Crowbar Creative Writing

Pamela Colloff’s “The Innocent Man,” is an eye-opening, gut-wrenching essay in which Colloff beautifully takes a high complexity prejudiced case of a guilty murder verdict and successfully brings to light her inspiring character Michael Morton’s true innocence in a flawed justice system. Suspense, sadness and frustration are effectively provoked from the reader about Michael’s tragic nightmare which persists for over two decades of time. A nightmare which begins when Michael returns home from work on August 13, 1986, to find out his dead wife was beaten to death in their bed. This is only the beginning of what Colloff unfolds in her writing of Michael’s twenty-five-year agonizing battle behind bars. Step by step Colloff’s marvelous writing

In the month of January 1992, Judge Laurence Gram Jr. was presiding over the Milwaukee County Circuit Court at the beginning of Jeffrey Dahmer’s trial. Defense Attorney Gerald Boyle represented the defendant Jeffrey Dahmer whilst District Attorney E. Michael McCann spoke for the state of Wisconsin. Dahmer was charged with murdering fifteen individuals. During the initial part of the court proceedings, Dahmer’s defense claimed that he was clinically insane. In due course, the jury had to decide whether this insanity claim was factual or not: Was Jeffrey Dahmer certifiably insane? Did his admission of guilt founded on mental illness stand up in court or was he sane and guilty? Was he or was he not in control of himself when he murdered fifteen

On May 18, 2018, a very important case was decided on. The issue on the table: Lennie Small murdered the wife of Mr. Curley in 1931. They were alone in a barn, when Mr. Small strangled her and broke her neck. The courtroom was tense, as both the ghost of Lennie Small and the ghost of Curley’s Wife were both present at the time. On the defendant side, their main point was to talk about his innocents due to unknowing. Lennie was mentally disabled, and therefore couldn’t know he was hurting her. In their opening statement, they specifically mention that all humans make mistakes; Lennies just happen to be more intense due to his mental state On the prosecuting side, they claimed murder is murder. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t mean to; he still

The Fells Acres Case was set against the backdrop of many other child sex abuse scandals that had caused mass hysteria across the nation. As a result of what was considered to be a newly found epidemic (child sexual abuse), members of the court were influenced by convictions in other cases, leading to influence on the Fells Acres Case before it even went to trial. Emotional appeal heavily influenced the verdicts within the Fells Acres Case as a result of personal bias influenced from the media. The moral reactions of the prosecution and other members of the court resulted in the preconceived notion of the verdict before the trial began: that the Amiraults were guilty on all counts. Those of the prosecution approached the case with their own perspective; their opinion reflected their own practices and beliefs, thus causing the outcome to validate what they were originally looking for: a guilty verdict. The criticism Rabinowitz portrays explains how the mindset of the prosecutors disregards all of the facts leading to a just verdict and instead promotes finality. As a result, in the Fells Acres Case Justice Elizabeth Dolan allowed the testifying children to face away from the accused in hopes to create a less intimidating environment. As a product of Dolan’s emotional agenda, the justice had violated The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights that requires the accuser to face the accused. Furthermore, resulting from moral reactions, prosecutors and judges ignore the plasticity of children and their memories as well as the impact such plasticity’s have on the

The human brain is a remarkably intricate organ. Therefore, simple mutations in its complexity can result in devastating conditions leading to acts of violence. Kinkel, a fifteen-year-old boy, demonstrates his partaking in the unnecessary murders of both his parents and innocent bystanders. Kinkel is said to have shown signs of his intentions through inconspicuous matters. Later holding the guilt of four deaths and twenty-six attempts via semi-automatic weaponry (para. 5). The mental instability of the subject is proven to be in effect, and a suitable cause for these behaviors. The document in question is “The State of Oregon v. Kipland Philip Kinkel”, in which encompasses a trial the young boy capable of murder. Kinkel is convicted of the absolute minimal sentence for the nature of his crimes, followed by his seemly confession. The defense and prosecution contemplate proper arguments given the defendants substantial witnesses to the crimes and articles of law. Justice is debated among the courts and how to satisfy these reprimands. Judge Haselton effectively uses ethos, logos, and pathos to support the higher courts decision to deny the appeal because the original sentence was constitutional and just.

After Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped in 1984, she identified a man in a police lineup and in court as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming that she had chosen the suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the suspect, Ronald Cotton, had been wrongfully convicted of the rape. A man named Bobby Poole, who Thompson testified she had never seen before, was the man who actually raped her. Ronald and Jennifer's book, picking cotton, portrays common factors that contribute to erroneous convictions. Although it addresses a variety of important issues, the most crucial is how subtle factors like eyewitness misidentification, confirmation bias and nature of a defendant can

“With the knife I had, I opened his chest to that place…. I inserted the knife point, and with great difficulty, at last i pulled it out”

I soon fell asleep and woke up to the sound of traffic and people yelling as if someone ate the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving. Being half sleep my eyes weren’t fully dilated so I couldn’t see but with one wipe and a closer look at the sign I see the words, “Lew Sterrett Justice Center”. We had arrived at the local jail of the Dallas County. As we walk to the entrance, I was so scared I grabbed papa hand hard as possible. We came to a huge black door with tinted windows so no one could see through. Papa pushed a big red button to the right of the door that mad a loud horn sound. Then the door slowly opened and revealed a room with a door, metal detector and two officers.

The case of Andrea Yates raised numerous questions and debates in relation to mental health, postpartum psychosis, and the amount of responsibility Yates played in the murder of her children. After the first trial of Yates, as mentioned through Laura March’s Article, the four jurors interviewed mentioned Yates’ confession

On December 29, 2006, Connie Russell’s son lost the fight for his life. Matt was a bright, twenty-one year old senior at Florida State University. His love of scuba diving inspired Matt to want to become a marine biologist in Australia. However, these dreams would never come true. As Russell painfully recounts, Matt had been traveling with friends to scuba in West Palm Beach. However, on I-95, a drunk driver suddenly came out of nowhere and struck Matt’s car and significantly injured him. Seven days later, Matt was gone. Although Russell lost her son more than ten years ago, her pain is still noticeably fresh. In fact, she still believes Matt died at the hands of someone else’s moronic decision. It was a choice, not an accident that her son was killed. Although some may claim drunk drivers do not mean to take lives, Russell believes otherwise. In fact, Russell was able to convince the audience through the use of rhetorical appeals that her son’s death was a choice, and not an accident.

For example, just a week after the attack happened, a male witness came forward to police and said that they had arrested the wrong men (Northwestern). Paula was not released until thirty three years after she was imprisoned ever after a man had come forward just a week into the case. Secondly, they used Paula’s mental state against her. As said by For Justice, Paula's mental state was used by others to get her to falsely confess to a crime she never committed that also ruined the lives of four other men. These other men were all brought down because of their convenience and the police forces reliance on Paula’s incorrect testimony. Paula’s case was not the only case that was settled upon poor evidence, another example would be Keith Harward’s

The insanity defense of Andrea Yates: The country was absolutely appalled when it heard that Yates, a mother of five children, had killed each of her children resulting in a horrific family slaughter. There were extremely polarized feelings about this case- sympathy (concluding

“Marlene Barnes, when I looked at this case, I thought it possible based on circumstantial evidence. However, as I’ve listened to the evidence presented, I've changed my mind and now believe you’re a cold hard killer with no conscious. According to the evidence, you committed a most heinous senseless murder by smashing your mother's head and dumping her body in the trash. The court sentences you to die in the death chamber at the State Prison. Get her out of here,” the judge said as the

Our conscience allows us to rationalise our decisions based on what we believe is morally right. Pauline Parker, a teenage girl born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, conspired with close friend Juliet Hulme to murder her mother in 1954. Director Peter Jackson chronicled this case of matricide that shocked the nation in the 1995 film ‘Heavenly Creatures’, which gives us insight into the “twisted mind” of a killer. This is supported by real evidence collected from the trial – a series of explicit diary entries leading up to the murder and Pauline’s surprisingly nonchalant court testimonial.

A pale face appeared, gently bobbing up and down in the darkness. It was in rhythm with the sounds of the horror's slow motion.