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Greg Wilhoit Death Penalty Case Study

737 Words3 Pages

On June 1,1985, Greg Wilhoit’s wife, Kathy, was found murdered, leaving their two daughters of four and fourteen months old left in the care of their father. The small necessity of having a family was abruptly altered when Kathy was murdered, and even more so when Wilhoit was falsely convicted by evidence of a bite mark, matched to him by two dental “experts.” To worsen the situation, Wilhoit’s lawyer, who once was one of the best, fell into alcoholism, resulting in his not preparing a defense, and showing up to the trial drunk. Wilhoit said, “"The judge told me I was to die by lethal injection. Then he said, 'But if that fails, we'll kill you by electrocution. If the power goes out, we'll hang you. If the rope breaks, we'll take you out back and shoot you” (Vollertsen). Wilhoit was assigned a new attorney for his appeal. After working nonstop for four years and having twelve of the top odontologists in the country review the bite mark, determining it could not possibly be Wilhoit’s, Wilhoit was exonerated of all charges, though he received no compensation for. The …show more content…

In California, the death penalty costs an estimated $499.7 million per year, while life without parole is $11.5 million per year (Report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice). This extreme cost of the death penalty comes from paying for systems that filter the crimes eligible for capital punishment, systems that run the death penalty, and systems that give the defendants a fair trial (Report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice). In Los Angeles, each execution costs an estimated $250 million; however, life imprisonment in Los Angeles has a significantly smaller price tag (Rone). Statistically speaking, if the death penalty were removed, it would save a substantial amount of money for California. This outrageous price tag is exactly why capital punishment should be removed from the legal

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The case involved an individual by the name of Danny Escobedo, who was arrested on January 19, 1960, for the murder of his brother-in-law. Escobedo was arrested without a warrant and interrogated; he did not make any statement to the police and was released after contacting his lawyer. On January 30, Benedict DiGerlando, told the police about Escobedo’s involvement in the crime that Escobedo “had fired the fatal shots” (Escobedo v. Illinois- Supreme Court Cases: The Dynamic Court, 1999, pg.2). He was later arrested a second time and taken to the police headquarters. Soon enough Escobedo requested to have “advice from my lawyer”

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More pre trial time, more experts, twice as many attorneys, two trials instead of one, and then comes a series of appeals allowing inmates to stay on death row for years costs the state more than imprisoning them for life. With all these extra needs for accompanying the death penalty is it really worth it? Execution costs nearly four times as much than life in prison. If we would have ignored pushing the death penalty charges on Ramirez, California would have saved millions due to the appeals of the prosecution if they had chosen life in prison

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On July 20, 1958, an elderly couple in Christian County, Kentucky were beaten to death in their home by intruders with a tire iron. Two suspects, Silas Manning and Willie Barker were arrested shortly after the murders and indicted by the grand jury on September 15, 1958. The prosecution believed the case against Manning was stronger; therefore, chose to try Manning first in hopes that once convicted, he would testify against Barker. Manning, of course, was not willing to incriminate himself. At the start of of Manning’s trial on October 23, 1958, the prosecution requested and obtained the first of what would amount to be 16 continuances in Barker’s trial.

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David Oshinksy’s most recent book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, focuses on the extremely controversial yet important issue of capital punishment in the United States. Oshinsky’s text covers the debated topic in a scholarly yet concise way. With the text being a mere 125 pages, he covers the prolonged, contentious history of the death penalty. At the beginning of the book, Oshinsky describes what occurred in the early hours of August 11, 1967. William Micke was suddenly murdered in the hallway of his house by William Henry Furman, a disabled, illiterate 24 year old who had a troubled past with law enforcement.

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Critical Evaluation of Court Case Kwame Danquah Argosy University Professional & Ethical Issues in Forensic Psych FP6500 Dr. Cronin, Christopher December 6th, 2017 Expert Witnesses and Ethics In the case regarding Commonwealth of Virginia against Richard Allen, two licensed psychologists Dr. Boggio and Dr. Foley were referenced as expert witnesses. Dr. Boggio gave his testimony based on the mandated tests and interviewing the defendant Richard Allen. He seems to have a deeper psychological insight and exclusive knowledge about Allen. Several ethical aspects can be drawn from Dr. Boggio’s testimony about the defendant.

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In 1892, a young woman named Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 2). This accusation was influenced by the lack of evidence at the scene of the crime. There appeared to be no murder weapon, very few witnesses, and the house did not show any signs of an intruder (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 5). Once the scene was investigated, it was determined that the cause of death for both victims was multiple blows to the head by an axe. Two axes were found in the home, and neither had a speck of blood (“Lizzie Borden on Trial” 14).

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he death penalty deters criminals and makes them think twice. This would happen because if they do something really horrible they won’t do it the first place. According to “Death Penalty Focus : Innocent and Condemned to Die: The Story of Greg Wilhoit” “A second trial was held in 1993, but after the prosecution presented their case (without the bite mark evidence) the judge issued a directed verdict of innocence and Greg was cleared of all charges.(Condemned 2016)This means that the trial had second thoughts that helped Greg win the trial. The article “Capital Punishment” claims that “ President Bill Clinton signs the Violent crime control and Law enforcement act that expands the federal death penalty to 60 crimes including 3 that don’t involve

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Although Capote appears to validate Perry’s innocence, his true goal lies in proving the immorality of the death penalty, therefore, solidifying that vengeful acts serve no purpose, as they create more wrong than they do right. Capote utilizes Dr. Jones’ reliability as an advantage to further justify the reality of the psychiatrist’s findings. These findings are trustworthy, as Capote mentions the collaboration between the doctor and an expert in the field on behalf of the two convict’s analyses: “It is significant that a widely respected veteran in the field of forensic psychiatry, Dr. Joseph Satten of the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, consulted with Dr. Jones and endorsed his evaluations of Hickock and Smith” (298). Inserting a respected

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These accusations are effortlessly believed by the court. “and without word nor warning’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draws a needle out. “(Miller 74).

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Facts: In 1961, a fifteen-year-old boy had extreme fantasies about sexually assaulting seven girls in his community. He attempted to carry out his plans to assault one of the girls with ester but failed due to getting stuck in her chimney while breaking into her home. Three weeks later, he changed course and decided that bringing the girls to his home would be better, but he reasoned that he would need to get rid of his mother. He obtained an axe handle from his garage, and he hid it under his mattress. Soon after obtaining the axe handle, in late evening, he proceeded to try to strike his mother from behind when she turned to ask what he was doing; he said he was doing nothing.

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Richard C. Dieter, former director of the death penalty information center says, “All of the studies conclude that the death penalty system is far more expensive than an alternative system in which the maximum sentence is life in prison.” Dieter and many against the death penalty have a problem with the expense of death penalty when life in prison keeps criminals off the streets and is much cheaper. The latest study showed cases were the death penalty cost over one million dollars as cases without cost over $700,000. This doesn’t seem like a ton of a difference until it comes out of taxpayers pockets. It cost taxpayers approximately $90,000 more each year for an inmate who is on death row.

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On May 4th, 1979, a young housewife was raped and suffered a massive amount of blood from a seven-inch stab wounds around throat. Mrs. Patterson tried to get help from her neighbor who lived 200 feet from them. Her two sons went to seek help from their neighbor’s. Unfortunately, Mrs. Patterson died at the crime scene from the four stab wounds. The only witness to the case was Mrs.Patterson’s four-year-old son Luke.

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840 Words | 4 Pages

There is no significant effect on crime rates. Overall, as the use of the death penalty has declined, the murder rate has continued to fall. In California, the murder rate as of 2013 is at a 4.6 rate which is down from 5.0 (“UCR,” 2013). California continues to waste millions of dollars on death penalty trials. Our tax dollars continue to pay for prisoners’ housing and

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E. E. Ashcraft was accused of murdering his wife and was interrogated for thirty-six hours straight (Taylor, 2015). Today, the denial of an attorney and cruel interrogation tactics are prohibited by

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