Steven Avery of Manitowoc County in Wisconsin was accused of the rape and assault of Penny Beerntsen in 1985. Avery however didn’t commit this crime and spent 18 years in prison as an innocent man. Until in 2003 when new DNA evidence led to another suspect, meaning that he was innocent. The police of Manitowoc County when they heard about this crime immediately thought Steven was to blame. They thought it was Steven because of his past crimes and family history. Even though no evidence connected Steven to the crime no other suspects were even mentioned.
There is another man that has been wrongly accused for what he knew he didn’t do but was still considered guilty. Marvin Anderson was a person with good heart and lived with his girlfriend and had a good life till he was mistaken for a criminal. First, Anderson was considered guilty for accusing a woman of another race and attacked her. Anderson was considered an assaulter and put into a testimony of a white-victim (Anonymous). Here his is being considered a criminal of a woman of another race to the trail and being a testimony of the victim that had said that he was he one that had assaulted her. However, when Anderson was in prisoned, his lawyer has been trying to see if they would do a DNA test to prove if it was him or
Anderson’s lawyer at trial and on appeal provided obviously and grossly inadequate representation. The failures of defense counsel are overwhelmingly sins of omission, especially the failure to investigate. This is proven true as over half of the exonerees from the innocence project claim government misconduct throughout their trials. This also ties in with government misconduct. Common forms of misconduct made by prosecutors are : withholding exculpatory evidence from defense, deliberately mishandling, mistreating or destroying evidence, allowing witnesses they know or should know are not truthful to testify, pressuring defense witnesses not to testify, relying on fraudulent forensic experts, making misleading arguments that overstate the probative value of testimony. Government misconduct took on a major role throughout the entire case in prosecuting Anderson. The innocence project mentions this, “In the years after Anderson’s conviction, when DNA testing had become widely available, Anderson sought to prove his innocence of the crime. After his lawyers were told by the police, prosecutor, and court that the rape kit and its contents had been destroyed, Anderson contacted the Innocence Project and his case was accepted in 1994.” All the evidence had been destroyed, wonder how that happened? It is undeniable that foul play is present within
The Avery’s finally had help from the innocence project which is a foundation to help set innocent people free. He went through the files and all evidence to find that finger nail scrapings were never taken for DNA. Since technology wasn’t really up to date back then, detectives never really bothered going to DNA labs. The Avery’s lawyers sent out the scrapings to get tested. Forensics found 13 pubic hairs. Eleven of those hairs had no root and one belonged to penny so the one that was left held all the answers. Both penny and Steven have the same alleles. Every person has two alleles but the lab found a third which did not match theirs. This was the DNA of George Allen. Allen was someone in the county who had a history of sexual assault on several
Steven Avery is guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach. Halbach was last publicly seen at the Avery’s family car lot where Steven Avery murdered, raped and mutilated Teresa Halbach. Prosecutor Ken Kratz not only has class and individual evidence but witnesses that ties Avery to the murder of Teresa Halbach. This essay will prove that Steven Avery is guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach.
The questionable forensic evidence, the untrustworthy witnesses and the insufficient investigation are all reasons why Steven Truscott should never have been charged with the rape and murder of Lynne Harper. Being charged with something you did not commit is something nobody wants to go through. Evidence, witnesses and the investigation portion is very important for a case to run correctly. It took Steven Truscott 42 years to finally get his name cleared. He went through many trials and hearings to finally get the news one day that he was free to go. Most of his life was taken from him that he will never get back. “They finally got it right after all these years. I am so used to fighting. Now we don’t have to fight anymore.”
14 year old Steven Truscott gave his classmate Lynne Harper a ride on his bicycle on June 9, 1959. Truscott had dropped her off before they parted ways. Lynne was reported missing later that night, and two days later, her body was found on a nearby farm. She was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. The community was horrified by what happened to this young girl and everyone was determined to find the killer. Immediately, investigators became fixated on Truscott as the prime suspect since he was the last person to see Lynne. They didn’t consider any other suspects, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. He was arrested 24 hours later, and stood trial as an adult. (Steven Truscott |
On one night in September 1931 Mrs. Thalia Massie the wife of Lt. Thomas H. Massie was found badly beaten and wandering about on Ala Moana Road. At the same time, five local men- two Hawaiians, two Japanese, and a Chinese Hawaiian- also known as the Kalihi Gang, were arrested for assault and battery. Mrs. Massie identified Joseph Kahahawai, Henry Chang, David Takai, Benny Ahakuelo, and Horace Ida as the people who had attacked and raped her. The Kalihi Gang was arrested and put on trial for rape. The police investigation was not done properly.
A man by the name of Darryl Hunt was apprehended at the age of 19. He was charged and convicted of a murder that he did not commit in the year of 1984 in North Carolina. During the trial, the testing of DNA results proved the innocence of Mr. Hunt in 1994, however it took an additional 10 years of legal appeals to free him. The death of Deborah Sykes, a 25 year old copy editor at a local newspaper, whom was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death is what Mr. Hunt was accused of doing. Until this day this crime still touches many including Mr. Hunt.
After the 15 day trial, the teenager was found guilty, charged with murder and was sentenced to be hanged. He was the youngest death row inmate in Canada. During the trial, Steven was represented by Frank Donnelly. All the evidence that was shown in court was all circumstantial, and was centered on determining the estimated time of Harper's death which implicated Truscott. Another thing they found as evidence was that he had fresh burns on his penis which led to them believing he did rape her.
Clarence Harrison and David Ranta cases are similar due to the fact that it shows the main goal for our criminal justice system is to seek justice. Harrison was wrongly convicted of a crime due to a flawed eyewitness testimony and DNA blood test. His armed robbery conviction at the age of nineteen also played a major part in his case, because it allowed his face to be put into a lineup of suspects. The victim who was sexually assaulted picked out Harrison as the man who attacked and raped her at the Marta Bus station. Sophisticated DNA blood testing was not even available during the time of Harrison’s conviction. The blood test administrated could only rule that Clarence was one of the eighty-eight percent of the population who could have committed the sexual assault. Unfortunately, Harrison had no clear alibi, and eyewitness testimony the jurors found him guilty of rape where he served seventeen years before he was later exonerated.
"Christopher Abernathy Case - Illinois Innocence Project - UIS." Christopher Abernathy Case – Illinois Innocence Project - University of Illinois Springfield - UIS. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
The name of my prisoner is Marshall Perkins, he is 59 years old. Marshall Perkins was born on March 2, 1886 in Higginsville, Lafayette County. He was arrested by Kansas City Police Department, under charge of investigation for statutory rape. He was charged by the Sheriff’s Office in Jackson County, Kansas City with statutory rape and habitual criminal act. Convicted of raping a young white female, about 13 years of age, girl (Gladys Jeffries) was returning home around 11 p.m. after seeing a show at Vista Theater, Kansas City with another female (friend).
The book Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, tells the tale of two young men being on trial for felony murder. Sixteen year-old Steve Harmon and twenty-two year-old James King are accused of participating in a robbery that caused the death of an innocent man. That innocent man’s name was Aguinaldo Nesbitt, and he owned a drugstore in Harlem. The Prosecutor, Sandra Petrocelli claims that Steve Harmon served as the lookout in the robbery, and also says James King was the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Aguinaldo Nesbitt. Steve Harmon’s Attorney Kathy O’Brien does a great job of making Steve appear as a regular, respectful, smart kid, and seems to have a great interest in film which his teacher George Sawicki points out in his testimony. James King’s attorney, Asa Briggs, tries her very best to make King look innocent, but there isn’t much evidence that doesn’t put him at the crime scene. The state calls two witnesses that are very significant in deciding whether James King is guilty, and why Steve is not, and those witnesses are Richard “Bobo” Evans and Lorelle Henry. And the defense ( Kathy O’Brien) calls George Sawicki to the stand and he preaches about how great of a student and person Steve is, so it makes him look even more innocent to the jury. All of these witnesses make James King look
The Steubenville and Glen Ridge rape cases are two very similar cases. The perpetrators were football student athletes with promising futures and the victims were teenage girls whose capability of consenting to the acts done to them were questioned. One of the victims was seventeen-years old and had an intelligence quotient of 64 and the reading comprehension of a second grader. The second victim was sixteen-years old and was publicly assaulted while she was completely intoxicated. This paper will discuss each victim and their perpetrators, as well as the trial sentencing and prosecution. It will explore the different reactions from the community and the debate over the victim’s responsibility leading towards the incident. In both rape
Although Jefferson and Steven both accused of murder, their results were completely different. Jefferson was sentenced to death after shortly being in jail. Steven had life in prison. Steven also had another case before the murder, he was accused of sexual assault. Jefferson only had one but he was the bystander of the situation of the shooting of two people in the corner store. In Jefferson’s case he was also stealing after the shooting incident which in Stevens case had nothing to do with stealing or any of Jefferson’s problem.