Robert Lee Yates seemed to be an ordinary man. He had five children, had served for many years in both the U.S. Army and Washington Air National Guard. During this time he accumulated numerous military awards. He was described by his comrades as “a true professional who was very proficient in his job.” (King). On the outside he appeared to be an average guy who had a family and worked hard. However, Yates was not what he appeared to be on the surface. He was a rapist and a killer, who was charged with the murder of thirteen women, and the attempted murder of a fourteenth woman in Spokane, Washington. He was also charged with the murder of two other women in nearby Pierce County, Washington.
Growing up Robert Lee Yates was your average middle
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Undercover officers were placed in areas within Spokane were prostitution was known to an issue. It was on the night of November 20th, 1998 that police finally had a suspect. Yates was pulled-over by police after he picked up a prostitute. Note that he was driving a Honda Civic and not a white Corvette in this encounter. During this incident the police were unable to arrest either of the two because they said that Yates had come to pick her up to take her home. Yates was off the hook for now. It wasn’t until nearly a year later in the fall of 1999 when Yates was connected to the …show more content…
The physical evidence was insurmountable. DNA evidence along with a match of fibers and debris on the bodies to Yates car and home clearly connected him to the string of murders. The jury was out, so to speak, he was guilty, but his punishment is what needed to be decided. The defense painted Yates as family man and a hard worker who just made some mistakes. They also stated that he felt remorse for his actions and had turned to Christianity in repentance for his sins (Karisable). The prosecution seemed to buy it and didn’t seek the death penalty which seemed to be the clear decision for most (Blocker). It wouldn’t be until the trial in nearby Pierce County that Yates would face and ultimately receive the death penalty in October of 2002
Anderson along with fellow police officer Henry Tavarez was busted for “flaking” four men (i.e. in this case planting cocaine) in a Queens bar, NY in 2008 in order to help his partner, who had a low of buy-and-bust arrest record and thus was in jeopardy of losing his undercover job, and be assigned to regular patrol, which he did not welcome.
The crime he committed was terrible and obviously something that could only be done with someone who lacks any good intentions. His behavior during the his trial also showed the extent of his maliciousness. He half-heartedly attempted to defend himself by claiming the prosecutors were using false evidence and that, according the records of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, “Nobles concludes that he was denied the fundamentally fair and impartial trial guaranteed him by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment”. He put very little effort into defending himself during the trial and was quickly sentenced to death. In the early years of his time in prison he was far from the ideal prisoner. Earle presents how “He once broke away from guards while returning to his cell from the exercise yard and climbed the exposed pipes and bars in the cell block, kicking down television sets suspended outside on the bottom tier.” and on another occasion he cut himself just so he could hit an officer while they were attending to him before he passed out. This kind of behavior was completely eradicated long before he was executed, procuring him the respect of the prison
On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were known by name was Loy Harrison. Loy Harrison may not have been an obvious suspect to the investigators, but Harrison was the sole perpetrator in the unsolved Moore's Ford Lynching case. The motive appeared to be hatred and the crime hurt the image of the state leaving the town in an outrage due to the injustice that left the victims in unmarked graves (Jordon,31).
...“the Vancouver department had a bias against sex workers.” The majority opinion of the department was evident, the women were no more than misplaced prostitutes. Therefore, they did not require priority status. Rather than, acknowledging the possibility of a serial killer, the VPD and RCMP ignored tips that could have incriminated Robert Pickton. The tips collected consisted of, public complaints regarding a serial killer preying on addicts and prostitutes, individual police suspicion, and a 1999, eye witness statement of a butchered women on the Picton farm. Lastly the report addressed critical devices which could have been used to apprehend Pickton earlier. The two specifically mentioned were, Kim Rossomo, a geographic profiler who was ignored when he warned of a serial killer, and the investigators who were not provided with key information relevant to the case.
The issue here I believe is with the justice system itself and not the direct actions of the prosecution or the police involved. The blame isn’t really so easy to point out honestly. If anyone is to blame at all it would be the people who tampered with the crime scene and the potential failure/inability of the police in preserving the scene if it was possible.
In the following assignment, it is my intention to produce a research report, examining women involved in street prostitution and how they end up entering the criminal justice system. Within the report I will look at three pieces of research, review their main findings, the type of research that was used, and look to identify where I believe further research is required. My reason for choosing women in the criminal justice system is that I have expressed an interest in the criminal justice setting and my elective module is in this area. Anything that I learn from undertaking this assignment will aid my understanding and increase my knowledge base when undertaking my second placement. Prostitution has been defined as: "Prostitution involves the exchange of sexual services, sometimes but by no means exclusively
...rafficking. Jaray Mickell Wilson has been missing since October 15 and that information indicates that she is being held against her will. Two Arizona men face human trafficking charges, accused of forcing a 16-year-old girl to work as a prostitute in Oklahoma City. Tyree Lajuan Turner, 27, and Jamar Rodney Reineke, 24, both of Phoenix, were charged Thursday.
...eemed so real. In conclusion the Texas government should have done a better job during this investigation and figured out it was an accident before an innocent man was executed.
The officers tampered with evidence and made a false discovery that he was the person and that is how he was convicted (Innocent Project N.D.). Many forensic methods have been implemented in research when looking for evidence, but the methods that are not scientific and have little or nothing to do with science. The result of false evidence by other means leads to false testimony by a forensic analyst. Another issue with forensic errors is that it is a challenge to find a defense expert (Giannelli, 2011).
The Death Penalty Should Be Enacted In Illinois Due to the recent releases of newly exonerated Death Row inmates, individuals and organizations are calling for a moratorium- a cooling off period for state executions. The cases of just a few inmates makes it apparent that this would be a necessary step to save innocent lives. After 17 years in prison, Illinois Death Row inmate Anthony Porter was released from jail after a judge threw out his murder conviction following the introduction of new evidence. This reversal of fortune came just two days before Porter was to be executed. As reported in USA Today, Porter's release was the result of investigative research as conducted by a Northwestern University professor and students. The evidence gathered suggested that Porter had been wrongly convicted. Were these new revelations and the subsequent release of Porter a lucky break or a freak occurrence? Not likely, reports DeWayne Wickham, also of USA Today. He points out that since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, of those sentenced to death, 490 people have been executed while 76 have been freed from Death Row. This calculates into one innocent person being released from Death Row for every six individuals that were executed. This figure correlates with the 1996 U.S. Department of Justice report that indicates that over a 7-year period, beginning in 1989, when DNA evidence in various cases was tested, 26% of primary suspects were exonerated. This has led some to conclude that a similar percentage of inmates presently serving time behind bars may have been wrongly convicted prior to the advent o...
The person I chose to research was Gary Ridgway. He is also known as The Green River Killer. Gary was a serial killer in Washington. He has been convicted of murdering 49 women, he has confessed to around 60 killings, but is estimated to have killed closer to 80 women. All the women that he had killed were prostitutes that he had picked up, had sex with them, and then strangled them. He says that he never raped or tortured any of his victims, he just killed them. Gary started killing prostitutes in 1892 and is confirmed to have killed till 1998, but is thought that his last kill was around 2001. He was called the Green River Killer because his first victims’ bodies were found around the Green River.
NBCNews.com. Jury: Yates insane, not guilty- US news- Crime & courts / NBC News. 26 7 2006. 28 2 2014. .
Recognized experts have pointed out that prostitution is no longer an attractive investment for organized crime because it is difficult to control, is too visible, and affords too small a return compared to the severe penalties for procuring. It is obvious that ancillary crime-larency, robbery, assault, and misuse of narcotics does occur in conjunction with prostitution, especially when a streetwalker is involved. Whether it is rational to make one activity criminal in order to reduce or control another merits serious inquiry.
Quinet, K. (2011). Prostitutes as victims of serial homicide: Trends and case characteristics, 1970-2009. Homicide Studies, 15(1), 74-100.
The Andrea Yates murder trial was one of the most highly publicized cases of 2001. Perplexing and complicated, it appealed to the public audience for various reasons. A mother methodically, drowns her five children in the family bathtub after her husband leaves for work. Was this an act of a cold calculating killer, or was this the act of a woman who lost touch with reality. Is this a case of medical neglect, and psychological dysfunctions, or is this a battle of ethics and deviant behavior exploiting medical and legal loop holes?