The Wrongful Convicction of Sally Clark

Reasoning: The rules of statutory construction do not support Kelbel's argument that "past pattern child abuse" constitutes several elements; therefore the district court's denial of his motion was fully upon the court's discretion. The court's refusal to give the jury Kelbel's instruction to prove each element of "past pattern child abuse" is also under the court's discretion. The medical examiner's testimony revealed that Kailyn died of internal bleeding caused by multiple blows to her abdomen and based on testimonies given by a neighbor and by Lindsey, it was confirmed that Kelbel was alone with Kailyn during the time she received her injuries. Testimonies given about Kailyn's injuries before December 4th also reveal that Kelbel was alone with Kailyn during the time she received injuries. Moreover, the court concludes that the testimonies of medical examiners and by Lindsey are sufficient to support the jury's verdict.

Unfortunately, wrongful convictions of innocent people sometimes happen in the criminal justice system. 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 received justice; 149 people who were either declared innocent or cleared of their convictions or guilty pleas. Many of them had already served long prison terms for crimes they did not commit (Mencimer, 2016.)

On June 20, 2001 by far one of the most horrific things happened. Five children was drowned in the tub and killed by their mother Andrea Yates (Noah, aged 7; John, aged 5; Paul, aged 3; Luke, aged 2; and Mary, 6 months).

One of several errors in the trial was a reckless omission by a forensic scientist who testified for the prosecution. Semen was found on the victim’s body, the scientist testified, and Dominguez’s blood type matched the semen sample, meaning he could have been the perpetrator. The scientist did not tell the jury, however, that two-thirds of men in America would have matched that sample. Dominguez was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was released after serving four years and sought DNA testing at his own expense. The tests proved his innocence. His case is one of many in which limited forensic science or wrong forensic testimony has led to wrongful convictions.

From the essay, The Dead Baby Mystery, Gawade starts with a court case that involves the murders of eight children of Marie Noe that no one could explain what happened. As Gawande writes, “some of the most respected pathologists of the time, could find no explanation for the crib deaths” (202) and “Foul play was strongly considered, but no evidence for was found” (202). What Gawande has written is that at the time, cases like these, child murder or accident, determines not easily. Even three decades later — the case reopened and she was charged — one of the officials that wrote back to Gawande stating “that there was no direct evidence to support the charges” (Gawande 204). That quote Gawande wrote to show that the charge came from indirect or circumstantial evidence. With what has happened to Noe and the children, Gawande postulates that charging people in the child abuse case is difficult to do because it uses circumstantial evidence. Thus, what I write for this paper will be a summary of Gawande's points in the essay The Dead Baby Mystery of how it is difficult to convict a Marie Noe in a child abuse case.

Rosa Lee Cunningham is a 52 year old African-American single mother of eight, who is a long time heroin addict, and has an extensive criminal record. Of her eight children six of them have followed her in her life of addiction and crime. These crimes include everything from petty theft, to prostitution, to drug trafficking. Rosa Lee has recently showed up at the Howard University Hospital emergency room because her body is trying to shut down due to her heroin addiction, and she has Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The staff in

The defendant reported he was primarily raised by his grandmother in Pleasantville, NJ after his mother passed away when he was 7 years old. His mother's name was Sherry Taylor and his father's name is unknown. He doesn't recall what type of work his mother did. He described his childhood as good, and denied any instances of child abuse and

The Guilty Party Mary Surratt should have been executed because she helped kill the president. Mary Surratt was not just caught for bringing the guns, there was also evidence that she knew many of the conspirators. One reason she is guilty is Mary Surratt brought guns to the tavern which were later later used to kill the president. In the text it reads, “According to him, on both occasions she inquired about “Shooting Irons” previously deposited by her son” (Source 2).

A continuing-contract fifth-grade teacher, Linda Burton, in Pine County Florida, was dismissed from her teaching position after the school board claimed she was guilty of behaving immorally and was found incompetent. In the summer months of 2015, Burton was said to have gone on an alcohol binge, during which she separated from her husband. Burton was involved in a confrontation with two local Sherriff deputies. The deputies later brought her to a mental facility to observe her behaviors, since she was apparently found to be a danger to herself or others, based on the Baker Act. She was later charged with drunken disorderly conduct, to which Burton pled nolo contendere, or no contest.

The mission of the agency is to “develop potential procedures to decrease the possibility of conviction of the innocent in North Carolina, thereby increasing conviction of the guilty.” In 2003 the proposal of the commission was implemented by the instruction and teaching committee of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standard Commission and was incorporated into State Basic Law Enforcement Training. These were eventually made into statutory law in 2008. The NCIAC takes thousands of claims and has taken multiple cases to court (Garrett 2013). Agencies like the NCIAC work to bring justice to those who were served injustice. The innocent who end up in prison can’t exonerate themselves on their own. They need help and commissions are their last chance to the freedom they deserve. Commissions have been a helpful asset to pardon the innocent but the largest cause for exonerations is based on DNA testing.

Before the trial commenced, Mary was seen as an innocent woman who could, in no way have committed the crimes that were charged against her. The public believed she was wrongly accused because she was a Southern woman who was educated, in the upper class, a devoted mother, and a pious Catholic. Back in this time period, people did not believe that a woman could be a murderer or even involved in a plot to do so. Mary played the role of defenseless innocent woman perfectly during the trial as well. Throughout her trial, Surratt played the role of helpless southern woman who was just trying to provide for and protect her family from harm. However, her attempt to fool the public that there was no way she could have done these heinous crime, failed

In 1987 in Texas, a prosecutor was faced with this dilemma. Michael Morton was convicted of murdering his wife based on circumstantial evidence. Morton’s defense attorney was never told about, or given access to, the police report in which Morton’s three year old son had told police that his daddy had not killed his mommy. After serving 25 years for murdering his wife, Morton was exonerated after attorneys were finally given access to the police report and DNA testing of a bloody bandana found at the scene of the murder matched a man who was serving a sentence for the murder of another woman.

“When a child dies under suspicious circumstance, abuse is often suspected” (Upin 2011). This happened with the six-month old baby, Isis Vas. This death sent Ernie Lopez to prison for sixty years. A Texas judge did overturn his conviction and now questions are popping up about passed cases. This makes me think, if doctors did this on purpose and did not look at these cases close enough. Or even if they did not even care to look at

The second issue appears to be lack of person-group (PG) fit. PG fit is where employees and co-workers generally get along and has similar attributes such as education, values and supporting one another. Hence, this is not the case of PG being visible between Benton and Scoville. From the case this information has been gathered:

Justice means doing the right thing by settling on beyond any doubt that one’s choice and activities are straightforward and reasonable without trying to