The 1997 Rape And Murder Of 16-Year-Old Sarah Hansen

Introduction This case study review is of the 1997 rape and murder of 16-year-old Sarah Hansen, perpetrated by a man named Robert Keith Woodall. The areas of this case that are identified in this review are: description of the crimes that took place, how the evidence led law enforcement officials to identify the Mr. Woodall as the killer, the rulings handed down by three separate levels of the US Court system, and how those courts came to the conclusion that the death penalty was the appropriate sentence for the crimes committed by Mr. Woodall. Lastly, this review identifies the impact that the decisions made by the US supreme Court had on the American justice system.
Description of the case Late on the evening of January 25 of 1997, sixteen-year-old

Police began the investigation by searching for witnesses at the last known location of Sarah Hansen, the local store where she had been attempting to rent a movie to watch later that evening with her boyfriend. By canvassing the last known whereabouts of the missing person, it was discovered that Mr. Woodall was at the same location around the time that Sarah went missing. Two hours into the search for the missing teenager, police officers discovered a 500-foot trail of blood that led from Mr. Woodall’s van to the semi-frozen lake where Sarah Hansen’s body was found (Supreme Court of Kentucky, 2001). When law enforcement officials began to question his whereabouts on the night of Hansen’s murder, Mr. Woodall told several conflicting versions of where he was and what had taken place that evening. After this, law enforcement discovered several other pieces of evidence that linked Mr. Woodall to the murder and rape of Miss Hansen. Mr. Woodall’s van was found abandoned at the scene of the crime, his fingerprints and the victim’s blood were discovered in the van, as well as on Mr. Woodall’s front door and inside his home (Supreme Court of Kentucky, 2001). After the autopsy was performed, Mr. Woodall’s DNA was found inside the victim (Cornell University Law School, 2013). At this point, officials felt there was sufficient and compelling evidence to charge Mr. Woodall with

Two hours later local Kentucky law enforcement discovered a 500-foot blood trail that ended at a frozen lake where Miss Hansen’s body was found unclothed and slashed. After the police investigation was well on its way, law enforcement discovered DNA evidence matching the victims inside Mr. Woodall’s Van and inside his home. Leading to the arrest of Mr. Woodall on charges of kidnapping, murder, and rape of Miss Hansen. During the entirety of the criminal justice process, Mr. Woodall had maintained that he had indeed committed the crimes he was accused of, and instead of offering a defense of those actions, chose to instead attempt to attack the sentencing process that took place in order to avoid receiving the death sentence. According to the Kentucky Supreme Court, this admission of guilt forfeited his constitutional right to the Fifth Amendment’s protection from self-incriminating oneself because the trial went straight into the penalty phase. Due to there not being clear rulings for this situation an appeal was made to the US Supreme Court and they accepted the case. Upon review, the US Supreme Court decided in a split 6 to 3 decision to uphold the lower court’s ruling that the penalty phase of the trial is not covered under the Fifth Amendment. With both the state and federal supreme courts upholding the original court’s decision, Mr. Woodall was put on death row and also sentenced to two