Ricky Bridgeman Case

The fifth step is investigation this step provides the actual profile to the agencies, which

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

Throughout history, various cases have not been properly executed in such a way that rightful criminals are taken to justice (hence the creation of courtrooms). The result of improper trials have led to the death of innocent lives which is unfortunately not unprecedented. A trial that epitomizes such unfair charges, leading to the execution of an innocent, was the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Trial. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was not guilty of the murder pertaining to the Lindbergh’s baby; he was wrongly convicted under circumstantial and biased evidence. The kidnapping of the baby had led to widespread speculations, and caused the case to spread amongst the

Each year, approximately about 10,000 innocent people in the United States get convicted of serious crimes that they did not commit. And at least four percent of them receive the death penalty being completely innocent. Scenarios like this happen all the time because there are more and more false persecutions each day which can be easily avoided. Many people are occupying prisons all over the world, for felonies they did not execute. More than 200 people have been exonerated through DNA testing nationwide. But why do these wrongful convictions keep happening?

Approximately 10,000 people in the United States may be wrongfully convicted of different crimes each year. Just like Kirk, most of these innocent people are mistakenly arrested because of errors of eyewitnesses. “The study also found that the most important factor leading to wrongful conviction is eyewitness misidentification” (spring). Kirk Bloodsworth landed in prison because of the two boys that confused him with the man that actually committed the crime. If all these 10,000 that may be wrongfully convicted people were actually sentenced to death, it would have been too late before they were proved innocent. Some individuals that were actually executed while having strong evidence of innocence include: Carlos DeLuna, Ruben Cantu, Larry Griffin, Joseph O'Dell, David Spence, Leo Jones, Gary Graham, Claude Jones, Cameron Willingham, Troy Davis and Lester Bower (“Executed”). They lost their lives because of human error. Even if they were released while still alive, no amount of money could return the amount of time they’ve lost from each of their lives. This is also a general justice system problem.

Going off prior knowledge before taking my Wrongful Convictions Class, I simply would have believed that our justice system most of the time is correct in their convictions and that when they are not they go to the utmost procedure to correct their wrong. Most of the time in cases such as the Cruz case when one is wrongfully convicted they are lasted rewarded a monetary award as a settlement for the mistake made upon the government, but one must ask themselves is that enough? Can money truly value up to time spent away from family, friends, and loved ones? What if there is a wrongful conviction in a case where one has seen the death penalty and cannot be paid monetary reward because they have fallen victim to hands of wrong justification and the government?

“According to a new report from the University of Michigan Law School's National Registry of Exonerations, 2015 set a record for the number of wrongly convicted Americans who finally found justice. There were 149 people last year who were either declared innocent or otherwise cleared of the consequences of their convictions or guilty pleas.” -Stephanie Mencimer. Many people in the United States are wrongfully convicted, like Sam Sheppard, they are sometimes able to get a more fair trial to fight for their innocence. In the the very controversial, Sam Sheppard court case, Sam was convicted for supposedly murdering his wife and sat in jail for almost a decade. Later, when there was a more fair, more investigated trial, Sam was proven innocent

If you are going to understand who the killer is and have evidence of why it is, you first have to know what they

“No matter how convinced we are that someone is nasty, evil or just plain criminal, if they have not been convicted of any crime and support views that are upheld and defended by many law-abiding citizens, the only way to tackle them is through democratic debate.”, Julian Baggini. The first thing that needs to change in the battle to keep those who are innocent out of prison is our mindset. Often times police officers, prosecutors, jurors, and American Citizens get caught up in the chase of a criminal and feel that they need to convict someone, whether or not they are guilty. While there is no great option, many feel that it is better to imprison someone than no one when in actuality, it is preferable to have a criminal roaming the streets than it is to have an innocent human unjustly facing the horrors of prison. Many prefer not to be involved in the conversation of wrongful conviction.

In 1992, Roy Brown was convicted of the death of another individual. The victim was fond beaten, strangled, and stabbed at her farmhouse. She was a social worker and was found covered in bite marks and saliva was obtained as DNA evidence. Mr. Brown served 15 years in prison before he was able to prove himself innocent from his cell with the assistance of the Innocence Project. A similar case occurred in 1989, Steven Barnes was convicted of the murder and rape of a 16 year old girl. The victim was found raped and strangled to death on a dirt road. His truck implied him to be a suspect. Even though there was a great amount of statements that supported his alibi, three years after the crime occurred, Mr. Barnes served 20 years in prison before being freed by the Innocence Project.

In the past two decades, over half of the death penalty trials have contained constitutional errors, and five percent of those people were exonerated during retrial proving the faults of the current system. As Leahy stated, “ We have cast iron scientific proof that a significant number of people sentenced to death in America in the late twentieth century have been absolutely, undeniably innocent.” This goes to show that one out of three cases that are successful is simply not good enough. Cases in which DNA testing has proven inmates innocence shows that the system is not perfect, and when it comes to a person’s life, there is no room for constitutional violations. There is another problem in death penalty trials, the lawyers. In too many cases defendants have been assigned lawyers who were later disbarred, suspended or are fresh out of law school with little to no experience. Finding quality lawyers who can handle a death penalty trial appropriately to do it pro bono, or for little pay is hard. This is why Leahy came up with the “Innocence Protection Act” to provide funding in order to give defendants accurate representation in death penalty trials

"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.

A study was held to see what percentage of people on death row were wrongfully executed, the results were that 1.6% of the innocent were exonerated, while 4.1% were wrongfully executed such as Larry Griffin’s case. Larry Griffin was put to death in 1995 for the 1981 murder of Quintin Moss, a Missouri drug dealer. Griffin always maintained his innocence, and now, evidence seems to indicate he was telling the truth. The first police officer on the scene now says the eyewitness account was false, even though the officer supported the claims during the trial. Another eyewitness who was wounded during the attack was never contacted during the trial, and he says Griffin wasn’t present at the crime scene that night. Cases like this is a sign of why better

The first step, factual analysis, is where police gather information not only from the crime scene but also about the person. In order for this step to be properly carried out police have to analyze the crime scene. Next, the police have to find information out about each suspect. This information can consist of simple things about you like your gender, where you work, and what race you are. The police also find out information pertaining to you and how you could have been involved in the crime. This information usually includes your motives, how easily could have committed the crime, and what you did afterward.

A wrongful conviction is a terrible injustice that is magnified when an actual innocent person spends years, sometimes even decades in prison and/or death row. This has been recognized by the U.S Legal system for quite some time now and the rising number of exonerations are growing.