The Exoneration of Randall Dale Adams
On November 27th, 1976 Mr. Adams’ car ran out of fuel and he was forced to walk to the nearest gas station (Radelet, 2011). Shortly after this Mr. Adams was given a ride by local teenager David Ray Harris who was driving a stolen vehicle. The two then spent the day together, even going to see a drive in movie. That night Mr. Adams returned to a motel where he was staying. Mr. Harris, now alone, was stopped by Officer Wood and his Partner Teresa Turko shortly after midnight. Officer Wood was shot and killed by Harris, who sped off too quickly for Officer Turko to get a plate number or a good look at the shooter. Directly after this Mr. Harris drove home and for the next few days, bragged to his friends
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Adams did not. (Radelet, 2011). After Adams took the stand and pleaded once again his ignorance of the crime, the prosecution presented a signed document that they claimed was Adams confession; but in reality stated that at some point during the day, Adams had been near the scene of the crime. They then sent to the stand surprise witnesses that the defense was not informed of. The defense intended to cross examine the witnesses but the prosecutions said that they were out of town and would be unable to return. Not surprisingly the jury returned a verdict of guilty; now the prosecution would turn its attention to Mr. Adams sentence (Martin, 2011). Seeking the death penalty the prosecution called on two expert witnesses: psychiatrist Dr. James Grigson, whom was known as Dr. Death, and Dr. John Holbrook, who was the former chief of psychiatry for the Texas Department of Corrections (Radelet, 2011). The American Psychiatric Association has stated on multiple occasions that it is impossible to predict future criminal acts of offenders (Radelet, 2011). However, Grigson and Holbrook testified that if Adams were to be released, he would most certainly be a great danger to society. Grigson had testified before this in hundreds of similar cases that ended with a death penalty, hence why he is known as Dr. Death. For the death
Back on October 3, 1974 at approximately 10:45pm two Memphis police officers were on patrol and received a complaint from dispatch to respond to a burglary in progress (Tennessee v. Garner, 1986). Officers Leslie Wright and Elton Hymon took the call and responded to the location in question (Tennessee v. Garner, 1986). After arriving, a neighbor told the two officers she heard glass breaking next door and “they” were breaking into the home (Tennessee v. Garner, 1986). While officer Wright radioed back to dispatch the situation, officer Hymon proceeded to the backyard of the home (Tennessee v. Garner, 1986). Hymon then heard a door slam and seen a person running across the lawn towards a chain link fence, later identified as Edward Garner
Given the nickname “Ford Heights Four” the wrongful conviction of Kenneth Adams, along with Verneal Jimmerson, Dennis Wiliams, and Willie Rainge, was for the shooting of a recently engaged couple and gang-raping the female. In 1978, the couple had been abducted from a gas station close to where the man worked. They were found later in Ford Heights, Chicago, Pinning these four men with accusations of committing a crime. The four men then became suspects for the crime due to a false tip the police had received. Later the four men were brought into be questioned, along with Adam’s girlfriend, Paula Gray. At the time of the crime she could not read or write.
One late night, in 1993 in Missouri, Christopher Simmons; a 17 year old boy along with two of his friends robbed a woman by the name of Mrs.Shirley Crook. They broke into her home and the noise startled her making her get up to see who was in the house. Simmons, who has recently been involved in an accident with her recognized her face. Simmons became upset and scared. The three young men left, but came back later to murder her. The three men tied her up, took Crook to a bridge and threw her off it. They went on to tell people about it; boasting about the crime they had just committed. Christopher Simmons had the idea for his friends to come along because they thought
Lowell Myers is best known for his work on behalf of Donald Lang. Donald Lang was a African American deaf Chicago man who could not speak, and was accused of murdering a prostitute in the 1960s. Lang, who didn’t know sign language or lip reading and had almost no ability to communicate. He was sent to a state school for the mentally retarded after being charged with killing a prostitute in the mid-1960s.For several years, Myers pressed for Lang’s right to a trial.
The Other Wes Moore, follows the fates of two young boys that both happen to be named Wes Moore. Although, their lives start off similar to one another, they slowly begin to diverge in separate direction that ultimately has one of the Wes Moore’s serving a life sentence for murder (Moore, 2011).
During a TED talk, University of Houston Law Professor David R. Dow shared lessons gained from the twenty years during which he protected more than a hundred death row inmates. Professor Dow declared that there are regular elements in the lives of the individuals who are as of now confronting the death penalty. Dow expressed, “If you tell me the name of a death row inmate - doesn't matter what state he's in, doesn't matter if I've ever met him before - I'll write his biography for you. And eight out of ten times, the details of that biography will be more or less accurate…Eighty percent of the people on death row are people who came from some sort of dysfunctional family….Eighty percent of the people on death row are people who had exposure to the juvenile justice system.” Professor Dow asserts that intervention during earlier stages of defendants’ lives might be one of the most effective ways of preventing them from committing violent crimes later on: “People might disagree about whether a murderer should have been executed. But I think everybody would agree that the best possible version…would be a story where no murder ever occurs.” Moreover, Dow explains, “For every $15,000 that we spend intervening in the lives of
Please know that Police Detective Richard K. Alves has fulfilled a life-long goal of being admitted to the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, Virginia for appointment as an FBI Special Agent. His training is scheduled to begin on May 01, 2016. This was anticipated as he has been actively updating us during the lengthy recruitment and selection process.
We have two witnesses, Dr Richard Kimball, the accused, and Fran Goodheart, his wife’s best friend, who will present evidence that will cause you to have reasonable doubt that Dr Kimball is guilty of first-degree murder.
Champion, D.J. (2009). Leading U.S. supreme court cases in criminal justice: Briefs and key terms. Upper Saddle river, NJ: Prentice Hall.
At around 4 a.m. on January 31st outside of an Atlanta nightclub where a post Super Bowl party was winding down, an argument broke out between two groups. The altercation escalated from verbal to physical when one man struck another over the head with a champagne bottle. The actions to take place in the following chaotic moments were fast and furious, and it seems no two eyewitnesses saw the same thing. What is conclusive about the outcome is that a limousine sped away, gunshots were fired at it, and Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar died from multiple stab wounds. If convicted along with his two friends, Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens will go from three-time All-Pro to lifetime inmate.
But then, several days later one of the psychiatrists revised their medical opinion. Because he was not insane, the case would go on. The state of Georgia charged him with murder and issued the death penalty. This was because Georgia state law stated that any form of murder issued with a felony was punishable by death. Furman’s attorneys knew that the murder had been accidental and that Furman was genuinely sorry for the action he had caused, so they decide there was only one other path out: The Supreme Court.
Possley, Maurice. "Christopher Abernathy - National Registry of Exonerations."Christopher Abernathy - National Registry of Exonerations. Umich, 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
1. The attorney general indicted the notorious gangster, Al Capone, for federal income tax evasion.
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
They gave Mr. Coleman the polygraph the morning he was scheduled to be executed. In addition he had no counsel present and the information from the polygraph examination was never released. This is morally unacceptable, it is hard enough to be given a polygraph test, but the morning a person is scheduled to die is absurd. Therefore, it is essential that the interrogator must analyze the state of mind of the suspect before given the polygraph test.