Richard Willing's His Name Is Mudd

Clemons claims that he was beaten into a confession of rape, and a judge sent Clemons to a hospital upon his arrival at arraignment where he was noted as having serious injuries (McClure, 2012). There was no physical evidence against Clemons, nor was there DNA evidence (Stack, 2012). The prosecutor was also reprimanded for the judge during the trial for many unprofessional tactics (Stack, 2012). Clemons is not free, but he has requested clemency (McClure, 2012). Based on the support from many organizations and university students for this man, a bill to abolish the death penalty in Missouri has gained momentum for the first time ever in this state (McClure, 2012).

Comparing these two cases, the legal system did not really work fairly to show justice because if in accordance with the absolute interpretation of the 8th Amendment and the 14th Amendment, Gregg will never be sentence to death; this not only unfair to him but also disrespects for the authority of the legal system. Let us finally look at the case of “Callins v. Collins” in 1994, in this case, even though the convict Callins was put to death by lethal injection, there was a justice stood up to struggle on save Callins’ life, and his name was Harry Andrew Blackmun, who had voted in “Gregg v. Georgia” to restore the death penalty. Blackmun claimed that he had no longer supported the death penalty because he did not believe that the capital sentencing procedures were still working, and restoring the death penalty was a big

      "They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do with the crime other than being there when it happened. Yet six months later they come and unlock your cage and tell you, We, us, white folks all, have decided it’s time for you to die, because this is the convenient date and time" (158). Ernest J. Gaines shows the internal conflicts going through the mind of Mr. Wiggins in his novel A Lesson Before Dying (1933). Mr. Wiggins is struggling through life and can’t find his way until he is called upon against his own will to help an innocent man, Jefferson. The help is not that of freeing him at all.

During that time Johnson was the general secretary of the NAACP, and knew what impact the case would have on civil rights. Given this the NAACP aided those accused of the murder of Breiner, and a first-rate defense team was in the making. Assistant secretary Walter White was the main assistant of NAACP to find the best attorneys (who were not prejudiced, of course). He later meets Arthur Garfield Hays and Clarence Darrow and urges them to take the case. After agreeing they meet their clients about a month after the accident. Boyle shows how both James Weldon Johnson and Clarence Darrow had interior motives for defending the Sweets. Both men had a love for the spotlight, when speaking about Darrow, Boyle writes "in the glare of a high-profile case he found the perfect opportunity to attack the status quo and proclaim the modernist creed." The trial itself felt more of a civil rights case than a criminal case. The most impressive thing in regards to the actual trial was the performance done by Darrow. One could draw many similarities between him and To Kill A Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch. A common misconception of the courtroom is that the jury goes strictly off of evidence when deliberating. This book clears up that false belief with the attorneys playing off of emotion and targeting pathos. A strong argument presented by Darrow can be summarized by a few statements he made in that courtroom. “You are facing a problem of two races, a problem that will take centuries to solve. If I felt none of you were prejudiced, I'd have no fear. I want you to be as unprejudiced as you can be. Draw upon your imagination and think how you would feel if you fired at some black man in a black community, and then had to be tried by

The cumulative effect of this perspective is that if the judge is hard on the allegedly obscene editors and misrepresents their defence to the jurors, this would only be what you would expect of such a second-rate individual. Robertson’s presentation, based on truth, is heavily influenced by bias and opinion against the judge and, thereby, in favour of the defendants. The eventual verdict of guilty is seen to be inevitable. The editors were sent to prison for psychiatric examination.

Racial dynamics were influential in the process of the case. There was collision between judges and prosecutors about the venue for the trial. The trial was moved to Baldwin County, a white county where only one African American served as a juror. The makeup of this jury panel would not allow McMillian a fair trial, the community was known to have racial bias undertones (Stevenson, 2014). Not only would the jury not allow McMillian a fair case, but neither would the judge. Robert E. Lee Key did all that was in his power to sway the case in his favor. He tried to persuade Stevenson not to take the case and agreed to move the trial to another county that was much more conservative and had “made less progress leaving behind the racial politics of Jim Crow” (Stevenson, 62). With lack of evidence pinning McMillian

In the book Eligible for Execution: The Story of the Daryl Atkins Case, the author Thomas G. Walker, a Professor of Political Science at Emory University provides a thought provoking analysis of the case Atkins vs. the commonwealth of Virginia. Walker has written his book is such a way that piques his reader’s interest and grabs the attention. He begins with a basic detailed summary of the case at hand, the murder of Eric Michael Nesbitt. The defendant, Daryl Renard Atkins is described as a body-abled young man who unfortunately did not have an opportunity to experience a close family relationship. His parents divorced at the age of 9 which acted as a milestone in his life. He struggled to complete his school and struggled with maintaining

Till’s case had opened many eyes on how awful Jim Crow Laws were in the south. This case had shown, not only how racist most of the people still were in the south, but how unfair the trials were. A similar case, which had taken place in the exact same courtroom as Till’s case had the same exact outcome. A white man shot and killed a black attendant at a gas station and was found not guilty. These cases were so unfair that twenty-one percent of all blacks Tallahatchie County had moved (User

In the article “Alabama Pardons 3 ‘Scottsboro Boys’ After 80 Years” (November 21, 2013), Alan Blinder argues the significance, to the modern world, of the pardons issued recently to three black men falsely accused of sexual assault in a long series of trials that has become known as the “Scottsboro Boys”. Blinder supports his reasoning by describing the history of the lawsuit and the efforts put into the posthumous pardons. For instance, he presents evidence of the impact the case had on the legal system: “ [State Senator Arthur Orr] and other legislators agreed to sponsor a measure [...] that created a process by which the Alabama authorities could issue pardons in select

Although earning a good living again, Darrow didn’t enjoy the stigma that went along with being a defense attorney (Tierney, 1979).

Payne was tried and convicted by the Tennessee Trial Court by a jury on two counts of first-degree murder and on one count of assault with intent to murder in the first degree. Payne was then sentenced to death for both murders and 30 years in prison for the assault. Payne appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court asserting that Mary Zvolanek’s testimony was “irrelevant,” and that her testimony violated his rights guaranteed by the 8th amendment as was applied in the cases of Booth. V. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987), and South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 805 (1989); however, the court concluded that Zvolanek’s testimony was “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Following the Court’s decision, Payne appealed to the United States Supreme Court who heard his case.

Davis does not connect her assumptions to accurate history data and opposes Coras’s perspective of the trial. Therefore, Finlay’s argument against Davis’ perspective is more convincing, because he does not speculate or back up his points with non historical context, unlike Davis who uses “convoluted reasoning and unsubstantiated assertions” to support her thesis.

The doctor, however, was not given enough time to properly study Perry. He then is called to testify in court about if Perry is truly mentally ill which he answers very eloquently, “Answer yes or no, do you have an opinion?” “No.” ... But had Dr. Jones been permitted to discourse on the cause of his indecision…” (Capote 296).

The court held that the expert medical witness testimony regarding the Herbel Study, his own experiences as a physician, and the medical record of the defendant did not provide enough evidence to justify the forced medication of the defendant even though all three concerned patients with delusional disorders. Watson, 793 F.3d at 428. The court found that the fourteen year-old Herbel study was inherently flawed due to its design and did not justify the forced medication of the defendant because the information provided about its subjects was neither similar enough nor specific enough to the situation of the defendant at hand. Id. at 426. Similarly, the court faulted the government’s reliance on the personal experiences of the witness because the information provided regarding his patients was not specific enough to the defendant’s situation. In particular, the testimony did not indicate that the previously treated patients had delusions that were “meaningfully similar in nature and persistence” to those of the defendants. The medical record of the defendant was also inadequate because although it reported that he had previously been given the, it only indicated that he had been treated and released. Id. at

This class focuses on offenses that have occurred nationwide, leaving a long lasting negative impact on the world. This class has been discussing who is to be collectively held accountable for wrongdoings in society and the kinds of reparations done to right these wrongs. The discussion of the medical crimes committed during the Holocaust done by the Germans was an enthralling part of the discussion, and it was interesting to see how the Nazis were held accountable and how they took accountability for their actions. Americans, on the contrary, have committed their fair share of medical scandals, and have done little to accept responsibility. This essay looks at Eugenics, The Tuskegee Experiment, and the Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study and the prejudice used against minority groups.