Research Paper On Tony Ford

1150 Words3 Pages

This episode of Miscarriages of Justice, veteran investigators reexamine the case of man named Tony Ford. Tony Ford was charged with murder and attempted murder, of four members of the Morelos family. Young seventeen year old Armando Morelos was the murder victim of focus, by which the charges were made in the city’s trial against Ford. This case bring the investors through a whirl wind of emotions regarding the case, when news on old evidence is brought into question just three months before Tony Ford is expecting to receive a date for his death penalty. As Tony Fords’ death row stay comes to an end after seventeen years, the viewer is reintroduced to the case and visits some key players in the trial. In December of 1991, two armed …show more content…

Following the conversation with the prosecutors, the investigators begin to question Fords persona when they initially met with him, calling him “remote [and] selfish”. Even with the conflicting views on Tony Ford investigators continued to look into the case pending the result of DNA found on Victor Belton’s clothing the night of the murder. Investigation then encounter issues in the make-up of the trial of Ford, such as the lack of a physical line up, and the fight against a testimony from Psychologist Melpaz. Melpaz wanted to present the jury with his findings regarding the case, racial misidentification, which could have shown the jury that if Victor Belton had been placed in the six pack line up instead of Tony Ford he may have been as likely if not more likely, to have be chosen. To add to the doubt of the cases structure, a news anchor who followed the case also stated the she found the trial to be unfair. Ultimately the key piece driving the entire episode, holding the all hope for Ford to get off death row, comes back after eight weeks, with no victim DNA from the murder. The investigators do not end up getting any concrete evidence that Ford was not the shooter, but the fact that could not prove him to be the shooter underlines all the doubt in the case that should not be involved when you are looking at a case …show more content…

“Texas is though”, as stated by an investigator, but the punishment should be granted with uncertainty, but as we look into the individual that is Tony Ford we can take a look at who he is from circumstances, and trial findings to determine some of the sociological causes. The basis for the entire documentation of this trial is drastic change from the way the media has portrayed the criminal justice system, we are more likely to have the police and the prosecution of a criminal glamorized and seen as a victory rather than view it as a misguided system. The episode even goes as far as introducing the viewer to an anchor who is convinced the trial was unfairly represented both in context and in the media. Furthering the public’s view Ford, we know that the media has a grand level of influence on the public’s perception, and this case demonstrates that the “selection of individuals who are interviewed to support a reporter’s view” (Barkan, 2015, p.24) can be a grand influence. So for a media correspondent to step out in disbelief, even after years, holds great power for the investigators to go on since they do have someone who may know things

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