Film Analysis: The Thin Blue Line

A difference between the textbook and the case that stuck out to me was the fact that the polygraph test taken by Roger Long was allowed into evidence. During Roger Long’s trial an FBI agent, William Warner, testified that he asked Long a series of questions regarding the murder. Among those were if Roger Long was responsible for Pamela Foddrill’s murder and if he participated with anyone else in causing her death. Warner stated that Long’s

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

Film- Precious Knowledge Precious Knowledge is a documentary that takes place in Tucson, Arizona and focuses on how the Unified School district wants to completely ban the Mexican American Studies Program. In the film there were many scenes with examples of rhetorical appeal. I believe that the way the film was set up since the beginning had an impactful and direct emotional appeal on the audience. For instance, in the first scenes of the film we have the opportunity to get to know the main characters in a more intimate level.

In this article, “Who Killed the Jeff Davis 8”, Ethan Brown, the author, attempted to solve the murder case and prove the police authorities to being wrong and being responsible for the murders of the town. The main problem of this article is determining who is responsible for the murders of those eight women everyone’s contradicting stories. In an attempt to figure out what really happened Brown includes factual evidence from interviews and shocking statistics to inform the reader of what’s going on in the article. By providing such information, Brown indulges the audience into the full experience of solving the murder case.

Due to the interview taking place after hours and the case not being assigned until the following day, I was unable to be present at the time of the interview. However, I have since observed a copy of that interview. The following is a summary of the forensic interview conducted that night by Megan Merrill with Deja Jones. This is a summary, not an exact transcript.

Just as he had said, he was the truth about not being involved, but when questioned about knowing anything about the murder, he was hesitant to answer. After a few seconds of silence, he firmly answered no. He was lying. He was furthermore questioned about knowing anything of the murder; motives, suspects, and accomplices. An hour passed of rigorous questioning, and yet, he still didn’t admit anything.

Four U.S navy sailors were accused of murdering and raping Michelle Moore-Bosko. All four of them confessed of a crime they did not commit. A friend of Michelle Moore-Bosko informed the police that Danial Williams was interested in killing women (Bikel, 2010) . Later in the day, Danial Williams was detained. Robert Glen Ford interrogated Williams, believing that he was in fact guilty. He had a goal that he wanted Williams to confess. Though, Glenn Ford was known as an intimidating person, who will get people to confess (Bikel, 2010).After eleven hours of interrogations, Williams confessed of a crime he did not do (Bikel, 2010). He was then asked to tell the story of how he murdered Michelle, and he started narrating a story he made up out of fear. For Months, Ford believed that Williams was guilty of the crime. However, months later, Williams DNA test results came to serve as an evidence of his innocent. However, Glenn Ford did not believe that Williams was innocent; he believed that Williams roommate Joe Dick was guilty of the crime as well. Therefore, Joe Dick was arrested and interrogated by Detective Glenn Ford, making him confess of the same crime. Joe Dick’s DNA was inconsistent with the evidence .Therefore, he was interrogated much more, until he gave his friends’ name: Eric Wilson, Derek Tice, and

There was suppressed evidence in the case that showed that Dr. MacDonald did not murder his family. The prosecutor Brian Murtagh told jurors that nothing at the crime scene supported MacDonald’s story of the four trespassers. When the defense asked to see the lab results, the prosecutor laid saying the documents had nothing to support MacDonald’s claims.

In the case of the three murdered eight-year olds, West Memphis police department’s investigative work led to a numbered list of suspects. Some of the suspects were quickly ruled out while others took a little more investigative work. In the end, the list of suspects was shortened until all who remained were Christopher Morgan, Mr. Bojangles, John Mark Byers, Terry Hobbs, and the

At nine AM a monday morning, John Lee was discovered dead in the CCA Lab Prep room by Professor Allan. What makes John Lees death even more surprising is that no fingerprints were found, but luckily fiber and biological evidence was found at the crime scene. Other than the fiber and the biological evidence that were found at the crime scene, the license and registration information of the vehicles that were at the CCA campus the night of the murder where determined. At the moment there were five suspects, that could have been the murders of John. These suspects include Brandy Smith, Sergio Jones, Bill Apple, Ann Smith, and Amanda Martinez. Brandy Smith alibis would be the Harkin employee that remembers seeing Brandy crying at the end of the

Many observers in Williamson County wondered if the matter would end there. Rarely have Texas prosecutors had to answer tough questions about their conduct, even in the wake of wrongful convictions. But in February, Judge Harle ruled that the investigation conducted by Michael’s lawyers suggested that there was probable cause to believe Anderson had broken the law in failing to turn over evidence that was “highly favorable” to the defense. Harle recommended that the Texas Supreme Court launch a court of inquiry to look into the matter. A week later, the Supreme Court concurred with Harle’s findings and ruled that an inquiry should proceed. Anderson would have to answer for his alleged misconduct.

Throughout the podcast the speakers give several facts about the case. These facts include the dates of multiple cases and a few of the Axeman’s signatures. Each of these facts play a different role in how it affects the listeners. The dates of the different crimes show how frequently the murders happened. It shows the listeners that the crimes happened often and how much fear the Axeman evoked in the town of New Orleans. The dates of the crimes also show how hard it was for the Axeman to be caught. This was the early 1900’s, they didn’t have any technology we have. The early dates prove that the police and detectives struggled without the use of the technology we have today.

In 1991 a new investigative team attempted to tackle this case in hopes of obtaining justice. Sterling agreed to an interview with police just after finishing a 36 hour long haul trucking shift. Sterling insisted upon his innocence. The interrogators attempted to utilize several unorthodox methods including hypnosis and suggestion of details in order to solicit a confession from who they thought was the culprit. After more than 8 hours of these types of tactics and being shown photographs of the scene, Sterling was arrested after he shouted, “I did it, I need help.” (The National Registry of Exonerations, 2012)

On July 8, 1997, William Bosko, an enlisted sailor returns home from a week at sea to find his wife Michelle Moore-Bosko gruesomely murdered in their apartment. Detectives interview family, friends and neighbors of the couple before asking their next-door neighbor Danial Williams to come in for questioning. Danial Williams is interrogated for the next 11 hours by detectives Maureen Evans and Robert Glenn Ford before confessing to the murder of Michelle Bosko. Even though neither his story of what happened, or his DNA matched the evidence that the police had

Throughout this class, various discussions and blogs have been used to analyze the different elements of films such as theme, cinematic techniques and genre. It is time to bring all of these separate elements together in the analysis of one specific film, according to class text, “analyzing levels of meaning below the surface story can greatly enhance enjoyment as well as understanding of a film” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014. p. 10.03). There are several different approaches to film analysis including formalist, auteurist, and generic or any combination thereof. Utilizing a genre theory lens, the 1956 film The Searchers will be analyzed addressing contextual information, story/plot, aesthetic choices, social/personal impact and how these areas come together to develop the film.