Jennifer Thompson Case

In one of the most well known cities of the United States, New York City was the central focus in the 1980’s. Five minority youths aged 14 to 16 were arrested and convicted of rape, sexual assault, and almost murdering 28-year old white female investment banker, Trisha Meili, as she was jogging through Central Park on the night of April 19th, 1989. These innocent Latino and African American five young men— Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam—were exonerated in 2002 after serving 6-13 years in prison until the condemned murderer, Matias Reyes confessed to the rape of Trisha Meili, where his DNA was discovered to match the evidence

Both trials were based off of false accusations against black men. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was accused of rape by Mayella Ewell. And in the Scottsboro trial Charles Weems, Clarence Norris, Andy Wright, Ozie Powelll, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson, Roy Wright, and Haywood Patterson were accused of rape by Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, a known prostitute. “The witnesses for the state have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, on the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-the evil assumption-that all Negros lie, that all Negros are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber” (Lee 204). This quote was stated by Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird in the court and he is stating the beliefs of most people in the south during the Great Depression. These trials took place during a time of segregation and racism so most people took the side of the white women. Both of the juries and judges for these trials were white. Because of this, the accused had no chance of getting equal treatment or justice. The last and most important similarity between the Tom Robinson trial and the Scottsboro trial is the similarities within the court.

April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).

In Lorelle Henry’s testimony she says that when she was in the drug store at the time of the robbery and didn’t see Mr. Harmon. On page 164 it states “Ms. Henry do you recognize anyone present today in this courtroom who was also in the drugstore on the day to which you are referring? ‘ The gentleman sitting at that table. ‘ Let the record show that Ms. Henry, has indicated that James King was one of the men she saw in the drugstore on that day.” Ms. Henry was at the store when the robbery occurred and she recognized James King but she didn’t say she recognized Steve Harmon. If Ms. Henry was in the store then she would have seen Mr. Harmon but she didn’t say she did.

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

During the early nineteen hundreds many people especially in the south were often convicted of crimes for no other reason than their skin color and contrary to many ideas about our court system, we have not always been the most honest and unbiased people. One prime example of this is the case of the Scottsboro Boys and how they were accused of rape and had to go to court numerous times, almost everytime ending in the death sentence. The evidence in the case clearly points towards the innocence of the Scottsboro boys, evidence such as unclear stories from the girls, lack of bruises and marks indicating assault as well as a previous history of prostitution from both of the girls. This evidence helps to prove that Charles Weems and the Scottsboro boys were innocent and wrongly accused and convicted.

Megan Kanka and several other children have been the reason for the safety of children around this country. I know that you’re wondering in what way this person contributed to the safety of other children. Well Megan Kanko was a 7 years old child who was next door from a previously charged pedophile in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The difference between then and now is that in the past there were no laws stating that pedophiles had to inform those who lived near them that they were there, of their past convictions, or even some type of registration available. This was the case of Megan Kanka’s offender, Jesse Timmendequas. His record consisted of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl in Piscataway, New Jersey, in 1979. He had pleaded guilty to the charges for attempted aggravated sexual assault. He was given a suspended sentence, but he failed to go to counseling, so he was forced to spend nine months at the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center. In 1981, he again pleaded guilty in regards to the sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl and was imprisoned, at Avenel, for six years. He’s an example of a recidivist who was controlled and

1.1 Facts of the case On April 5th, 2015 Stephanie Scott was murdered by Vincent Stanford at lepton high school, where Stephanie was working at the time. The reason she stayed late at school that day was because she intended to plan her drama classes for when she would be on her honeymoon. Vincent began stalking women in and around the community of Leeton, taking thousands of photographs and notes on their movements in order to understand when they would be alone.

Anker and Goodman’s 2001 documentary talks about how Ruby Price, “grew up in a poor part of Huntsville, Alabama and worked in local cotton mills when there was work”. Given the historical background we know that many African American during this time period lived in poverty. While it is not discussed directly from a viewer’s interpretation monetary gain may have very well been motive for Ruby Bates and Victoria Price to accuse the nine African American boys of raping them. On top of Bates and Price having little to no money the boys of Scottsboro did not have the means to pay for a good defense

There are only one percent of rape accusations that are false. Brian Banks could be considered apart of this one percent. This young boy, at the time, was well on his way to a wonderful career. He had just been accepted to the University of Southern California on a four year scholarship, and famed in his high school, Long Beach Polytechnic High, for his incomparable football skills. But, one day, his life would take a turn for the worst. The Brian Banks case and the Crucible were cases that could be considered inequitable because people were falsely accused, people's lives were set back, and chances of living a care-free life were ruined.

On October 2, 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee, a woman was awakened by two armed men who raped her then stole her television. She identified the men as “Polly’s boy” and “Ollie Mae’s Boy”, she was able to give the full name of one and the address of the other. On October 7th McKinney, along with Michael Yancy were arrested for assault and burglary even though they claimed they spent the day at home drinking. McKinney was convicted in Shelby County Criminal Court on June 22, 1978 after the victim identified him in court as one of her attackers. Lawrence testified on his own behalf and said he was offered a deal of five years when he was arrested for the rape to testify against a co-defendant. But he turned it down "because I didn 't know anything about the crime. He and Yancy were sentenced to 100 years in prison for rape and 10 years for burglary.

On July 28th of 1984, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, a 22-year-old college student and another woman was both brutally raped at knife point. During the attack, Thompson was attentive of her attacker’s appearance and anything else notable so if she survived the attack, she could assure the rapist would be caught and punished (prosecuted). Within a few days of the attack, the Burlington Police Department of North Carolina had determined a suspect through the composite Thompson made and arrested Ronald J. Cotton on August 1, of 1984. Thompson was able to identify Cotton under photo identification and then successfully chose him again in the physical line-up. The second victim, however did not chose Cotton in either of the lineups.

Please accept this letter of recommendation for Jenny Garcia, as applicant to your advance standing MSW program. Jenny was a former student in my Field I and Field II practicum courses. Jenny performed remarkably well in her studies and is prepared academically to take on the academic rigors of the MSW program.

Jennifer is a twenty-year-old Caucasian female college student living in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently, she resides in her own apartment; however, her mother, father, and younger brother live together nearby in the family 's home. Jennifer is employed as a waitress in a restaurant and is actively enrolled in college courses. Jennifer describes herself as typically having the ability to manage her school and work responsibilities, as well as having relatively positive relationships with her professors, co-workers and restaurant manager. She maintains an ongoing relationship with her father, mother, and brother. She describes her relationship with her brother as the close, her relationship with her mother as intermittently close although hindered by her father, whom Jennifer has not maintained a close relationship with due to unrealistic expectations that her father consistently has placed upon her, as well as their history of arguing. She also has a best friend; however, she has not maintained a relationship with her since she moved to North Carolina.

1. Jessica Gallinelli should hold position in Honeywell and take short position in General Electric Company (GE) simultaneously