Susan Kidwell Trial

Part four, T​he Corner,​of Truman Capote’s novel I​n Cold Blood,​depicts the executions of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. The two were found guilty of murdering the entire Clutter family “in cold blood”. In this part, Truman Capote goes into great detail to describe their six drawn out years on death row. The passage portrays the scene when Dick gets executed. Perry’s execution is depicted directly after the passage.

On July 15, 2008 a two year old girl named, Caylee Marie Anthony was reported missing from her Orlando Florida home. The call made by her grandmother to the authorities said that she had not seen Caylee for 31 days and that there was a foul smell in Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony’s car similar to a dead body. She also reported that Casey stole the family’s car and money. There were several false statements given about the whereabouts of the child of which were eventually put to an end. The body of the child was found in a blanket and ruled a homicide due to the presence of duct tape. The trial lasted six weeks and the death penalty was asked for by the prosecution. Casey Anthony did not testify and the jury found Casey not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child but guilty of four misdemeanor counts of giving false information to the law enforcement. She was sentenced to four years in jail in which included time that she already served. She was also fined 1,000$ per count. She served three years and one day.

As the film Murder On A Sunday Morning, directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, documents, this murder case is a solid representation of the injustice our judicial system dispenses to the non-whites of the United States. The film tells the story of how a 15-year-old, black male was arrested and charged for a crime he did not commit. The film shows the case from the perspective of the public defenders who were assigned, and care to defend, Brenton Butler, of Jacksonville, Florida. While the film mainly documents the case and the details of why Brenton himself is not guilty, it also highlights the systematic racism the ensued before the case opened up for trial. On May 7, 2000, Mary Ann Stephens was shot in the head at the Ramada Inn, while walking

Three witnesses on Monday including the girlfriend of the man accused of stabbing to death a Humboldt State University student during a house party in the early morning hours of April 15 said the alleged attacker was beaten repeatedly by a crowd at the scene. The witnesses testified during a preliminary hearing in the Humboldt County courthouse.

Thomas Silverstein was another inmate which was isolated in a cage away from other prisoners. He was tried for bank robbery and manslaughter. While in prison he gets accused of killing someone which increased his sentence, which he had nothing to do with the murder. Later down the road he ends up killing a security guard, he stated that he killed him because he was picking on him. Thomas was relocated to another cell which had to have the lights

There are many types of murder cases such as first degree, second degree, felony murder, and plenty more. Second degree murder is not purposely killing someone which is what occurred here in the novel ¨In Cold Blood.” Perry Smith and Richard (Dick) Hickock were responsible for the murder, that took place in Kansas, of the Clutter family. The two men did not plan on killing the family. It was only meant to be a robbery.

On Saturday, December 1, 1900, a man named John Hossack was killed in his sleep with a hatchet by his wife, Margaret Hossack. The story told by Margaret was that she had heard what sounded like two boards banging together and by that time the attacker had fled and she didn’t catch a glimpse of him. The next thing she saw was her extremely wounded husband, John, who had a five-inch cut into his head and a fractured skull. A doctor, who came and examined John, and said there was no hope and John died the next morning. As an investigation started, a burglary was thought of as the first motive but the idea flawed because nothing was stolen so the idea was quickly abandoned. In the 4 days between the murder and the funeral, the police talked to

To add insult to injury, Perry gets into a motorcycle crash that left him oddly figured and in constant pain. His life, as a whole, was a series of unfortunate events. His screwed-up childhood left him with child-like tendencies in his adult life, such as sucking his thumb and wetting the bed. Despite his childish emotions and lack of an education, he believes himself to be an extraordinary man with many hidden talents and immense intelligence. At one point he says to his sister, “You think I like myself? Oh, the man I could have been! But that bastard never gave me a chance. He wouldn 't let me go to school. O.K. O.K. I was a bad kid. But the time came I begged to go to school. I happen to have a brilliant mind. In case you don 't know. A brilliant mind and talent plus. But no education, because he didn 't want me to learn anything, only how to tote and carry for him. Dumb. Ignorant. That 's the way he wanted me to be. But you, Bobo, you went to school. You and Jimmy and Fern. Every damn one of you got an education. Everybody but me. And I hate you, all of you—Dad and everybody” (Capote 185). In contrast to his sensitive and intellectual side, Willie-Jay says that he has one extreme flaw: “explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion” (Capote 43). Perry clearly has many unique characteristics. Each one of the small things about him lends a hand in the eventual murder of the Clutters.

The chapter titles are ’The Carew Murder Case’, ‘Incident of the Letter’, ‘Remarkable Incident of Dr Lanyon’, ‘Incident at the Window’, ‘The Last Night’. Whereas from chapter nice onwards as the narrative is resolved the tension decreases, in fact the chapters all called ‘Dr Lanyon’s Narrative’ and ‘Henry Jekyll’s full statement of the case’. Some chapters are flashbacks and are events which happen before but are placed after, therefore it is non-linear. This creates confusion in the reader, but it also clears some of the doubts because of the unexplained information in the novel.

At this point in the book, the killers, Dick and Perry, are on the run. Detective Dewey is struggling to find clues. He thinks that there may have been more than one killer. Dewey is also having trouble finding a motive, as he tries to reimagine the crime.

On November 14, 1959 the police were called early in the morning of a small town called Holcomb in Kansas, the Clutter family had been killed in cold blood. Herb Clutter, the loving husband of Bonnie Clutter the mother of two children Kyen and Nancy Clutter, were all murdered brutally by Dick Hancock and Perry Smith. Truman Capote wrote the book In Cold Blood to show all points of views of this trial and to show his own view on the case. As Capote writes he grows close to the two murderers, Dick hickock and Perry smith. Capote shows Perry 's character as many things such as a quick learner, a follower and he talks a lot about how his past life made him like this. This is not only how Capote portrays perry through the book but he also backs everything up with a story to show why he is like this. This is how Perry Smith was and the way he acted up will he was hung on April 14, 1965 at the age of 36 for the murders of the Clutter family.

Casey Anthony is an Ohio-born and Florida-raised woman that had a daughter named Caylee Anthony be born on August 9, 2005. In the summer of June 2008, following a major argument with her parents, Cindy and George Anthony, who were questioning her suitability as a mother figure, Casey left her parents’ home with Caylee. Over the next couple of weeks, Cindy kept reaching out to Casey concerned about both her and Caylee’s whereabouts. Every time Casey was inquired about Caylee, she would report that Caylee was out under the care of her nanny, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. Nothing seemed amiss until July 13, 2008 when George and Cindy received a notice that Casey’s car was currently being held in a tow yard. Upon their arrival to pick up the car,

The town had trouble understanding who would perform such a crime, and why they would do that to a family that represented everything that people respect. Everyone that surrounded the Clutters becomes a suspect including the unlikely Bobby Rupp. A thorough murder investigation takes place where the Police believed that robbery was the motive. As the townspeople continue their “Christian Duty” of cleaning up after the crime, Capote transitions to Perry’s journey the Mexico. Perry struggles with his role in the murder saying that “There’s got to be something wrong with somebody who’d do a thing like that” (p.131). He mentions that he still thinks of the killings, and is trying to distance himself from the crime. Dick’s thoughts, on the the other hand, don't change; he thinks of himself as a totally normal person. This chapter shows that Dick, Perry, and the town of Holcomb are all affected by the loss is the Holcomb family in different ways. Immediate effects of the murder were shown and the psychological trauma is experienced by several characters.

The brutal diction and sadistic atmosphere that picturize Perry’s childhood leads the audience to revisit their initial impression of him. With a further glimpse into the man’s background, Capote can continue his focus on providing a larger picture. In order to expand on Perry, Capote builds off of his physical trauma and discusses the emotional trauma that he had to face concerning his parents and siblings. His parents were separated and his mom became drunk who did not care for him and eventually he had a falling out with his father and with the multiple deaths of his siblings, Perry Smith revisited these memories many times. His sister, Fern-Joy was a drunk who “fell from the window of a hotel room. Falling she struck a theater marquee, bounced off it, and rolled under the wheels of a taxi” (116), his brother Jimmy “who had one day driven his wife to suicide and killed himself the next” (69), and his mother, “an alcoholic, had strangled to death on her own vomit” (69). According to Capote, such drastic changes had lead Perry to some serious changes in which human life is not something important and is simply expendable. As the writer, he does not believe that Perry’s involvement in the Clutter murder is forgivable but rather, compassion and sympathy should be shown toward him due to his unfortunate circumstances. Additionally, Capote believes that there should be an acknowledgement of

Mary Clayton was right that women in infanticide trials were intentionally presenting themselves to the court as passive victims. The mental excuse women to be acquitted have their lawyers claimed they were not in the right frame of mind to commit such act. With the help of medical practitioners who were usually sympathetic to these women, they provided medical proof in favor of the women. Clayton concluded that these women were working the system as some accused women were told to present themselves in court as passive victims by lawyers, judges and medical practitioners. These strategies were used to avoid convictions and gallows. It also made them to lose agency over their bodies as they were being controlled by these people.