Steve Harmon Research Paper

The American Judicial system is highly flawed and can lead to severe dismay, even if you are innocent. Despite often being relatively accurate, the court system can be invalid and find people guilty when innocent and vice versa, which often results in the prosecution of innocent people. Unfortunately, Steve Harmon is a victim of this, however, he may not be entirely irreproachable, despite the jury thinking otherwise. Some of my evidence comes from the testimonies of various witnesses, such as Lorelle Henry, James King, and Osvaldo Cruz, who can all confirm who had a part in the crime. This essay will prove that Steve Harmon, while not guilty of murder, may be punishable for potentially being involved in the crime, which could invalidate the

Lorelle stated in her testimony, “The gentleman sitting at that table was one of the men arguing.” (Page 164) while referring to James King, however, when asked if she recognized Steve, she did not. This means that due to Steve’s absence, he could not have murdered Mr. Nessbit, and therefore, was not directly involved in the murder. Despite this testimony, Steve may have been involved in some way with the crime, as stated by James King. Some may argue that because Harmon was the lookout, it means he was just as guilty as the actual murderer, which can somewhat be proven by the fact that the murder would not have happened if Steve had told King about the gun. Although, indeed, Steve is somewhat at fault, it wasn’t him who pulled the trigger on the gun, especially considering he wasn’t even there. Even with this evidence, there is still much more to this case than what has been presented to you, so I have compiled more evidence to prove Steve is innocent of the murder, but not of the

Luckily for Steve, he has a highly trusted member of the community supporting his testimony, George Sawicki. In the novel, George states that he recognizes Steve to be a very honest man (Page 235), which supports Steve’s testimony as it further solidifies the idea that Steve is not lying, despite it being false. Despite all of the evidence that shows Steve is innocent, we still have to consider the evidence that shows him guilty. Throughout the text, Steve often changes his story and makes some aspects of it up, and it even goes as far as lying in court. (Page 223-233) This shows that he is likely coming up with some of what he says on the spot, as what he is obscuring would likely get him in deeper trouble, potentially making the jury find him guilty. Even with that in the way, it can still easily be proven that he did not murder Mr. Nessbit, although he was still involved in the robbery, which can further be proven by my final presentation of