The Center For Wrongful Conviction: Christopher Coleman's Case

Wrongful convictions are common in the court-system. In fact, wrongful convictions are not the rare events that you see or hear on televisions shows, but are very common. They stem from some sort of systematic defect that lead to wrongful convictions such as, eyewitness misidentification testimony, unvalidated or improper forensic science, false confessions and incriminating statements, DNA lab errors, false confessions, and informants (2014). Bringing awareness to all these systematic defects, which result in wrongful, is important because it will better adjust the system to avoid making the same mistakes with future cases. However, false confession is not a systematic defect. It does not occur because files were misplaced or a lab technician put one too many drops. False confessions occur because of some of psychological attempt to protect oneself and their family. Thus, the courts responsibility should be to reduce these false confessions.

Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse

Champion, D.J. (2009). Leading U.S. supreme court cases in criminal justice: Briefs and key terms. Upper Saddle river, NJ: Prentice Hall.

After Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped in 1984, she identified a man in a police lineup and in court as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming that she had chosen the suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the suspect, Ronald Cotton, had been wrongfully convicted of the rape. A man named Bobby Poole, who Thompson testified she had never seen before, was the man who actually raped her. Ronald and Jennifer's book, picking cotton, portrays common factors that contribute to erroneous convictions. Although it addresses a variety of important issues, the most crucial is how subtle factors like eyewitness misidentification, confirmation bias and nature of a defendant can

According to the National Registry of Exonerations (1),(2), from the year 2016 alone shows a record number of 166 exonerations, which almost one-third are wrongful homicide convictions.

The United States prides itself on having robust, deeply entrenched measures implemented across its core agencies, including the police and criminal justice system, to safeguard against wrongfully convicting people who, after further reflection, are factually found to be innocent. As citizens, we have been educated to trust, among other things, that our systems protect the notions that one is innocent until proven guilty and that prosecution must prove any charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet, wrongful convictions are more prevalent than we might think. In particular, the publicity of hundreds of cases over the last few decades has put a spotlight on this indisputable

"Christopher Abernathy Case - Illinois Innocence Project - UIS." Christopher Abernathy Case – Illinois Innocence Project - University of Illinois Springfield - UIS. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

Over 30 years ago Alan Newton was convicted of a crime. He was accused of rape and slashing a ladies face in an abandon building. The victim that was assaulted picked Newton out in a line up. After she identified Newton he tried to plead his case but he was later sentenced to 13 to 40 years in prison. Newton tried to plead his innocence, but the justice system sent him straight to jail. Newton petitioned for parole on three separate occasions and he was denied.

Darryl Hunt is an African American born in 1965 in North Carolina. In 1984, he was convicted wrongfully of rape and murder of Deborah Sykes, a young white woman working as a newspaper editor. This paper researches oh his wrongful conviction in North Carolina. Darryl Hunt served nineteen and a half years before DNA evidence exonerated him. The charges leveled against him were because of inconsistencies in the initial stages of the case. An all-white bench convicted the then nineteen-year-old Hunt, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. A hotel employee made false claims that he saw Hunt enter the hotel bathroom, and later emerge with bloodstained towels. Other witnesses also fixed Hunt to the case.

Two contributing factors to the wrongful conviction of Anthony Smith are eyewitness identification and the adversarial process. The adversarial process relies on the skills and resources of the defense and prosecution. Eyewitness identification includes evidence from a witness who has seen the event and can pick out a perpetrator. In this case, some reasons Smith was wrongfully convicted was because of the adversarial process, he hired a private lawyer Akim Gurdy, but could only pay $3,000 of the $10,000 they were originally supposed to. Gurdy then stopped investigating the case for this reason, and Smith was given an appointed attorney who lacked the capacity to help him with his case. Another reason to Smith’s wrongful conviction was due to eyewitness identification errors.

A criminal background check revealed Richard Brown was negative for CANTS/LEAD (5/3/16). His criminal background check from the Illinois State Police (5/3/2016) and FBI (5/3/2016) were positive. In 1986, Richard was charged with contribution of delinquency to a minor. The girl told Mr. Brown she was 18, but she was only 14. For his restitution Richard paid a $100 fine and served six months of supervision. This is Richard's only run in with the law; he has not been in trouble with the law since 1986. He has since been a model citizen. Inquiries into the National Sex Offender Registry (5/2/2016) and the Illinois Sex Offender Registry on (5/2/2016) revealed no offenses for Richard Brown. A criminal background check revealed Vickie Brown was

MCI received a call from Darryl Bruno, Bruno Counseling and Consulting Services LCSW, stating during a session with Kolten on 08/26/15 he witnessed two visible marks on the child's left arm. Kolten told Mr. Bruno his father became angry, made the lighter hot, and burned him. Mr. Bruno believes Kolten may have been burned with a cigarette lighter on last week. Kolten has bruises on his arm that are still red and inflamed. Kolten's pediatrician has been contacted and an appointment was made for 08/27/15 for 4:00pm. When confronted with the allegations, Kolten's parents informed the reporter that the incident was reported by the child's school, a worker, Jennifer Hepler, has investigated, and the case was closed. Kolten has some severe behavior

All States have accountability to reestablish the lives of the wrongfully convicted people by supporting them with health care and financially. Therefore, the law must be applied to them for their benefit with fair compensation to the extent possible. Those people need a lot for their wasted years in prison. After they exonerated, they going to face another world that they did not know because it changes dramatically than they know before the prison. Note that Harward was arrested when he was 26 years old. He was never married, and did not have children. While others had a job and family. Now, what will happen with him? How will he face the world?

Have you ever been grounded or punished by your parent’s for something you honestly didn’t do? Maybe your sibling or friend stole something or hurt someone and the blame and the “horrible” consequences were put on you. No phone, no TV, no friends over, confined to your room. Straight tortures and a feeling of betrayal and dishonesty from everyone around you. Now, imagine being an adult wrongfully accused of a major crime such as an armed robbery or murder, which they didn’t commit, except it isn’t being grounded or their parents they 're worried about, its sitting behind bars, no longer a free citizen, fighting for their freedom with most likely one of the following things happened such as an eyewitness identified the wrong individual, false confessions, Perjury, maybe even forensic science error. Imagine as a child how you felt being grounded in the comfort of our own home. Just picture how an individual would feel wrongfully convicted in a cold, 10x10 box with a cold cot to sleep on! The injustice of being convicted and imprisoned for a crime one did not commit is intuitively apparent. I would take being grounded over a jail cell any day.