serving 10.5 years of his sentence, DNA testing conclusively proved that Poole was indeed the rapist. Thompson has since become a critic of the reliability of eyewitness testimony. She was remorseful after learning that Ronald was an innocent who was sent to prison. Upon release, Cotton was awarded $110,000 compensation from the state of North Carolina. Cotton and Thompson have reconciled to become close friends, and tour in support of eyewitness testimony reform.
ReplyDelete2. The death penalty should not be banned because it is still the best way to give a criminal what he/she deserves. If that person kills, the only fair punishment that they deserve is to not have life anymore. Death Penalty is the most effective way because it could be used as a crime deterrent, and it also scares some criminals into not even doing the crime.
3. They deserve money and a lifetime pass to any spa they want to relieve their stress that they endured. and free cream puffs, because they are delicious.
1.Ronald Cotton was wrongly accused of breaking into some apartments and attacking some women. All the evidence seemed to point to him, and the victims reconized him as their attacker, but it turned out it was Bobby Poole who did the crimes. Cotton spent eleven years in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
ReplyDelete2.The death penalty should be banned because people can make mistakes, and innocent people can be put to death. If Cotton had been sentenced to death he might of been dead before he was proven innocent.
3.The wrongly accused get money from the government for their time in jail, but that's not enough. They should also get help from the government to get a job again or something like that.
Ray Krone was committed of a crime which he did not commit. He supposedly stabbed at waitress in Arizona because he was seen around the diner, lived near by, and had matching blood type found at the scene. His second trial was when DNA testing was taken and found that it did not match the scene of the crime and matched someone else, Kenneth Phillips who was already in jail. There for Ray was sent free.
ReplyDelete2) I don't think the death penalty should be banned because i believe it's an equal punishment for the crime they have committed. However I believe that in order to be put on death row, they have to be absolutely sure that the person who committed the crime is the one on death row, so that no one gets punished for a crime they did not commit.
3) I don't think that anything that a mistaken criminal recieves for their time spent in jail really replaces the time lost and the relationships the case destroyed. But if they recieve some money to start over and have a fresh start, i think will be a good gesture.
1. Juan Roberto Melendez was convicted of robbery and first degree murder and was incarcerated for nearly 20 years, how he was exonerated was his pants, shirt and one hundred dollars. He had no compensation for the wrong inaccusation, he also didnt receive no job training or no mental health care.
ReplyDelete2.Yes, I think the US should bann the death sentence because innoccent people are dieing for nothing while the real perpatraters are running around and still killing. Another reason why they should keep the death sentence is if the person is guilty then it's better for them to stay in jail for life then die. I think they're getting it easy by dying, if they stay in prison for life then they have the full punishment of murdering people.
3.Most of the wrongly accused get money, but the majority just get a pat on the back saying "sorry for imprisioning you and taking your life away, good luck." It is so unfair no matter how much money, or benefits the person gets it will never make up for all those years they spent behind bars, thinking they were going to die for something they never did. I just the next best thing to turning back time, that we can't accomplish yet is every state in the US should offer them money, indurance, therapy and job training to help them start their life over.
James Woodward was sentenced to the death penalty based on his DNA found on his girlfriend. He served 27 years in prison accused to raping and murdering hi girlfriend. They freed him after 27 years because something had come up in the case, to make them suspect another victim.
ReplyDelete#2.The dealth penalty should be banned because people get executed for being innocent. Even if that person actually did kill someone and its proven with strong evidence, we shouldn't kill them either. We're trying to say killing is wrong but we go and kill them for killing someone else. Two wrongs don't make a right.
#3.
To make up for all the time they had to spend in prison, we should give them money. I realize money doesn't buy their life back but at least it would help them financially and get them back on the right foot.
In 1968, Joe Salvatti was convicted of being an accessory in the murder of Edward Deegan. The whole affair was an organized crime by the mob, which Joe was not a part of. He was sentenced to life in prison. Since the day he was thrown in prison, he tried to appeal to the court and be set free because he was innocent. None of his efforts worked, until 29 years later when the FBI found documents by the mob stating that innocent men had been framed for Deegan's murder. Salvatti was exonerated, after he had already spent 29 years in prison. He missed over 30 years of his life; weddings, births, communions, etc.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing this case, I wonder how many people have been put to death who were innocent. However, I think that in present time we have the technology to correctly accuse victims of crime. 50 years ago, the technology wasn't as advanced as it is now, but if i was actually living and answering this question during that time, i would feel we were as advanced as we could be. The death penalty should stay into effect regardless of human error.
There is no way to ever give back to the people what they lost. As of now, the person can go to civil court and be compensated in the form of money. An improvement to this process could be to allow more interaction between the accused and their families while they are in jail, regardless of their innocence or not. That is the only way the victims can experience what they are missing while they are in prison.
1) In Dallas, Texas James Curtis Giles was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated rape. It was said that Giles along with two other men repeatedly raped a women who was five months pregnant. Then female identified Bryant as one of the three men that had raped her and a month later Giles was added to the line up and the female identified him as one of the other two rapists. But, there was a problem with Giles being arrested; he was ten years older than the female had described him and he had two gold teeth that the female had failed to mentioned before. Twenty-four years later a request was made to have the conviction of Giles overturned. Giles was proved innocent, due to DNA testing and the man who actually committed the crime was James Earl Giles (also known as Quack Giles) and he lived directly across the street from the victim. James Curtis Giles was exonerated and his record of ten years in prison and fourteen years on the sex offender list was cleared and he could also get up to $500,000 for being wrongfully committed.
ReplyDelete2)I believe that the U.S. Supreme Court should ban the death penalty because many people that are innocent die and I do not believe that innocent people should be getting killed.
3)They are receiving money and a clean record for that conviction and for the time they spent in jail. It is hard to give someone back the years they lost in prison so I agree that money and a clean record for that conviction should be given.
1.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/100706ManFreed.html
In this case, a man named Scott Fappiano was accused of rape back in 1985. He was innocent, but it was almost impossible to prove because New York City's evidence preservation system lost some important items. He was convicted based pretty much only on eyewitness because of the evidence mistake, which isn't the best way to solve a case. Because of this mistake, Fappiano was put through 21 years in prison for a crime he never committed.
2.I don't think that the death sentence should be banned all together, but I do believe that it should be used under tight restrictions. If it is really necessary, they should make sure they know what they are doing and that who they are sentencing is actually guilty. I know that there may be mistakes, but I also believe that for some cases, death is a necessary evil.
3.I many cases, wrongly convicted individuals are given money. While I am sure that this "gift" is appreciated, I really don't think you can put a price on freedom, and there really isn't a way to get the years in jail back. Its very unfortunate, but I really don't think there is a just way to make up for all that lost time.
1) Frank Lee Smith was accused of rape and murder of an eight year old girl on April 15th 1985. Through neighbor's and the victim's mother's description, a composite sketch was put together and Smith was arrested. In 1998, when the State Supreme Court ordered a trail judge evidentiary hearing based on Smith's claim of new evidence, neighbor Chituita Lowe changed her story after seeing a picture of another suspect. The defense then requested DNA testing. On January 30th, 2000, Frank Lee Smith died of cancer before he was exonerated. After his death, DNA testing was done, which proved that he was innocent. The results also identified the criminal as Eddie Lee Mosley.
ReplyDelete2) The death penalty should be banned because innocent people are suffering and dying for a crime they did not commit.
3) The wrongly accused are getting money. I think they should get money, but they should also get some sort of counseling if they need it.
1) Johnny Briscoe was accused of breaking into a women's apartment, threatening her with a knife, stealing her jewelry and then raping her. The man stayed behind and smoked a cigarette, which would later have DNA testing and free Briscoe, told the women he was Johnny Briscoe. After the man left he called the women from a payphone by Briscoe's apartment and told her again that he was Johnny Briscoe. In a line up Briscoe was the only one wearing an orange jumpsuit, the women pointed to him. A Jury took less than two hours to convict and sentence him to forty-five years. Johnny Briscoe served 23 years for a crime he did not commit.
ReplyDelete2) I do not think that anybody should have the right to take somebody's life. If the charge against the criminal is wrong an innocent man has just been killed. If the person is just put in jail for a long time they still have a chance to prove their innocence.
3) Only twenty- three states have compensation for the wrongly accused. The compensation varies from state to state but the person usually gets money. Some states offer job training and help with college. I think every state should give some sort of compensation.
1. In 1974 Joseph Green Brown was convicted of first-degree murder because of testimonial evidence given to the court by Ronald Floyd. After about 13 years Floyd retracted his statements 13 hours away from when Brown was to be executed.
ReplyDelete2. I do not think that they should ban the death penalty. They should increase the number of years that convicts are held on death row. Also for more thoroughness the convict should be allowed one last court hearing to allow more evidence of testimonies to ensure accurate punishment.
3. In 31 states there are no compensation laws and people who are exonerated are left jobless, penniless, and many without a home. In the other states with compensation laws you do not fare much better. Many states have a cap on the amount around 20,000. They do not provide you with insurance or job training or other life skills that many inmates have not required over the many years they have spent locked up. I think in order to create a better compensation program all states should have a minimum of $50,000, along with job training, life skills programs, and provide these people with health insurance. Although they would be providing these services there would be a time limit in which the exonerated would have to reap the benefits.
In the case of the dallas murders in 1997 there where two men convicted of robery, murder and sexual assult. So they got summend 30 years in prison. Then just recently there was a man that admitted to the murder and he had a friend with him. So these two mes lifes are ruinec for something they diddnt do.
ReplyDelete2. Yes i think that the death penelty should not be allowed because those people could be inocent. And then they have to suffer death.
A guy in Milwaukee spent most of his life in prison for rape. He was released form prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for rape that DNA evidence proved he did not do the rape. He was exonerated through DNA. Even though there was 16 alibi witnesses he was still charged. He spent 10 and half years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.
ReplyDelete1.) In 1985 Timothy Brian Cole was wrongly accused of raping a fellow student. He was convicted by a jury of rape, primarily based on the testimony of the victim, Michele Mallin. In 1995 a man by the name of Jerry Wayne Johnson confessed to the 1985 rape of Michele Mallin. Unfortunately for Cole his exoneration came too late. He died on December 2, 1999 in prison from an asthma attack. It took the state of Texas 10 years to clear Cole from the rape charges through DNA evidence.
ReplyDelete2.) Knowing that there are still killers and rapist out there raoming the streets terrorizing people I think that the U.S. Supreme Court should not ban the death penalty. With all the knowledge we have about mistaken identity and people being wrongly convicted of a crime makes the jobs of the law system more aware that they have to do their jobs with more care and attention. If these people would have done their jobs right the first time these people who died innocent wouldn't have died at all. All that I'm saying is make sure that you are 100% sure that that person did the crime before you rush things and put an innocent life in danger.
3.)The people who are wrongly accused of a crime sometimes get money in return for their years spent during the mixup. Although this money will help them restart their lives it doesn't help take back the years that they lost oweing time for someone else's crime.
1.) Dean Cage a middle aged Illinois family man was wrongly convicted of rape and served several years in prison. The victim told police initially that she didn't get a good look at the man who raped her but after a loose police sketch the department was lead to Mr. Cage with no motive and place him under arrest. He was later found to be innocent of the crime based on DNA testing.
ReplyDelete2.) I don't believe the death penalty should be banned, in fact, i believe it should be used more. I just think it should be only used on a criminal that is 100% guilty of a heinous crime. It should not be used on a inmate that did not commit a serious crime like it is today in American jails.
3.)The government pays them compensation for their time spent in jail, when it is actually only time that they want. Until the government comes out with a technological breakthrough to pay people in time, i guess money will have to do.
AS AUTHORED BY TAYLOR PELLETIER:
ReplyDelete1. In 2001, John Mark Karr was arrested for the possession of child pornography in California. In 2006, authorities began to suspect Karr was connected to the JonBenet murder and kidnapping in 1996. They had discovered comments in emails that Karr had sent to a documentary filmmaker that seemed very suspicious especially because of his previous arrest. That same year in Thailand, Karr was arrested. He attracted much media attention when he began talking about JonBenet Ramsey's murder in 1996. Karr said that he was with her when she died and that the death was 'accidental'. He was flown back to California and arrested in 2006 for having a connection with the JonBebet case. Later that same year, a District Attorney announced that the DNA taken from Karr didn't match DNA found at the scene of JonBenet's death.
2. Yes, the United States should ban the death sentence. They've made too many mistakes and have wrongly accused enough people to support a strong case against it.
3. The wrongly accused are normally compensated by giving them money, but in some cases, people get out with nothing. There's not really much anyone can do about the process except for making sure the wrongly accused does in fact always get some time of compensation when they get out of jail. There's nothing anyone can do to give the person back time, but law can try hard to make sure the death penalty is put to an end.
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ReplyDelete1. In 2001, John Mark Karr was arrested for the possession of child pornography in California. In 2006, authorities began to suspect Karr was connected to the JonBenet murder and kidnapping in 1996. They had discovered comments in emails that Karr had sent to a documentary filmmaker that seemed very suspicious especially because of his previous arrest. That same year in Thailand, Karr was arrested. He attracted much media attention when he began talking about JonBenet Ramsey's murder in 1996. Karr said that he was with her when she died and that the death was 'accidental'. He was flown back to California and arrested in 2006 for having a connection with the JonBebet case. Later that same year, a District Attorney announced that the DNA taken from Karr didn't match DNA found at the scene of JonBenet's death.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, the United States should ban the death sentence. They've made too many mistakes and have wrongly accused enough people to support a strong case against it.
3. The wrongly accused are normally compensated by giving them money, but in some cases, people get out with nothing. There's not really much anyone can do about the process except for making sure the wrongly accused does in fact always get some time of compensation when they get out of jail. There's nothing anyone can do to give the person back time, but law can try hard to make sure the death penalty is put to an end.
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ReplyDelete1.A 53 year old man named James Curtis Giles spent ten years in jail for a gang rape he didn't commit. The police ignored the fact that another man with a similar name lived in the same neighborhood as the victim of the rape case. Instead of looking into that man, they arrested James Curtis Giles and put him in jail. The one thing that got him out of jail was a DNA testing and the rape victim admitting that she was having trouble remembering the attacker.
ReplyDelete2.Yes, because no matter where we look or work with the government for the death penalty, there will always be error. Humans are everywhere and constantly, subconsciously or consciously, they make errors in their favor.
3.The innocents wrongly accused basically all they get is money and this is a grand idea for the fact that they could not make the money while and jail and now the family (or just that person) will have compensation.But sometimes they leave jail with nothing at all. The wrongly accused should get their money and the government should help them get back on their feet, so to speak, suggest places for grand jobs. That and they should just terminate the death penalty all together; thus they would have no problems with it {death penalty}.
1) In August 1984 Ronald Cotton was arrested for breaking in to someones house and attacking them. He was convicted because of testimonial evidence. There was rubber from a tennis shoe that was like Ronald's and a flashlight that resembled one found in his house. He was sent to prison in 1987 and was given a life sentence plus 5 years. 11 years later he got two new lawyers who filed for DNA testing. They found DNA that was not Ronald's. He was exonerated.
ReplyDelete2) I don't feel that the death penalty should be banned but it should only be used in extreme cases like for a serial killer.
3)They are given money for the time they spent in jail. But sometimes they don't. Money should be given to everyone who was wrongly accused and prisoned.
1.) A famous case of mistaken identity is that of Adolph Beck. He served 7 years in prison as a swindler. He was released after he completed his sentence, then arrested again on the same charges before the actual swindler who looked similar to Beck was arrested.
ReplyDelete2.) Personally, i think we should keep the death sentence. With our DNA testing so far advanced in this age of technology i really don't think we would make a mistake. Also i think the death penalty would stop other killers or give them a warning that if they kill, they to will be killed.
3.) When someone who is wrongly accused has spent time in jail, they are usually compensated. I think that jails, since they made such a big messup in someones life, should provide more- like a car, or a small home. It is the jails fault that this person doesn't have any of this, since they were in jail for a crime they did not commit. money doesn;t make up for losing part of their life.
1.) Behind bars, that’s how a relaxing week with her husband and 9 month old baby ended for 31-year old Paola Londono. The family was just about to get off of a carnival cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale when Paola was arrested.
ReplyDelete"She's innocent. It's very embarrassing," said a relative of Paola Londono. The problem is deputies had the wrong woman. "I'm pretty sad actually," said Londono's husband.
There was an outstanding warrant for another woman also named Paola Londono for a failure to appear in court. She's 24-years-old and had been arrested by Kissimmee police for prostitution and possession of heroin back in the spring.
Sheriffs Office and jail officials they had the wrong person. But they didn’t listen, so she had to sit in jail for more than 30 hours.
2.) yeah we should have the death penalty because it keeps crime rates low and in the long run its cheaper to kill someone then life in prison.
3.) They should get money.
1) Daniel Dough Jr. was picked up by the FBI and was accused of holding up a bank. The teller Eileen Thomas identified him as the robber. A week later the police of Norfolk got a call from a James Anderson who confessed to the crime of holding up the same bank. James Anderson and Daniel Dough were then brought in front of Eileen Thomas for her to identify the culprit. Both men were about the same height, weight, both had the same hair color cut the same way, the same eye color and the same chubby cheeks. Both men were asked to wear the same clothes that they were wearing on the day of the robbery. Eileen then identified Anderson as the culprit and Dough was freed.
ReplyDelete2)The United States Supreme Court should ban the death penalty because the wrongfully accused could be put to death for something they didn't do.
3)Money is being given for their time spent in jail. I don't think their is anyway to improve this process because you can't possibly get that wasted time back so what could you possibly give them?
1. After more than three decades in prison, a Florida man was set free Thursday after a DNA test showed he did not kidnap and rape a 9-year-old boy in 1974.
ReplyDelete2. The death sentence does not need to be banned just altered. Regulations need to be set for criteria that the evidence of the case must fit before a death sentence may be ordered. If there are multiple eye witnesses and DNA evidence could be one such example of a criteria that could allow the death sentence to be used.
3. People who have been exonerated are sometimes payed in order to make up for the mental and physical stress they faced. Many states however don't pay them. I think forcing all states to pay the exonerated and not setting caps to the amount of money that can be repaid would be a start to improving this system.
1. The case that was wrongly accused was Cotton, who it really was Pool. Cotton was sentenced to jail time, when he was innocent, and had to serve for a guy who did the actual murder.
ReplyDelete2.The U.S. Supreme Court should ban the death sentence because if someone was wrongly accused and they were sentenced to death sentence, than they find out after the person is dead that it wasn't them. Than the supreme court would feel super bad for killing someone who wasn't an actual victim.
3. They can't really pay them back for making innocent people serve jail time for something they didn't do. It's like taking a person, putting them to death sentence, and figuring out it wasn't them. How can you repay a family for killing one of their family members? You can't, it's almost impossible, they can't make up time missed out. My input on this would be that there is nothing for them to do. They could repay them back with money, or some sort of other solution.
1. Ronald Cotton was arrested for crimes that Bobby Poole did. In July 1984, an assailant broke into two apartments on separate occasions. He cut phone wires, attacked the women living there, searched through their belongings, and stole money. Then, in August 1984 Ronald Cotton was arrested for these crimes. Based on evidence of a photo identification made by one of the victims, testimony from a lineup from the other victim, rubber from a tennis shoe that was found to be consistent with Cotton's, and a flashlight in Cotton's home that resembled one used by the assailant, Cotton was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life plus 54 years.Cotton claimed he was innocent. He got lawyers that requested a DNA test. The DNA did not match with Cotton, but did match with an inmate Bobby Poole from North Carolina who had confessed to having committed the crimes to fellow inmates. Cotton was released in 1995after spending 11 years in prison.
ReplyDelete2. The US Supreme Court should ban the death penalty. Just because someone committed a crime, does not mean they should be killed. If Cotton had been given the death penalty, and they found out years later that it was not him who committed the crime, that would not have been good or professional what so ever.
3. The wrongly accused get compensated with money. Some places fix the amount they give with the amount of income they've lost over the years they were in prison. Other places offer money, and other benefits such as free health care, counseling, and tuition. I don't think they could every pay back the wrongly accused. But the way they are already doing it is probably the best way.
1. Kevin Keith did not kill three people, including a 7-year-old girl, and wound three others in a 1994 shooting in Bucyrus. The group, which has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to consider Keith's claim of innocence, generally steers clear of death-penalty cases because inmates already have attorneys making their case. In this one, Keith's public defenders say there is another suspect and that a police detective lied about a witness' statement.
ReplyDelete2. I don't think that the death penalty should be banned because we as tax payers pay for the jails, even though the inmate are rotting in there to die. If we have the death penalty, we can just get rid of those people rather than pay for them to sit and isolate themselves in a jail sell. Plus, there are a lot of advance testing now so it's very rare for them to catch the wrong person.
3. The wrongly accused should be given some sort of money to almost reward them for staying in jail for so long, for no reason. It will help them start on a new leaf and get back started again with their life.
The Ronald Cotton case accused Cotton of attacking women, breaking into two apartments, cutting telephone wires, and stealing money. An eye witness gave the police a sketch, and Cotton was arrested. Cotton still claimed he was innocent and asked for a DNA test which showed no match to him. However the DNA matched an inmate, proving and setting Cotton free. 2. I think the death penalty should be banned because even though there are few cases that are wrong there is still a chance that the person getting sent to death is truthfully innocent. Then there parents are the ones who have to deal with all the pain and sorrow. 3. The wrongly accused are sometimes given money considering they've been in jail instead of living their normal lives and going to work, which seems reasonable. However there is really no way to make up for all the lost time with their family and friends.
ReplyDelete1.)The Roland cotton case.Because he had a man that looked like him so they convicted the ronge man.
ReplyDelete2.)They should have no death penalty because if a person is rongeley accused then they will have to die for do reason.
3.) We just need to know that this is the right person, Because if you accuse the rong person they will be in jail for a long time and they will miss a lot of their family's lives.
1) a cleb was acused of drugs and mulesting kids but it was wrong there is no evidence and still doing court by the judge and that cleb was almost died by dehydration.
ReplyDelete2)I think death Penality should be banned because there is high jail securtiy on jails and that person is life sentence in jail.
3) I think this is a good example of how people are accused of this and very small evidence and that accuser just wanted the money and keep on doing it and that kid was older know tells the truth and that cleb is dead I think there should be justice to that.
1) mistaken identity in the United Kingdom is the case of Adolph Beck, who served several years in prison as a swindler, was released upon completion of his sentence, and then arrested again on the same charges before the actual swindler of similar appearance was apprehended.
ReplyDelete2) the death penalty should not be banned because if you kill you get killed and it is less expensive than throwing someone in jail for life and in our society today we need as much money as possible, even if it costs some lives.
3) They would get ALOT of money from the government
In 1989, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker accused her father, George Franklin, of murdering her childhood friend Susan Nason twenty years earlier. She based her accusations on a recently recovered repressed memory. Franklin was tried and convicted of first degree murder by a jury in California state court. Later her story became suspicious and his verdict was overturned.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the death penalty should be nationally band because a lot of states allow capital punishment and to all of a sudden take it away would upset those states that have it while it would make other states really happy causing a big controversy. Personally I think that every state should have the death penalty. It is the job of the officers, detectives, and scientists to get the right guy the first time and to ban the death penalty for fear of wrongfully accusing someone is not fair. Families with loved ones want to see their loved ones murderer pay.
In some cases the wrongfully accused are given money to make up for time lost but does money actually take back the stress and fear of sleeping in a jail cell every night, the constant nag of officers who think your scum, and the pain you feel from missing your family. The answer to that is no it doesn't. There is nothing that anyone can do to fix that,except to turn back time which is impossible to do.
1. Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted in 1984 for the rape and murder of a young girl. He was released in 1993 after trace samples of his DNA were tested against some found at the scene of the crime.
ReplyDelete2. The U.S. Supreme Court should ban the death penalty because people make mistakes. Innocent people have died, and there is a chance that more could. They should ban it because it will prevent innocent people's death.
3. Often people who have been wrongly accused are given money. This is not a way to give back their life, but it is a way to give them a new start.
1) Willie Earl Green after serving 25 years in prison for the execution-style murder of a Los Angeles woman, was released because the witness was found to of lied to the jury. Green always said that he had not done it, and that it was a mistake.
ReplyDelete2)I think that they should only put people on death row if they are absolutely sure that they did it and that all the facts are right. People like Charles Mansion deserve to die.
3)Most places don't provide compensation, they just say sorry. These people who were wrongly accused are going back to nothing, and the government will not help them.These people should get money and maybe even help to start back up.
1.)A grandfather from Darling Downs in South Queensland was wrongly accused of rape and incest when he had been mistaken for another very similar looking man. The old man had to give a DNA test to prove that he had been wrongly accused. The whole ordeal to a process of 18 months to get the situation straight.
ReplyDelete2.) The U.S. should ban the death penalty because it is an inhumane way of punishing a person for what they have done. To kill a person on death row cost more than to have them in prison for a life sentence.
3.)They currently receive money for their time spent in jail. It may not be the best way to compensate for their misfortunes but there is not much else that can be done to help them get back what they have lost.
1.) Kirk Bloodsworth was wrongly accused of sexual assault, rape, and first degree murder. He was the first person in the U.S to be exonerated on death row from DNA fingerprinting.
ReplyDelete2.) I believe that the death penalty should be banned. There is no need to kill people, because there is the chance of mistakes, because yes, people do make errors. It doesn't matter how guilty a person may be, and what crime they committed, they do not deserve to be killed. Two wrongs will never make a right.
3.)In some of the cases where innocent people were convicted, they receive money although money will never give them back their lives or their families. There is no way to ever fully make it up to these people.
Great cases folks. Keep them coming. Interesting ideas and comments about the death penalty. Thank you for sharing your feelings and insightful responses.
ReplyDelete1)A man sentenced to death as a teenager was freed Monday by DNA evidence, and said he had been certain from the beginning that he would be vindicated. For more than seven years, Ryan Matthews has said he had nothing to do with the 1997 robbery and murder of a grocer. He said he knew that someday he would be freed.
ReplyDelete2)I think the there should be no death penalty in America. It is not fair that a human should be killed for a crime when they had nothing to do with the crime.
3) I think they should be given money for being in jail all that time.
1. OJ Simpson was exonerated by DNA evidence after being falsely accused of murdering his ex-wife and her husband.
ReplyDelete2. Yeah, killing "criminals" and then realizing a few years down the road that they were actually innocent is enough reason to ban the death penalty.
3. I'm really not sure how they are compensated. I don't think there is any way to improve on the fact that these people lose part of their lives.
Ronald Gene Taylor was falsely accused of rape in 1993 and has served 12 of a 60 year sentence. He was proven innocent through DNA evidence and was exonerated. Even though people are wrongly accused I do not feel we should ban the death penalty. Many of the people who do commit the crime deserve the punishment and people who are on death row should have their cases closely reviewed before the sentence. People who are exonerated receive money for the time they spent in jail but that money will not buy back their wasted time in jail. Although they receive money I do not feel they are being compensated enough for their wasted time but there doesn't seem to be a better way to compensate for the false accusation.
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ReplyDelete1.) Rubin Carter, a heavyweight boxer, was wrongly accused and arrested for a triple murder in New Jersey. The basis for the arrest was that a car similar to Carter's was seen leaving the scene. He was also discriminated against because it was the '60s and he was black.
ReplyDelete2.) I don't think the death sentence should be banned because honestly, there are some people who should be killed for what they've done. I don't mean single murders, but people who've raped and killed like twenty little girls. People who have killed a lot of people in gruesome ways and are bound to kill again. It would also save the government money because it would be cheaper to kill them than it would be to have them in prison for life. Prisons also would not have to be added on to to accommodate all the life-long inmates.
3.) People who were wrongly accused are paid for their time in jail. I think that the government should compensate them for all the money they could have made while they were in jail.
1. Edward Hodsdon was convicted of sexual assault in Maine in 1946 and spent six years in prison before another man confessed to the crime after being arrested for another crime.
ReplyDelete2. The U.S. Supreme Court should ban the death penalty. The theory that the death penalty deters crime and scares people from doing wrong is statistically inaccurate because the states without the death penalty have lower violent crime rates per capita on average. Some argue in favor of the death penalty on the basis that it would be better to kill felons then for the tax payers to have to continue to pay for their living expenses but even if we pretended that wasn't a completely disgusting theory morally it would still be wrong because to be sure we're not executing innocent people the United States utilizes an extensive appeals process for death row inmates that lasts so long that inmates often die of natural causes. We're not executing felons immediately following a conviction obviously, so we will have to pay for them anyways. Also it's important to point out that lethal injection is not as humane as it's supporter will have you believe. Medicalnewstoday.com claims in an article published April 17th, 2005 that death row inmates executed by lethal injection experienced “unnecessary suffering because they were not proper sedated.” Eliminating the death penalty would not be problematic because while 37 states have the death penalty in place we really don't execute all that often. In 2008 for example there were only 37 executions in 2008 and nearly half of them were in Texas according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. With all that being said, it's clear to me that if there's even a remote chance of executing an innocent person then the death penalty is simple not worth the hassle.
3. The way the wrongly convicted are compensated varies from state to state. As of 2007 there were 28 states with no compensation laws in place for exonerated convicts. States also value on the size of the reparations package. For example in California exonerated convicts get $36,500 for every year in jail while in Wisconsin they only get $5,000 a year. Some states have given out settlements in the millions. Personally I would prefer to look at things on a case to case basis to look at the nuance between the cases because the circumstances probably vary but to make sure that everyone gets a decent amount and no one gets slighted because of court room politics I suppose that the pay by year system is probably the best.
Steven Torres was convicted of capital murder for arranging the May 2006 killing, a case of mistaken identity that took the life of an innocent man instead of a hated drug rival. Houston Police had long been puzzled by the killing — as Perez's death seemed so random — until a gangster facing charges of smuggling Houston-bought guns to Mexican drug traffickers agreed to wear a hidden recorder to spy on his former partners in crime.
ReplyDeleteAll were working for former Houston parks department employee Jaime Zamora, who has pleaded guilty in federal court to running a drug cartel cell here that moved millions of dollars of cocaine into Houston from Monterrey, Mexico.
1.)some one died out of a mistanken identity
2.) they should ban the death sentence and just put them in jail with out chance of getting out, that way if it is a mistaken identity, that person is not dead, just only in jail.
3.) sometimes you cant fix the way the court disides and the jails
#1 The Adolph Beck case in the UK was of man arrested having been thought to be a swindler got released then arrested again before the actual swindler of similar appearance was found. He was awarded 2,000 pounds for false imprisonment and after raised to 5,000 pounds for public clamour.
ReplyDelete#2 The death sentence should in fact be banned because it is cheaper and harsher for someone to spend life in prison also if the person is in fact wrongly convicted then he/she will be able to be released and not be dead before being found innocent.
ReplyDelete#3 Money Compensation, Financial Support for Necessities, help with finding house, provisions for medical care and more. I think that this is basically the best we can do with compensating for being wrongly accused and spending time in jail/prison.
1. Athony Graves was on death row in Texas after being charged with murdering an entire family. Graves was framed by the killer who pretended to be 'innocent'. Since the killer was the only 'witness', Graves was convicted.
ReplyDelete2. Death penalty should be banned because innocent people are executed all the time for crimes they did not commit, which is wrong.
3. Those spent in jail should get 1 million dollars for each year they spent there. Ex: 10 years = 10 million dollars.
1. In the Cotton case the eye witness had a police sketch done, and when there was a line up, she specifically picked Cotton out of the people more than once. However it was later shown that Cotton was innocent and the man who actually commited the crime was sent to jail. Granted they looked very much alike; this shows that a mistaken identity can lead to the imprisonment of someone innocent.
ReplyDelete2. I think the death penalty is extremely barbaric, however having all these hardened criminals sitting in jails and people having to pay taxes so they can stay there is also wrong. And since it is possible for there to be a mistake in the prosecution of someone, the death sentance should probably not be legal. There's no going back to fix errors once someone has been sentenced to the death penalty.
3. They are usually given a lot of money, and if they want to go back to school, their schooling is paid by the government. There isnt really a way to fix this problem since mistakes like this cant help but be made in certain cases.
1. Alan Crotzer was accused of rapes and armed robberies and was sentenced to 130 years in jail. He was exonerated by DNA testing 24 years later and was freed from prison. 2. The U.S supreme court should not have the death sentence anymore because in cases like the Ronald Cotton case or the Alan Crotzer case. Those cases just show that it is possible to make a mistake and if they were sentenced to the death penalty it could have been to late. 3. The people that are wrongly accused usually get large sums of money. I don't really think there is any other way besides to send them to school or get them a job and money because by then their life is half over and they don't want to start over.
ReplyDeleteRonald Cotton: Cotton was arrested for crimes in 1984; cut phone wires, attacked women, stole money, looked though her belongings. Identification photo, testimony's, rubber from tennis shoes that was found to match with Cottons, and a flashlight that looked similar to his. He was sentenced for 54+ years. Cotton got new lawyers that wanted DNA samples and the DNA didn't match Cottons. They sent it out to another lab and it matched another guy whom confessed for committing those crimes. Cotton got let out of jail in 1994.
ReplyDeleteIf someone committed a serious crime and should definitely be extremely punished for what he did and the punishment he'd need would be the death sentence, then no it shouldn't be banned. It shouldn't be an option if only they are 100% sure its that person. It should only be an option when all the evidence is proven that it was that person.
They should receive money for the their time spent in jail.
1.)Joe Amrine went to jail because 1 night guard and 2 females saw him commit a crime 16 years later they finally do a DNA testing and proved him innocent he was sentenced to death row before he was innocent
ReplyDelete2.)They should not ban death sentence because there are some people out there like serial killers who shoulld be put on it.
3.)I think they should be given some money for the time they had to serve.
1.) Juan Garcia lived on long beach was driving down the road one day when he was pulled over for speeding, he was then arrested and taken to jail. there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a domestic violence case in sacramento. he was arrested just because of his name and birthday which both happened to be very common. after spending 2 months in prison he was exonerated because he was able to prove he worked all day the day before and after the incedent. he was then let go but may have to move back to mexico where he was born because of this.
ReplyDelete2.)the supreme court should only be able to sentence someone to death if there is individual evidence present not a testimony or class evidence.
3.) right now they get compensation for the time they spend in jail but i think that they should help get them a better job and a better life because of the time they had to spend away from the real world.
1) After being convicted of first degree burglary and given a mandatory death sentence, Samuel Poole had his conviction overturned by the N.C. Supreme Court because the case lacked substantial evidence that Poole committed the crime. After finding new evidence the charges were dropped and he was released after the actual killer was identified and convicted.
ReplyDelete2) No i do not think the death penalty should be banned, but i think that the court should have evidence that supports 100% with no doubt that the suspect committed the crime. If there is any doubt than they should not issue the death penalty.
3) Its good that the government helps to compensate for the wrongly accused victims because their whole lives have just been ruined. They do things like give them a lot of money, get them a job, things that that to help get them back on their feet.
I think that is the right thing to do and i dont see how they could compensate them any other way.
1.) The the ronald cotton case there was no physical evidence that proved him guilty but he still was sentenced to life in prison. Years later he hired an attorney that had found him iniscent.
ReplyDelete2.) The death sentence should exist. It should be a last resort for someones punishment. Only if they know for 100% that the suspect truly did commit every crime they were being punished for.
3.) There is no true way to give someone back their life when most of it has already been spent away for something they didnt do. Sure they will give money, a place to live, and maybe set them up with a job to start with but its just never the same. They should just give them whatever they want but yet have a limit.
1. Ronald cotton was convicted of a crime he did not commit and he was sentenced to life +54 years in prison. Only to find him proven innocent years after his conviction. 2.The death sentence is a form of stability in the USA. Prisoners need necessities and that costs money. If we did not have the death sentence we would have to make alot more jails and there would be more sick people escaping prisons, plus our society would say all they got was a slap on the wrist for their wrong doings. Death penalty is a good way to enforce the law and it is not used often so I do not think we should ban it. You do the crime, you deal with the consequences. 3. You could never give back to someone the time you took out of their life by wrongly convicting them. It is not possible. I do not think there is even a way to try to make up for lost time.
ReplyDelete1). James Creamer along with 6 other defendants were convicted in marietta georgia during may 1971
ReplyDeletefor murder during an apparent armed robbery the victims were reportedly shot creamer was sentenced to death and the others were given life imprisonment despite numerous appeals The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the conviction but after the Atlanta Constitution turned up evidence that the prosecution had withheld exculpatory evidence in 1975 a death row inmate named Billy Birt confessed that he was the one who committed the crime shortly after the confession all seven were exonerated
2). i strongly oppose the death penalty because human life should be prosperous and long not forcibly taken albeit murderer or needle.
3). halfway houses and lost compensation
Andre Davis is a now 50 year old man who served 32 years in prison after being convicted of rape and murder of Brianna Stickle. He was exonerated after DNA tests from the 1980 crime scene proved he was not her killer. I do not believe that the death sentence should be banned, because there are people who have committed crimes so unbelievably unmoral and unjust, that they should deserve nothing more than that. I do think however that the court systems need to take into consideration DNA testing before wrongly accusing and sentencing someone jail time. There is no way to repay the people who have been thrown into jail for crimes they have not committed. One can not take back the memories, time, and social status that accumulated over the years. It is unforgivable, but I am sure many of these people demand money or credit in any form they can get.
ReplyDeleteDavid Lee Wiggins was wrongfully acussed of rape and served 24 years in prison for something he did not do they threw him in prison in 1989 because the 14 year old girl pointed to his picture. The police say that none of his figure prints match that of the crime scene and they never did dna testing on the girl.
ReplyDelete2. Death penalty should only be used for those people who have murdered someone because they should experience death just as same as the person who lost their life for no reason
3. They get money and help with anything they need to get their life back on track for having sent so long in jail.
David Ranta was convicted of murdering a Rabbi in a 1990 attempted robbery. After spending nearly 23 years in prison Ranta is now 58 years old. The jury believes that the witnesses were coached and the police mishandled evidence.
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/US/man-wrongly-convicted-rabbis-murder-released-23-years/t/story?id=18784699&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Da%2520murder%2520case%2520where%2520a%2520person%2520was%2520wrongly%2520accused%2520%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCgQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fabcnews.go.com%252FUS%252Fman-wrongly-convicted-rabbis-murder-released-23-years%252Fstory%253Fid%253D18784699%26ei%3DeyknUob-ArW1sQSe-4C4DA%26usg%3DAFQjCNHFqWxlYL_e2zlHLGvFHXBlsBKElg%26sig2%3DKgT-pMtuBPOTCCG1WBek8g%26bvm%3Dbv.51495398%2Cd.dmg
1. An example of a case in which a man was wrongly accused is James Bain in Florida. He served more than three decades in prison for being accused of raping and murdering a 9 year old boy. In 2001 Florida reopened certain cases for DNA testing and he was found innocent. If he wouldn't have been found innocent he would have spent his life in prison.
ReplyDelete2. The U.S should ban the death sentence for safety purposes due to human error. Mistakes are made and it is easier to fix those mistakes by taking someone out of jail who was falsely exonerated, a life can't be brought back.
3. The wrongfully accused are compensated differently in different states. In Maine there is a maximum of $300,000 that can be given to the wrongfully accused. This seems like a food way to pay them back and other states and countries should do something similar to this too.
1)Adolph Beck was a Norwegian living in England in 1895, who had the bad luck of looking exactly like a prolific jewelry thief. He found this out one day during a chance encounter with a woman who cornered Beck and accused him of stealing her jewels. When the police came by, they arrested him apparently on the evidence that he totally looked like the dude who did it, and he would spend much of his life getting repeatedly nailed for this other guy's crimes, purely because they could be twins. Then the theft committed another crime and the same guy was out in to jail for five more years.
ReplyDelete2) The US should ban the death sentence due to errors they can make. Someone that looks like the actual criminal can loose their life for not commuting any crime what so ever. It is unfair to the people who are convicted off criminal charges.
3) the people who didn't commit the crime should get money bake from the state due to the errors that the judges, lawyers, and juries made during court.
1.) Thomas Kennedy was falsely accused after his daughter said he raped her several times. After spending 9 years out of his 15 year sentence, his daughter owned up to lying. She had sexual relations when she was in second grade so the physical evidence seemed true.
ReplyDelete2.) the U.S. Supreme Court should ban the death sentence. They should because killing people is immoral and wrong wether it's justified or not. We are not put on this earth to decide life or death on anyone. Plus they don't get to live through their punishment. "If you can't do the time don't do the crime".
The Ronald Cotton case accused Cotton of attacking women, breaking into two apartments, cutting telephone wires, and stealing money. An eye witness gave the police a sketch, and Cotton was arrested. Cotton still claimed he was innocent and asked for a DNA test which showed no match to him. The DNA matched an inmate, proving and setting Cotton free.
ReplyDelete2. The death penalty should be banned because even though there are few cases that are wrong there is still a chance that the person getting sent to death is truthfully innocent. Then there parents are the ones who have to deal with all the pain and sorrow.
3. The wrongly accused are sometimes given money considering they've been in jail instead of living their normal lives and going to work.