On January 29, 1991, a vile crime occurred in the Heikkila home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Twenty-year-old Matthew Heikkila, the adopted son of Richard and Dawn Heikkila loaded up a “sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun” (Sullivan). He labeled shotgun shells “Mom” and “Dad”, and shot his parents both in the head. Matthew plotted the murder to get the chance to steal his parent’s credit cards, and treat his girlfriend to a birthday dinner. Matthew then left his parent’s dead bodies on the floor of his home and he and his girlfriend enjoyed a night in NYC.
“This is the story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free and has experienced things that he never even knew to dream about as a kid. The other will spend everyday until his death behind bars for an armed robbery that left a police officer and father of five dead. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.”
The case of Cyntoia Brown is about an innocent victim, who had been punished for finding the courage to fight against the ones who had hurt her. Ultimately, this case is the greatest injustice act against a person ever yet. Her whole life, she had been facing abuse and inequity. She was only 16 when she has murdered Johnny Allen in 2004, and is now serving a life sentence, with an eligible parole on her 69th birthday. What the jury hasn’t been told about is that Cyntoia has been repeatedly drugged and physically and sexually
Anya Schultz, the author of a review titled Serial: A Captivating New Podcast, works to show how multiple narratives and stories can be manipulated and sometimes vastly misinterpreted. Serial, an intriguing, enthralling podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, tells the story of Hae Min Lee, a young, beautiful, high school senior who was murdered in 1999. Lee 's case, as Koenig and Schultz point out, has a few missing pieces of information that were never accounted for. For example, how did the jury come to the conclusion that Lee 's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was truly guilty? Why did Syed 's lawyer forget to mention the letter from his acquaintance Asia McClain that could have polished his alibi?
As hard as it is to admit, the American justice system is flawed. The documentary Broken on All Sides explores some of the problems the American justice system has. Some of these problems include mass incarceration in America and racial injustice. This documentary begins with the discussion of the drug war which led to a massive increase of incarnated citizens in America following this was the discussion of the brutality and discrimination African Americans face when it comes to the American justice system. While still bouncing off those two main topics, the documentary begins to discuss about what life is like inside jails/prions and the problems former felons deal with once released from prison.
May 25, 1997, Sherrice Iverson, a 7-year-old girl lost the chance to grow up and live a full life. Jeremey Strohmeyer, a teenage boy walked into the women’s bathroom and intentionally molested and strangled the innocent child. David Cash was a key factor to whether that girl had a chance to a future or not. Choosing to ignore what he witnessed, he walked out of the bathroom leaving the teenage boy and 7 year old girl alone. Because of Cash’s decision, it created a controversial debate of whether he should continue to go to Berkeley.
Flowers offers two reasons as to why Michelle Carter should be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter: She “actively encouraged” him to kill himself knowing that her boyfriend was emotionally unstable and confined in her and told him to “get back in” after he got out of the car filled with carbon monoxide seeking her guidance (3). Furthermore, Flowers presents counterarguments that seek Carter should not do time in prison: for example, Flowers claims that the reason Conrad Roy ultimately killed himself was because her words “get back in”, were “the proximate cause of his death” (3). In the end, Flowers concludes by saying Michelle Carter should “pay for her dark act,
Eventually down the road, Wilbert has lectured at universities, seminars, national and international conferences, and at meetings of organizations for the reform of the criminal justice system and against the death penalty. He also has been a consultant to both federal and state capital defense teams on dozens of cases around the country. Lastly, he also become an author writing about the American criminal justice system and the prison system. In the final analysis, from Wilbert Rideau becoming a strong positive representative to the lack of empathy that Vincent Simmons received, even though his case seemed a bit open and shut, to Eugene ‘Bishop’ Tannehill making a full turn around becoming a preacher to his once fellow inmates.
The criminal case I have selected for this assignment is on Justin Morton; who at the age of fourteen years old Morton was the first youth convicted of first-degree murder section 231 CC. Although, The report show that the young man was raised in a healthy and supportive home with his mother and father. In spite of this, Justin expresses to his psychiatrist his impulse and desire for inflicting pain on others; he claims to have no remorse for the murder of Eric Levrack. Not to mention, He also voiced to former classmates that "Eric was annoying, always invading his space. "As a matter of fact, after the killing on April 1, 2003, Morton had turned himself in, he described the event as an open game of trust just before he strangled Eric with a belt.
When the justice for Mr King was not given rightfully, the people from the streets who went through alike problems hear about it, they immediately want change. From gang members who initiated the truce that helped decrease street violence, to the average high school student being active in protest around the city, the riots were portrayed heavily by the people affected by the beating. At these times, around the clock news and live television coverage followed but also in Ice Cube’s “The Predator” and Rodney King 's speech to the city of Los Angeles. Rodney King, intoxicated, speeding down the interstate had ignored all police sirens and warnings. He led the California Highway Patrol on a eight mile chase down freeways and city streets.
Then the defendants took her to a bridge and threw her off where she drowned. The day following the crime, the police came and arrested Simmons and his friends and charged them with burglary, kidnaping, stealing, and murder in the first degree.” (Roper v Simmons-No. 03–633. Supreme Court of Missouri. 1 Mar. 2005.
Racial Tension in Michael Brown 's case On August 9, 2014, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting caused protests and has drawn the world’s attention because Michael Brown was an unarmed black man while Darren Wilson is a white police officer. People believe
People rebel when no justice being served. It is understandable why people act a certain way. Have you ever loved someone more than yourself? A person is your biggest pride and joy to be safe? Can you imagine how it feels to no longer have your pride and joy with in a split second, due to the way they look?
Journalist and author, Dave Cullen, in his book, Columbine, redefines how his readers understand the Columbine tragedy. His purpose is to illustrate the misconceptions Americans have of the shooting by explaining how these misconceptions came about and became rooted in Americans’ minds, although they were so unbelievably wrong. Cullen creates a blunt tone in order to get straight to the facts to show who Eric really was. Through his use of rhetorical devices in this passage, Cullen unravels that Eric was not a bullied outcast like so many believe, but a psychopath.
This was quite the battle for Adnan Syed, a young oriental male who was accused of murdering his long-time girlfriend in January of 1999. Hae-Min Lee, Adnan’s girlfriend, went missing in January and her body was found buried in a local park 3 weeks later. Adnan Syed is innocent of killing Hae-Min Lee because of three reasons: Cristina Gutierrez, Adnan’s lawyer, failed to put him in a position to win the trial, Jay is not an effective witness, and the window of time does not match up. Adnan is not at fault
