Pipiena Malafu. Ms. Bettencourt. English 3Cp. 7 April 2017.

The New Jersey police became heavily involved in a battle over the jurisdiction of the case. Another questionable problem with the evidence was that the child was pinned into his crib so that he wouldn’t move at night and somehow, when the child was abducted, whomever took him, didn’t move the pins or even touch the pins to get him out of the bed. There were no fingerprints on the ladder, not even where the person that made the ladder would have left fingerprints, showing that everything had been wiped clean. Then there was the ransom note that was written with grave misspellings and horrible Germanic construction.

Just imagine a baby laughing and playing with their toys. Now imagine that being taken from you. Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Lindbergh were robbed of that pleasure. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was found guilty for this disturbing crime. Although critics would argue that Bruno was innocent, they are incorrect. It is absolutely obvious that Hauptmann was guilty because of the evidence of the ransom money, the ransom note, and the ladder.

In the last several years, too many people in the United States have been wrongfully sentenced with the death penalty. Several accused have their sentence overturned or they have been totally exonerated. There are at least 8 people who were executed by United States and later proven innocent (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org). Over a 20 year period, 68% of all death sentences were reversed (http://karisable.com). A noteworthy example is of Jerry Banks who was convicted and sentenced with the death penalty for two counts of murder in 1975. Five years later, in 1980, Banks' conviction was overturned on the basis of newly discovered evidence which was allegedly known to the state at the time of trial. Another example was the case of Lawyer Johnson who was sentenced to death in 1971 by an all white jury for the murder of a white victim. Later in 1982, Johnson’s conviction was overturned and Johnson exonerated when a previously silent eyewitness identified the state’s chief witness as the real murderer. (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) Human error is inevitable, particularly

This case has been studied and theorized on since it happened. Since he never told the world the truth, we may never know. I believe, if the police had been more diligent we may have known what really happened. It is true that you never really know what happened unless you were there, but even then everyone present has a different account of the facts. The defense attorney committed several grievous errors, as well as the police investigators. There are allegations of paid witnesses, as well as jury misconduct. In today’s courtroom settings things would go a lot smoother and I believe Mr. Hauptmann would have received a mistrial at the very least. Was he guilty? The world wonders. Did Mr. Lindbergh kill his own child and create this elaborate hoax to cover it up? He certainly had the financial resources to do

Overview: American aviator Charles Lindbergh’s infant son Charles Jr. Lindbergh was kidnapped in March of 1932 from their home in Hopewell, New Jersey. A ransom note was written and eventually paid by the family. When the family paid the ransom, they were told they would find their infant son on a boat of the shore of New Jersey, but it was later discovered that this boat did not exist. The body of their infant son was found a week later a few blocks from their home. Investigators matched the handwriting of the ransom note to the handwriting of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was found guilty for kidnapping and murder. This was the first case solved by handwriting analysis.

The risk of innocent people being sentenced is high. About 14% of executions were of the innocent, and they weren’t found out until long after their execution. This supports my claim because too many innocent people are being executed against their will, and most of them aren’t even involved with the murder, just innocent bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In conclusion, there is just too much risk of innocent bystanders being executed for doing nothing wrong, and we should get the facts and evidence straight before we go kill an innocent

The case was taken to trial where Bruno Hauptmann was denied bail but was found guilty and was charged with extortion in September 1943 by the Supreme Court Bronx County, New York and was tried and charge with murder in the first degree in New Jersey. As Hauptmann stood trial on January 3, 1935 which lasted for five weeks; the circumstantial evidence that was brought forth by the prosecution e.g. ladder marks on the window sill, wood shaving from Hauptmann attic, important address and numbers, most substantial

“This search led them to Hauptmann, a German immigrant living in the Bronx, and a search of his home uncovered $14,000 of the ransom money....Further searches of Hauptmann’s home found design plans for a ladder, a piece of wood identical to the kind used to build the kidnapping ladder.”(The Learning Network 7). There were 13 ransom notes left for the Lindberghs, one of which clued to go to a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but the was no boat ever found. And a second ransom not claimed that this murder had been planned for about a year. “On May 12, a truck driver discovered the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr. at the site of a raid near the Lindbergh home. The baby had blows to the head and body..., and had been dead for about two months.”(The Learning Network 6). The events that took place after the kidnapping were used as more evidence to convict Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty.

Who kidnapped Charles A. Lindbergh’s baby? Was Bruno Hauptmann wrongfully convicted? These are the prevalent questions aroused when discussing the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Considered as America’s first “crime of the century” , and referred as the “ ‘ the greatest story since the Resurrection’ ” by H.L. Mencken, a prominent American journalist, it is one of the most important American crime. This significant event occurred during the 1930s when Fascism was gaining its popularity in Europe and America was experiencing the Great Depression. After the Roaring Twenties, came the Great Depression, a period filled with economic depression, downfalls, and the dust bowl. During the 1930s, “the stricken people looked around and saw the American dream

The lack of proper resources during a trial can make the difference between the innocence and guilt of a person. The death penalty does not always show the innocence or guilt of a person. It shows how much he or she is willing to spend to help the trial go his or her way. The death penalty is an unfair system to those who cannot afford the “evidence” they need to help free them.

"Since 1973, over eighty people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence" (Innocence and the Death Penalty 1). Statistics say that of the three-thousand six hundred people on death row right now, at least one hundred of them are innocent (Capital Punishment 1). When an innocent person is executed, the real killer is still on the streets ready to victimize someone else (Pragmatic Arguments 1). The most important problem is that when an innocent person is executed, they represent another human being who did not deserve to die.

If we assume everyone who is accused of being guilty is in fact guilty, then a miscarriage of justice has already occurred. Society has not accorded the accused "due process" and has already determined their opinion without all the facts and evidence. Therefore, they would not have been given a fair trial. Anderson further states " the point is that innocence must be defined by justice, not justice by perceived innocence". In other words, if a person is guilty of a crime, then the law will prove that they are indeed guilty due to the evidence and facts surrounding the case. However, even a person "who has in fact and with intent committed a crime could be said to have suffered a miscarriage if convicted on evidence which is legally inadmissible or which is not proven beyond reasonable doubt". Whilst not inflicting the same degree ( if any ) of sympathy as an innocent person wrongfully convicted of a crime, the outcome is nevertheless a miscarriage as the person was not proved guilty by the facts of the case and a "conviction arising from deceit or illegalities is corrosive of the states claims to legitimacy on the basis of due process and respect for rights". Therefore, if a person is innocent, then the law will prove that they are innocent. Unfortunately, the "sufficiency of

According to a 1987 study published in the Stanford Law Review, at least 23 non-culpable individuals have been executed from 1900 to 1987, which is more than one innocent execution every four years. These miscarriages of justice are often due to evidence that was not discovered or made available until after the execution. Although recent scientific improvements, such as forensic DNA evidence, have enabled investigators to more accurately pinpoint guilt in a suspect, no current amount of scientific or technological advancement can completely guarantee that errors will never be made. In an issue such as the death penalty, where the stakes are so high – human life – any margin of error, no matter how minuscule, is unacceptable.

Many prisoners in the past have been known to be killed before they were proven innocent. Many documented cases where DNA testing showed that innocent people were put to death by the government. This sometimes happens because there are defendants who are given minimal legal attention by often minor qualified individuals. The government has made many mistakes which are being wrong about convicting someone for something they didn’t do, and killing this person for the wrong reason. Putting the wrong person to death is the biggest mistake that can be made and the government cannot afford to make this mistake.