The case of the State of Florida vs. Chad Heins happened in 1994 in Mayport, Florida. It was on April 17, 1994 that Tina Heins, who was pregnant at the time, was found stabbed to death in her apartment. She shared an apartment with her husband Jeremy Heins and Jeremy’s brother Chad Heins. At the time of the incident Jeremy Heins was on a ship because he worked in the navy but Chad Heins was at the apartment. Before the incident happened Chad Heins, the defendant, who was nineteen at the time, used his brothers license to buy alcohol at a strip club near the apartment. After that Chad Heins had went to another bar where his brothers license got confiscated. He left the bar around 12:45 a.m. and went back to the apartment. He then washed his …show more content…
According to the Innocence Project (2006), “On September 17, 2001, Chad wrote the Innocence Project in New York, which, in 2003, enlisted pro bono counsel from Holland & Knight to file a motion for DNA testing on Tina’s fingernail scrapings.” The state had tested the DNA that was under Tina’s nail from the first case but at that time it was inadequate and could not be tested. It was not until now that we have the technology capable enough to test it. In June 2004, the test came back negative to matching both Jeremey and Chain Heins but did come from an unknown male. The state argued that it was not enough to overturn the conviction so Chad’s attorney asked the state to do some further testing and to compare the DNA from under the fingernails to the hairs that was found on Tina’s body. It was in 2005 that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed that there was a match between the DNA under Tina’s nail and the pubic hair. According to LaForgia (2006), “this particular type of DNA, the report stated, was found in only about 8 percent of Caucasian American men.” During this process there was a new piece of evidence that Chad’s attorney had learned about during the appeals process, a fingerprint. There were some accusations that the prosecutors never disclosed this information about this third fingerprint and if they did it was too late. The jurors did not even know about this fingerprint and if they did this could have changed the whole case. This fingerprint was found on several objects that included the smoke detector, a piece of glass, and the bathroom sink. It was soon discovered that this fingerprint matched with the DNA found on the bedsheets that Tina was on. This was finally enough evidence to help Chad Heins become exonerated in
City of Pinellas Park v. Brown was a case brought to the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District by the plaintiff Brown. In this case, the Brown family sued the City of Pinellas Sheriff Department on the grounds of negligence that resulted in the tragic death of two Brown sisters during a police pursuit of a fleeing traffic violator Mr. Deady. The facts in this case are straight forward, and I shall brief them as logical as possible.
James Desmond Booth, who is presently 30, had received good grades all throughout all his years in school and had a good family life, after being adopted by his grandparents. He also played varsity basketball in his hometown, at New Smyrna Beach High School. His grandmother, Beulah Booth, stated that her grandson was also a good father to his daughter and infant son, while other family members suggested that he loved his young children and he continues to make contributions in their lives. It is peculiar that a man with these beginnings and familial connections went on to receive seven felony convictions, with some including “possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon” (Frederick 2014 p.1: Sept. 29, 2009). After sitting in on the current trial brought against Mr. Booth and taking notes, sociological theories of crime were utilized to help to interpret the previous actions of this particular man’s history of misconduct.
As we learned this week, DNA databases are used by various governmental agencies for several different purposes. We all have seen new magazine shows such as, 20/20 or Dateline, that show the collection of DNA samples from suspects in a case that is compared to those collected at the scene of the crime. But what happens when the sample is an incomplete match, compromised, or contaminated? The answer is the wrongful conviction of innocent citizens. The case that I have decided to highlight, is the wrongful conviction of Herman Atkins. In 1986, Atkins was convicted of two counts of forcible rape, two counts of oral copulation, and robbery in the state of California. It was alleged that Herman entered a shoe store, and raped, beat, and robbed a
Throughout the trial, there were multiple points in which Bibbins had false accusations thrown against him from the victim and the law enforcement of Baton Rouge. The victim clearly misidentifies her rapist and clearly is distraught while identifying, "The victim's initial description of the attacker was a man with long and curly hair, wearing jeans. Bibbins was wearing grey shorts and had short, cropped hair at the time" (Innocent Project). As with false accusations there were multiple occasions in which evidence proving Bibbins innocence were not present during the trial. Baton Rouge police had discarded evidence from the crime, "The allegations of evidence tampering gained credibility in 2003 when DNA testing unavailable at the time of Bibbins' trial excluded him as the girl's rapist" (Sherrer). Eventually Bibbins is able to use this information of evidence tampering to help strengthen his case against the city of Baton
Even though the prosecution presented evidence to the court, the only clear-cut hard fact the prosecution had against Anthony was that she failed to file a report for her missing daughter Caylee and that when she finally did a month after her daughter had gone missing, she proceeded to lie profusely to the authorities on the events that took place. The prosecution focused highly on the forensic evidence of decay located in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car. The use of a cadaver dog to search the vehicle led investigators to be able to determine that a decomposing body had been stored in the trunk of the car. The forensics department used an air sampling procedure on the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car, also indicating that human decomposition and traces of chloroform were in-fact present. Multiple witnesses described what they considered to be an overwhelming odor that came from inside the trunk as it where the prosecution believes Caylee’s decomposing body was stowed. Several items of evidence were ruled out to be the source of the odor, as experts were able to rule out the garbage bag and two chlorine containers located in the trunk as the source. The prosecution alleged that Casey Anthony used chloroform to subdue her daughter and then used duct-tape to seal the nose and mouth of Caylee shut, inevitably causing her to suffocate. Based off the
On the evening of September 21, 1977, the alleged victim in the case, known as Pat, was out at a high school alumni function, where she met up with several friends. They decided to go to Fells Point to have a few drinks. While en route, Pat stopped to phone her mother who was watching her child to inform her that she would not be out much longer. Once at Fells Point, they went to the bar and had approximately one drink. Pat and her girl friend, Terry, walked two blocks to an additional bar. This is where Pat met the defendant, Edward Rusk. A conversation ensued between the two of them. It was reported that their conversation covered the subject of them both being separated from their spouses and having children. Rusk is reported to have asked Pat for a
The court must find more evidence and not to depend on eyewitness testimony and to look for the best people as possible. Besides, there more evidence that DNA testing. Eyewitness must be proven in order to arrest the right suspect and question the suspect to get more evidence in steady of keeping in prison for false witness. The police for tracking everywhere the suspect went and people the suspect contact with that time. It will solve the problem by asking the eyewitness question and the suspect questions to see if both things they said
Crime is a common public issue for people living in the inner city, but is not limited to only urban or highly populated cities as it can undoubtedly happen in small community and rural areas as well. In The Real CSI, the documentary exemplified many way in which experts used forensic science as evidence in trial cases to argue and to prove whether a person is innocent or guilty. In this paper, I explained the difference in fingerprinting technology depicted between television shows and in reality, how DNA technology change the way forensics evidence is used in the court proceedings, and how forensic evidence can be misused in the United States adversarial legal system.
The case that I have decided to do my criminal justice research paper on is the Trayvon martin case. The Trayvon Martin case is a fairly recent case that took place in Sanford a central Florida city that consisted about 53,000 people. This case involves Trayvon Benjamin Martin an seventeen year old African American boy who was born on February 5 1995. He lived in Miami Gardens, Florida with his mother sybrina Fulton and attended Dr. Michael M. Krop High School (CNN) . Trayvon went to visit with his father Tracey Martin who lived in Sanford, Florida in February of 2012. The reason this young boy was sent to be with his father is because he received a ten day suspension from school. Trayvon got suspended from school for ten days because the school found drug residue in his book bag (CNN). Trayvons parents decided to send him to visit with his dad during his suspension because they didn’t want him to enjoy things in his hometown such as family, friends, and football (CNN). Also, this case involves twenty eight year old George Zimmerman who was the neighborhood watch captain for the community Retreat at Twin Lakes. Zimmerman was also a part time student at Seminole State College. He is married to Shellie zimmerman and the father of two son Robert and Glayds Zimmerman.
Abstract; This paper explors the effects DNA fingerprinting has had on the trial courts and legal institutions. Judge Joseph Harris states that it is the "single greatest advance in the search for truth since the advent of the cross examination (Gest, 1988)." And I tend to agree with Judge Joseph's assertion, but with the invention and implementation of DNA profiling and technology has come numerous problems. This paper will explore: how DNA evidence was introduced into the trial courts, the effects of DNA evidence on the jury system and the future of DNA evidence in the trial courts.
I believe the physical evidence was adequately presented given Michael Mosley’s conviction. I also believe that an expanded DNA database could lead law enforcement to criminals i...
There have been several cases in which eyewitness testimony led to the conviction of an innocent person. In one notable case, Raymond Towler was wrongly convicted in 1981 of the rape, kidnap, and assault of an 11-year old girl based on eyewitness testimony in which the victim and other witnesses identified him from a photo. Towler had been serving a life sentence and was released in 2010 after serving nearly 30 years until DNA evidence proved that he did not commit the rape (Sheeran, 2010). In another case, Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl near Baltimore in 1984. Five different eyewitnesses testified that they saw him at the scene of crime. After serving nine years in prison on death row, he was released and paid compensation after traces of semen found in the victim’s underwear excluded him as the person responsible for the crime. Although he was released, he was not formally exonerated for another decade until the real killer was found, Kimberly Shay Ruffner. Ruffner was already incarcerated for unrelated crimes and was identified after the DNA sample from the crime scene was added to state and federal databases and came back as a match for him. Despite the fact that Bloodsworth was a completely different height and weight than Ruffner, five eyewitnesses testified that they saw him at the murder scene (Marshall, 2009).
There are many techniques in the Criminal Justice field that are used to solve cases. DNA testing is one of the best ways to solve cases. Each individual has there own unique DNA profile. Also, in this case DNA testing proved that an innocent person did not do the crimes. Furthermore, I feel that Colin Pitchfork deserves life in prison without a chance of parole.
the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial. National Institute of Justice, 10, 15. Retrieved from, https://www.ncjrs.gov/
In 1987, United States used DNA evidence to prosecute and convict a serial rapist. It all started in Florida when a woman was awoken by noise. She woke up and a man was standing over her holding a knife towards her, threatening to kill her if she didn’t comply. While she was being raped she started fighting back, she was cut on her neck, legs, feet, and face. Once she was raped the rapist stole her purse and left her home. The victim reported the crime to police shortly after. During an examination a rape kit was performed and evidence of semen was f...