Innocent man in prison vs guilty one let free Both letting an innocent man in prison and letting guilty one go free are things that shouldn't happen but happen and are wrong . In my opinion, having a innocent man go to jail is worse. One example of this is the case of Daniel Butler who was accused and convicted of murder and was serving time in jail until a new discovery. The Merseyside police had accused Butler of murdering a woman, Anne Marie Foy, in 2005. This was because his DNA sample was on record after he had willingly given it to the police as part of an investigation into a burglary at his mother's home some years earlier.The DNA sample was only a partial match to Butler, but it was also of poor quality, and forensic experts at the time said …show more content…
Merseyside Police told the BBC that all the evidence gathered satisfied the Crown Prosecution Service that there was a sufficient amount of evidence to make the case to be presented to a jury, but Butler's solicitor Paolo Martini remains critical. Martini searched for the help of a forensic expert to fight the case and determine that evidence was false. He was able to determine to them how a trace of Butler's DNA came to be on the murder victim. This was because Butler has a rare skin condition, this makes his skin shed flakes of skin, leaving behind much larger traces of DNA than the average person. This is important because he worked as a taxi driver, and so it was possible for his DNA to be transferred from his taxi through money or another person, onto the murder victim. Also, the murder victim was also wearing a glitter nail polish at the time of her death, which proved particularly attractive to dirt and DNA. When the case eventually went to trial and Butler was acquitted and finally released after spending eight months on remand. Ms Foy's killer has never been caught and the case remains open."The problem is the police now take a greater role in the decision about what tests
This illustrates the refusal of the rights of victims and the inevitable denial of justice for society. The coronial inquest that was conducted in 2011, corrected some of the initial issues with the investigation. Before the inquest, vital DNA evidence was disposed of, as a result of human error, which meant that the likely suspect could not be identified. As a result of human error the inquest provided some form of justice for society but due to how late it was conducted the family did not receive justice
We were presented with many facts that all pointed to Mr. Washburn as the murder. In the house all of the entrances were thoroughly inspected by authorities, and they found no sign of ransacking. “[They] examined all the locking mechanisms, all the doors and windows. In [their] opinion there was no evidence of any forced entry” (P.81). When police looked for fingerprints, “They were all of the Washburn family and the maid” (P.81). There was no trace of an outside party; somebody usually in the Washburn house committed the murder. While in the living room, an officer found a drop of blood. The evidence technician was called the next night to run some tests. “He sprayed the living room carpet with luminol. It is a luminous spray, and when it comes in contact with blood it illuminates” (P.82). To both men’s surprise the whole living room was illuminating. After spraying further the men found a trail from the living room through the kitchen to the garage. In the closet the men found a wet mop, which was tested for blood and also came back positive. Somebody tried to clean his or her bloody mess, and try to save himself. The physical evidence proves the killer was somebody who was familiar to the Washburn household.
The aspect of wrongful conviction is established within law to protect the innocent from being abused by the law. Nevertheless, the real issue of concern is the fact of whether wrongful conviction actually helps those who cannot help themselves. With that said, another important underlying factor is whether the criminal justice system has restrictions set up to help those from being innocently convicted and those who have been convicted and later was found to be innocent. By looking at the case of Guy Paul Morin, one will see how the police, courts, and criminal justice system failed in aiding the innocent and bringing justice in society, as well as showing that the system has failed in helping its people, and what must be done to aid those who have been wrongfully convicted.
Summary of the Case On August 1987, Donald Butler opened a store in Winnipeg, Manitoba, called the “Avenue Boutique”. In this store, Butler sold and rented pornographic publications that were considered “hard core” and sexual paraphernalia. A couple weeks later, the City of Winnipeg Police searched and seized Butler’s sexually explicit materials lawfully. From this, Butler was charged with 173 counts under s. 163 of the Criminal Code. These charges included s. 163(1)(a) which criminalizes the distribution and the possession for distribution of obscene materials, as wells s. 163(2)(a) for selling and exposing obscene material to the public.
However, police should have acknowledged that individuals can make mistakenly identify the wrong person, especially an individual who had just tragically witnessed his wife’s death, and that the positive identification can not be the only evidence used to confirm the identity of a suspect. In addition, a search was never conducted on Butler’s home to see if any evidence was there. Unless my memory fails me, police officers also did not perform a gun residue test on Butler to see if he had recently fired a gun. Regardless, police did not find any physical evidence, such as blood, on Butler’s clothes or body. In fact, there was no forensic investigation of evidence conducted at all. Mary Ann Stephen’s purse was later discovered in a trash can, but it wasn’t until after the acquittal of Brenton Butler that a fingerprint belonging to the real killer was found on her purse. Overall, the ethical issues involved in the Brenton Butler case are astounding. The best solution to resolve those issues is to thoroughly perform job duties with integrity. Investigators had to know that more evidence than just a positive identification made by one, rightly upset individual was not substantial enough to confirm the identity of the
Mary Jane Burton a state forensic analyst testified at Burnette’s trail that she examined the pubic hairs from the rape kit and the victim’s sheet. She announced that one hair was consistent with Burnette, others with the victim, and yet the others were consistent with neither Burnette nor the victim. She also determined that sperm cells were present on the vaginal swab from the rape kit. However, the serology testing only showed presence of Type A blood antigens. Burton testified that the victim was a Type A and Burnette was a non-secretor, this meant that his blood type could not be determined from bodily fluids. Although Burnette story changed a bit, he stated that his grandma had heard him come home that early morning. The jury convicted Burnette of rape and burglary. [Exoneration Case Detail . 2014]
Because Simpson was the prime suspect, the judge legally ordered searches on O.J’s house as well as the crime scene. The goal was to find proof that he did commit the crime, by finding DNA or items. Shortly after the searches and tests began, evidence was found. DNA from the crime scene matched the DNA of O.J. Although proof was found, Simpson continued to plead not guilty. Surprisingly enough, O.J st...
The Butler act affected American society by making many Americans question their fundamental mindset during the Scopes trial. Fundamentalism was a religious movement particular to Protestant (WASP) values, that became very popular in the United States in the early 20th century. Despite Fundamentalism being a religious movement, it advanced its way into schools in Tennessee; this helped form the Butler act. The Butler Act was put into motion in 1925, it was a law used to control and adjust science being taught in schools. In spite of the fact that the governor and the people of Tennessee trusted that the Butler act was ideal, especially to “protect the children” against science, they were encroaching upon the freedom of anyone who did not hold
O.J trial, there were other key evidence materials that challenged the prima facie murder case of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. First was the crime scene blood where blood drops were found alongside bloody shoeprints leading away from the bodies of Nicole and Goldman, there was blood on a gate at the back of the condominium, and blood from both sites contained O.J’s genetic markers. O.J had a cut on his hand when interviewed by police after the murders. The defence alleged that the blood samples were collected improperly and handled poorly rendering the DNA results unreliable. The bloody gloves found on the crime scene and the one found behind O.J’s guest house were cashmere-line Aris Light leather similar to the 2 pairs Nicole bought for her husband in 1990. The blood on the gloves seemed to contain Simpson’s genetic markers and had a long strand of blond hair similar to Nicole’s. The defence disputed by suggesting that the glove was planted by detective Fuhrman who they termed as a racist trying to fix Simpson and that hair analysis is not sophisticated enough to be trusted in a prima facie of murder. Then there was a pair of dark, crumpled socks whose DNA tests established genetic markers of O.J and Nicole. The defence said the socks were placed by cops then blood put on them later at the police lab. Blood soaked through one sock to the other side a scenario that wouldn’t have happened had the sock been on a foot. This was compelling that this piece of evidence was tampered
Thought this documentary, there was nothing against Brenton that could prove he had anything to do with the horrible crime. The number reason that Brenton Butler seems innocent not because there was no solid evidence that he was actually near the Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, Florida in between the time of 7 and 9 am. Every piece of evidence the had, which was very minimal, to prove Brenton was actually involved in the crime didn’t add up. The second reason that Brenton Butler was found not guilty is due to how the officers violated many of the states laws and policies while holding Brenton in custody. Brenton was hit once in the face and twice in the stomach by Detective Michael Glover and also his written statement that was supervised by Dwayne Darnell does not match the exact words that Brenton said which against the law. Also when each detective took the stand they seemed nervous or uneasy when being on the stand is an everyday thing they do. The last reason that Brenton Butler seems to be found not guilty is due to the fact that his parents and lawyers had absolute faith that he was innocent. Unlike Steve Harmon, both parents were alongside him the whole case and made sure that Brenton knew that they knew without a doubt he was innocent. Sometimes, a parent knows their child the best and can truly know if their kids are telling truth or
While in jail he had no one to support him or keep him level except for his journal. His parents didn't visit and Kathy O’Brien, his defense attorney, wasn’t believing in Steve ad as only there to do her job. On the contrary, in Murder on a Sunday Monday, Brenton Butler had a huge amount of support from his parents and from his defenders: Patrick McGuiness and Anne Finnell. Similarly, both were treated without respect from people around them. The case came to close for both of the boys after everyone was done after defending their side on the
Second, the search of Hicks home did not include a search warrant, and in Meyers case the police did have a search warrant. In Myers case, police had a lawful search warrant to search for drugs and drug paraphernalia. During that search police located a bloody rag, which was sent for testing. The results of this test revealed the blood belonged to a murder victim, implicating Myers for suspicion of murder. Although the police did have a search warrant, the warrant only listed drugs, and paraphernalia.
Butler was one of many to be accused of a crime he didn’t commit. In 1993, a woman got
Based on the evidence presented above and the circumstances of the case, I’ve decided that there is not enough strong evidence linking Amanda Knox to the murder of Meredith Kercher. The police were careless with their handling of the evidence, which led me to doubt some of their finding. Since the case relied heavily on physical evidence to convict Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede, the evidence should’ve been taken care of better. Considering that a lot of the evidence found was mishandled in some way, I argue that any evidence that might have linked Knox to the crime isn’t enough for a conviction.
...tation, the body was clearly lying exposed only since September 17 (Innes, 2000). The maggot evidence corroborated other evidence in the case, ensuring the conviction of Ruxton (Henley, 2010).