A town called Ada in Oklahoma was the home of Debra Sue Carter, a young and beautiful waitress. On a winter night in 1982, Debra Carter was raped and murdered in her apartment. An investigation is held but leads nowhere until weak evidence points toward Ron Williamson. Williamson resides in Ada, he is known for being a nuisance. But that wasn’t always the case for Ron, in high school he was on top of the world. Ron was a gifted athlete in baseball, he was drafted into the minor leagues and from there he started on his journey to become a part of the majors. But unfortunately the major leagues weren’t in Ron’s future due to an injury. Now in adulthood, Ron has been on a downward spiral. His life is consumed by clubs, drinking, and drugs.
Night after night, Ron continues to do what Ron does. It isn’t uncommon if he spends so time in the local jail, normal for just being a public nuisance. One night Ron meets and befriends Dennis Fritz, who is also leading a rather miserable life in a small town. Both of the men are lonely and come together for company.
At one point in the novel, Carter’s potential murderer is Glen Gore – has a history violence against women. But the lead detectives on her case – Dennis Smith and Gary Rogers – rather quickly dismiss Gore as a suspect. Over five years later, in 1987 Williamson and Fritz are arrested for the rape and murder of Debra Carter and both were charged with capital murder. Even without physical evidences, the prosecution’s case was solely built upon the basis of snitches testimonies in the jail, flimsy evidence, and forced “dream confusions.” Ron Williamson was sentenced to death row and Dennis Fritz was given life in prison.
Throughout the whole novel, the reader can easily see the aggressiv...
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...roughout our country, especially in small towns. The likelihood of Williamson’s and Fritz’s story of happening in a city is rather unlikely. This is because in a city there is more people to point the finger at and not everybody has heard of you.
In conclusion, this novel was about an unfortunate conviction of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz and the abuse of power in Ada. Innocent Man, kind of sort of has a happy ending, both of the men are released but the damage was already done. This novel has shown me that even though in our country one is innocent until proven guilty, there are some justice systems in our country that don’t exactly follow that. I have learned that sometimes it is better to lawyer up (aka shut up) to avoid a lot of headaches even if you didn’t commit the crime. The novel is rather on the depressing side but the legal outcome can be satisfying.
The book is great with the plot mainly focused in the courtroom, but it feels like the author put the plot of the story from different events that happened to younger people and not from one whole event. Finally, the document went into depth of how the defense attorney went on to get every piece of evidence as possible to make the eyes of the jury see that Brenton Butler was not the person that shot and killed the
In James S. Hirsch’s book about Rubin "Hurricane" Cater, Hurricane, the author describes how Carter was wrongfully imprisoned and how he managed to become free. Hirsch tells about the nearly impossible battle for Carter and his friend John Artis for freedom and justice. Both, Carter and Artis, were convicted of a triple homicide, and both were innocent.
Alphin, Elaine Marie. An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2010. Print.
Regardless of a personal dislike of reading about history, the book was captivating enough to get through. Ann Field Alexander, author of “Race Man: The Rise and Fall of the ‘Fighting Editor,’ John Mitchell Jr”, explains the hardships of a black male activist in the same time period as Lebsock’s novel. The main character Mitchell was president of a bank and ran for a political office, but was tried with fraud. After Mitchell was sentenced as guilty, the case was found faulty and was dismissed. Mitchell was still bankrupt and full of shame when he died. On the same subject of Lucy Pollard’s death, “Murder on Trial: 1620-2002”, written by Robert Asher, included the Pollard murder in chapter three of the novel. The aspect that any well written historically based novel brings to its readers is the emotion of being involved in the development and unraveling of events. As was said before, one who enjoys a steady but often slow novel that sets out a timeline of events with more than enough information to be satisfactory, then “A Murder in Virginia” is a riveting
The entire crimes committed throughout the book were resolved. The major crimes highlighted in this book are three and they are criminal offenses in nature. However, according to my opinion, the resultant consequences were neither fair nor just. This is characteristically because in drawing the final ruling, Judge Dee relied on Asian influence. This could have been misleading as it depended on ghosts, dreams and superstitions, which are unreliable sources of information in drawing critical judgment. Torturing the guilty as a way of demanding confession raises a moral issue. This is because it can coerce an innocent person to confessing to a crime he/she did not commit.
Fear and confusion plays a huge part in the criminal justice system because of the huge number of cases and facilities unable to handle them. The building is condemned and they have new judge had begun his position as the new supervising judge. His name is Roosevelt Dorn. Beckstrand is excited to be working on Duncan's. His case is a well known infamous one and Beckstrand almost hated the kid. Offenders in this case are used to a substantial number of setbacks in the system and and finding her main witness is becoming trouble for Beckstrand. Ronald, along with the other young delinquents, doesn't seem to care about anything.
Gaines’ novel is centered on a massive injustice, which is a young man who is falsely convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. When Jefferson was brought into a trial for the murders of the three white men in the bar, most of the jury quickly assumed that he was guilty due to his skin color, because, at that time, the assumption of innocence does not
In a compelling story of forgiveness and moving on, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton shared their journey with the Ferris community. Thompson took the audience to a setting in July 29, 1984, by recounting the night of her rape and the measures she went to memorize the face of evil. Thompson, with utmost certainty, declared Cotton her rapist after hours of police interrogations, forming sketches, and a lineup. Cotton was sentenced to life in prison but was at Ferris to share his side of the story and how DNA testing changed his life (Picking Cotton). The events of 1984 were told from two separate accounts, with distinguished parallels discussing the importance of DNA, misidentification, and coercion from police. The rape of Thompson not only affected herself, but Cotton as well.
If that does not occur to the reader as an issue than factoring in the main problem of the topic where innocent people die because of false accusation will. In addition, this book review will include a brief review of the qualifications of the authors, overview of the subject and the quality of the book, and as well as my own personal thoughts on the book. In the novel Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right authors Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer expose the flaws of the criminal justice system through case histories where innocent men were put behind bars and even on death row because of the miscarriages of justice. Initially, the text promotes and galvanizes progressive change in the legal
The victim is nineteen year old Khadijah Stewart. Stewart had grown up in the south side of Richmond, Virginia (a high crime area) where she met a boy named Tommie. Both were in middle school but Tommie soon got arrested for robberies and gun charges, he was sentenced to life as a juvenile. As time goes on Stewart forms a history of dating bad boys. The main on and off again boyfriend throughout her high school years was a young man named Lionel. In High school Stewart is skipping school to hang out Lionel and his gang members. Afraid how the streets could impact Stewart, the mother moves the family to Chesterfield County, a successful middle class suburbs, to create new life. As her life is changing for the better her heart longs to maintain
Steven Truscott was a 14 year old boy who was sentenced to life in prison after being accused of the murder of Lynn Harper. It was June 9, 1959 when Lynne Harper, a 12 year old girl, was heading towards a nearby school after having family dinner with her parents Leslie and Shirley. She was heading towards a nearby school playground in Clinton, Ontario where she came across Steven Truscott. She asked for a ride to a nearby highway. Steven Truscott agreed. Lynn clambered onto the handlebars of the 14-year-old boy's bike and they pedaled off. This short ride would trigger a chain of events that will hunt the lives of many for roughly half a decade. This would change the lives of two families, horrify a community, and bring doubts to the justice system protecting everyone’s lives. Lynne’s partially nude body was found nearby a bush in a farmer’s field two days after the bicycle ride with Steven. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with her own blouse. Almost immediately, Steven was assumed to be the likely killer, although there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. Steven was targeted as a consequence of being the last person to see Lynne alive. Two after the body was found; Steven was charged with the murder and was tried by the court as an adult. The trial lasted 15 days and Steven was sentenced to hang, which was after changed to life in prison. Now when did this misfortune start? It could have been when Steven agreed to give Lynne a ride, or it could have been when there was no physical evidence pointing to Truscott. Even if Steven was a potential suspect, there was no reason of why he should have been treated the way he was.
In Green River, Running Red, author Ann Rule describes a killer without remorse, who is the product of both personal and social influences, in effect forcing him to murder women and to continue to do so for over a decade as a fulfillment of his fantasies. When endeavoring to rationalize the causes of such a mind, theories of deviance, when separated into two distinct categories, positivist and constructionism. Positivist theories, such as the general theory of crime, allows for individual's to piece together events in the life of Gary Ridgway, the Green River killer which would undeniably lead him to a twisted sense of reality, combined with sexual fantasies and a tendency to justify perverted acts of murder. Constructionist theories, specifically conflict theory, are able to shed light on the lives and decisions made by the victims, who were all led to such lifestyles through outward sources. In determining the causes and motivations behind both the offender and the victims, theories of deviance leave little to be speculated on when placing blame on either psychological or social factors.
Gary Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City on February 18, 1949. He was the second of three brothers. Ridgway’s parents were Thomas Newton Ridgway and Mary Rita Steinman. At the time, they rented a room near a local high school. Ridgway’s older brother, Gregory, was born in 1948. Ridgway’s younger brother, Thomas, was born in 1951. In 1960, Ridgway’s parents moved the family into a small three bedroom house in a neighborhood called McMicken Heights which is now the City of SeaTac. He was “Raised near Seattle’s Pacific Highway, a deprived neighborhood near SeaTac airport …” (Biography, 2013). They lived in a working class neighborhood where many other kids lived also. All the kids played together and walked to school together. Ridgway’s father was a metro bus driver whose route was the Pacific Highway South into Seattle. The route went through the infamous strip where Gary would later find so many of his victims. His father also enjoyed running garage sales. Ridgway’s mother was a ...
The famous British feminist and magic realism author Angela Carter, was born on May the seventh of 1940 in Eastbourne, United Kingdom to Sofia Olive and Alexander Carter. In an article called The Guardian written by Edmund Gordon, praised Angela Carter and said that she, “was one of the most important writers at work in the English language.” Her upbringing and hardships inspired her imagination for her works about feminism, sex, love, and so much more has become an inspiration to many readers. Books like Night At The Circus, The Bloody Chamber, and Fireworks allow young adults to really go deep through their imagination.
It was midnight when it all happened. Tom Peterson was sleeping in bed next to his wife after a tiring day at work, while his two little daughters slept in the next room. Suddenly he was violently awakened by the terrified screams of his wife only to get a glance of a huge man standing over him with a butcher's knife. Tom was stabbed thirteen times, one of his daughters was killed and his wife was severely injured. Now, the Peterson family has just exited the supreme court of justice in which the judge has condemned the murderer of their little girl to the death penalty, for as it turns out the Peterson family had not been the first victim of this murderer.