Shekinah Holemon 11-12-13 CRJ:124 Section 550 Professor Bell Furman v. Georgia In the Furman v. Georgia, the victim William Micke woke up in the middle of the night to find William Henry Furman committing robbery in his house. While escaping Furman killed the victim with one pistol shot fired through the closed kitchen door from the outside. At the trial, Furman was convicted of murder as a result of the incident and sentenced to death. Although Furman did not intend to kill the resident, the fact that he killed the resident during the committing a felony, in which made him eligible for the death penalty. Furman's lawyers appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court after the highest courts in Georgia upheld the conviction.
CRJ 150 McCleskey v. Kemp The case began with Warren McCleskey, an African-American man who was sentenced to death in 1978 for killing a white police officer during the robbery of a Georgia furniture store. McCleskey appealed his conviction and sentence, relying on the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of Equal Protection to argue that the death penalty in Georgia was administered in a racially discriminatory -- and therefore unconstitutional--manner. Jack Boger, then director of LDF’s Capital Punishment Project, argued the case before the Supreme Court on Mr. McCleskey’s behalf. Joining him on the briefs were Julius Chambers, James Nabrit III, Anthony G. Amsterdam, Deval Patrick, Robert Stroup, Vivian Berger, and Timothy Ford. In support of McCleskey’s argument, LDF presented the United States Supreme Court with strong statistical evidence showing that race played a pivotal role in the Georgia capital punishment system.
In order to avoid the death penalty, the defense tried to have Chase found guilty of second degree murder, which would result in a life sentence. Their case hinged on Chase's history of mental illness and the lack of planning in his crimes, evidence that they were not premeditated. On May 8 the jury found Chase guilty of six counts of first degree murder. The defense asked for a clemency hearing, in which a judge determined that Chase was not legally insane; Chase was sentenced to die in the gas chamber. Waiting to die, Chase became a feared presence in prison; the other inmates (including several gang members), aware of the graphic and bizarre nature of his crimes, feared him, and according to prison officials, they often tried to convince Chase to commit suicide, too fearful to get close enough to him to kill him themselves.
Graham was convicted of murder in 1987, after 14 yrs of wrongful imprisonment; the state gave Graham a £10 check and a coat that was 5 times too big. Whereas David Williams, Pride of the Canadian forces, Williams was set free, until further digging found that he had murdered and assaulted many women, he was finally convicted, after writings and photographic records were found. Additional research has found that accents can affect whether the defendant is seen as innocent or guilty. Mahoney and Dixon (2002) found that `Brummies` were more likely to be found guilty of armed robbery than cheque fraud compared to a defendant with a posh accent. Race of the defendant and jury`s play a massive part in the courtroom.
David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam: David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is an infamous 1970s New York City serial killer who killed six people and wounded several others. His crimes became legendary because of the bizarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for committing the attacks. With the police feeling the pressure to catch the killer, "Operation Omega" was formed, which was comprised of over 200 detectives; all working on finding the Son of Sam before he killed again. Berkowitz's Childhood: David Berkowitz, born June 1, 1953, was the adopted son of Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz. The family lived in a middle-class home in the Bronx.
The police coerced Timothy Evans into a false confession by threatening him. After Evan’s execution the police found out that Evans was telling the truth and in fact John Christie was a serial killer who killed many women in his home. Evans received a posthumous pardon 16 years after his
Whenever a method of execution has been challenged as cruel and unusual, the Supreme Court has rejected it. In more recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute someone with mental retardation, or someone who committed crimes as a juvenile. There are five methods of execution authorized in the United States; hanging, firing squad, electrocution, lethal gas, and lethal injection. Hanging is allowed in both New Hampshire and Washington. Death by firing squad is allowed in Idaho, Oklahoma, and inmates in Utah who chose the option before legislation passed in March 2004.
The sheriff struck the rope with an ax and sprang the trap door, and John's body dropped. His pulse did not stop beating for thirty-five minutes. Just over a month earlier, John Brown had been tried and convicted of murdering four whites and a black man, conspiring with slaves to rebel, and with treason against Virginia. The sudden rush of the trial, it's ill-prepared counsel, Brown's suffering physical condition, being tried in a state court for a federal crime, and overall nature of the indictment fueled the fire of those who argued the fairness of the trial. To this day, Americans are divided on on the question: Was John Brown a martyr to be admired or a
Contract killer William Mentzer was among four people sentenced for shooting Radin multiple times in the head and using dynamite to make identification by authorities more challenging.] At the trial, Karen Greenberger was convicted of second degree murder and kidnapping. Her involvement was said to be over a fear of being cut out of a producer's role and potential profiting in the Cotton Club movie. As a result, the murder court case of Radin was dubbed the Cotton Club Murder Trial. Actor secret Michael Finch moved, an East Coast transplant with a college degree and an appetite for the fast lane.
The case then went to the Supreme Court. The case went to the Supreme Court under Chief justice Earl Warren in 1966 because it was dealing with issues that were being addressed. It took about three and a half months of deliberation where his conviction was overturned in a five to four decision. The majority opinion declared that criminals must be told their rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, and any evidence obtained from them prior to hearing their rights will have been obtained illegally. This was a very controversial problem because people figured that other criminals would be let free due to courtroom technicalities.