Tony Yarbough's Case

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CASE BRIEF
On June 18, 1992, Tony Yarbough (defendant) and Sharrif Wilson (co-defendant) returned to 2832 West 23rd Street in Brooklyn, New York. The address is the apartment complex where Yarbough lived with his mother, Annie Yarbough, and twelve-year-old sister Chavonn Barnes (Hynes, 2010). Tony Yarbough and his mother had argued before Tony left the apartment the day before. The next morning Annie Yarbough woke up when Tony and Sharrif came home to the apartment, and she approached Tony for bringing the defendant to the apartment because she didn’t approve of their friendship. Annie Yarbough then went back to sleep after the confrontation. Once Annie was asleep, Tony who was aided by Sharrif, repeatedly stabbed Annie Yarbough as she lay in her chair. Then Tony and Sharrif proceeded to then repeatedly stab Chavonn Barnes and her friend Latasha Knox both asleep in the apartment as well (Hynes, 2010). After the men stabbed all three victims, they then tied electrical cords around the necks of the three victims proceeding to strangle them. On the same days as the murders, the defendant admitted to police that he participated in the murders and that the co-defendant aided him in the murders. Both men had confessed that they had committed the murders (Hynes, 2010).

However, this was the falsified report and coerced confession made by Detective Louis Scancarella. What really happened in this murder case is what follows. On June 18, 1992, after clubbing out in the West Village area, Tony Yarbough 18 years old and Sharrif Wilson 15 years old returned to Coney Island where both men lived. Wilson went to a friend’s house to sleep, while Yarbough went home to the apartment where his mother, younger sister and he lived (Perlmutter, 2014). ...

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...se years they were innocent. But as many of the students in our discussion said it would be so hard being locked away in prison knowing that you’re innocent but cannot do anything to get out of prison. Wilson and Yarbough said that they got the feeling that justice was repaying them finally after being put away for so many years of their lives.
In conclusion, I feel like this case is a perfect example of how our justice system is corrupt. Having detectives and law enforcement coercing peoples confessions so they can but someone behind bars just goes to show that we as the up incoming law enforcement need to do things the right way to try and fix the justice system were being put in. Instead of cutting corners to get someone put behind bars we need to take the right steps to allow for us to find the true criminal that committed the crime instead of someone innocent.

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