Ruben Carter Timeline June 1975: Dylan visits Carter in prison. "The first time I saw him, I left knowing one thing...I realized that the man's philosophy and my philosophy were running down the same road, and you don't meet too many people like that". March 17, 1976: The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously overturns the convictions, ruling that the prosecution withheld evidence favorable to the defense, and orders a new trial. Carter and Artis are released on bail. December 22, 1976: After a second trial in which the prosecution was allowed to argue for the first time that the murders were motivated by racial revenge, Carter and Artis are reconvicted; the same life sentences are imposed, and they are forced to return to prison. December 22, 1981: Artis is released on parole, after serving 15 years. August 17, 1982: The New Jersey Supreme Court, in a 4-to-3 decision, rejects an appeal for a new trial . November 7, 1985: Judge H. Lee Sarokin of Federal District Court in Newark, N.J. overturns the second trial convictions after finding that the prosecution committed "grave constitutional violations"; the convictions were based on "racism rather than reason and concealment rther than disclosure". November 8, 1985: The prosecutors argue that carter is dangerous and should remain inprison pending the state's appeal. Finding no evidence of dangerousness, Judge Sarokin orders Carter free without bail: "human decency mandates his immediate release". Carter served 19 years in prison. December 19, 1985: The prosecutors assert to the United Stats Thrid Circuit Court of Appeals that Carter is a danger to the community and should be reincarcerated pending appeal. January 17, 1986: The court rejects the state's arguments, and Carter remains free. August 21,1987: The U.S. Courts of Appeals upholds Judge Sarokin's decision throwing out the convictions. January 11, 1988: The U.S. Supreme Court denies the state's appeal, thus affirming Judge sarokin's rulings. February 19, 1988: The Passaic County's Prosecutor's Office announce they will not seek a third trial, and they file a motion to dismiss the 1966 indictments against Carter and Artis. February 26, 1988: A Passaic County Judge signs the order dismissing the indictments. Later, Carter called Dylan's song about his "false imprisonment" a "masterpiece" and said that his "white brother" Dylan was "a musical genius.
In a Georgia Court, Timothy Foster was convicted of capital murder and penalized to death. During his trial, the State Court use peremptory challenges to strike all four black prospective jurors qualified to serve on the Jury. However, Foster argued that the use of these strikes was racially motivated, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S.79. That led his claim to be rejected by the trial court, and the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. The state courts rejected relief, and the Foster’s Batson claim had been adjudicated on direct appeal. Finally, his Batson claim had been failed by the court because it failed to show “any change in the facts sufficient to overcome”.
..., through the determination of a young, white prosecutor and the persistence of Myrlie Evers, the case was not only re-opened but finally justice was served.
In 2 years the trial ended with the verdict of guilty on the account of
Upon her conviction, Mapp appealed the case to the Court of Appeals, Eighth Judicial Circuit, but the cour...
In this article it talks about how a New York judge is debating on letting Herman Bell go. In 1971, Bell had lured two officers Joe Piagentini and Waverly Jones into a building in Harlem where they assassinated both of them. Herman Bell was then arrested and sentenced to 25 years to life, but after 45 years of being in prison, and being denied parole seven times that know he is being granted parole. Obviously as this is all taking place the state parole board had approved last month to release Herman Bell. Though the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association filed a lawsuit because of his wife wants to keep Herman Bell in jail for what he did to her husband and the other officer.
Since Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s death penalty due to infrequencies and the randomness of the imposition of the death penalty. (Mandery, 2012, p.135). The two justices who switched sides between the Furman case and the Gregg case, both expressed mayor concern in Furman with the infrequency and randomness with which juries imposed the death penalty. “For Justice Potter Stewart, the arbitrariness was a matter of fairness. For Justice Byron White, the concern was utilitarian a randomly and infrequently imposed death penalty could not possibly deter” (Mandery, 2012, p.135), they both expressed similar concerns about the apparent arbitrariness with which death sentences were imposed under the existing law, each found the unpredictability of the original statute fatal, it seems only fair to ask whether the revised Georgia statute has created greater rationality. (Mandery, 2012, p.135) The Supreme Court realized that the process in which defendants were being persecuted was not based a fairness practices; it was administrated in a different way by different judges, juries, prosecutors, etc. The Supreme Court found only how the death penalty was applied was cruel and unusual; it was too uneven and inconsistent. As a result of the 1972 Furman decision, hundreds of inmates on death row had their sentences commuted to life, and a significant number of those inmates have now been
...already had a predetermined verdict. They were automatically determined to be guilty, even though there was a lot of evidence that they were innocent including one of the victims (Ruby Bates) eventually defending the Boys. Besides all the problems this case revealed, it also showed that there was good in society. Facing the possibility of death, Samuel Leibowitz still defended the Boys as much as he could. The second judge that presided over the case actually followed the law and prevented any harm from coming to the Boys.
The respondent appealed the Juvenile Court decision to the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. The Appellate Division agreed with the lower court’s decision that there was no Fourth Amendment violation, but dismissed the delinquency verdict and incarcerated the respondent on other grounds.
With the help from F. Lee Bailey, who spent five years appealing the verdict; all the way to the Supreme Court, released Sheppard from prison granting retrial for inherently prejudicial publicity (Rompalske 20). Although Sheppard was found not guilty in 1966, his life had been des...
It has been named the Trial Of the Century. Everyone’s eyes were glued to their television screens. Everyone’s jaws were dropped while listening to the radio. And the only thing they wanted to know; was O.J Simpson guilty? The talented running back turned TV personality was being tried for two murders. In the end O.J. was acquitted. It came as a shock to many, as well as a victory to others. With a handful of evidence against him, some thought there was no way he could be found not guilty. O.J. Simpson’s “dream team” was able to win the case because the prosecution did not evaluate the evidence close enough before presenting it in trial.
Edwards'. Like countless wrongful conviction cases, Elmore was put on trial more than once. The first conviction of Elmore was overturned as a result of reprehensible guidelines given to the jury by the trial judge after the jury had found Elmore guilty and were deliberating on sentencing. At the point when the foreman stated to the judge that one member of the jury was holding out against capital punishment, the judge reminded the jury that they had taken a vow to consider granting capital punishment if circumstances justified it. The South Carolina Supreme Court held that this direction was biased, on the grounds that it was directed purely at the hold-out juror (Berkeley Law School Death Penalty Clinic, 2012; Bonner, 2013; Grinberg, 2014; Law Book Review: Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong by Raymond Bonner, 2012; Van Horne,
court to put him in a high security prison instead of a low security mental hospital. They
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.
“The trial was brought to a speedy conclusion. Not only did Judge Evans find the twelve guilty, fine them $100 each, and committed them to jail, but five people in the courtroom who had served as witnesses for the defense arrested. […] The police were then instructed to transfer the seventeen prisoners that night to the county jail”(30).
concerning the trial before the jury came back in. Since I had not seen the