ipl-logo

The Case Of Timothy Cole

2295 Words10 Pages

The Case of Timothy Cole
More innocent people are being held in our jails and prisons now than ever before. The percentage of exonerations continues to climb, showing an untrustworthy criminal justice system. A lack of accountability for cops and prosecutors, reliance on junk science and misled eyewitnesses, and the indigent defense problem are all important factors in false convictions, which have harmed our system's credibility and damaged the lives of innocent people. African Americans face a presumption of guilt that few defense attorneys are equipped to combat. As a result, although being only 13% of the population, African Americans account for 47% of exonerations. Innocent Black individuals are approximately seven times more likely …show more content…

I am Althea Pagente, your host, and today, we'll discuss the story of Timothy Cole, an innocent man who was wrongfully convicted of rape in Texas and spent over a decade behind bars. This story highlights the dangers of eyewitness misidentification and the importance of protecting the rights of the wrongly accused. Let's get started.
In 1986 in Lubbock, Texas, Timothy Cole was erroneously found guilty of Michelle Mallin’s rape. He was found guilty and given a 25-year prison term, yet he consistently proclaimed his innocence. Sadly, before he could clear his reputation, he passed away in prison on Dec. 2, 1999, of asthma complications. A few years later, though, his situation took a drastic …show more content…

Tim spent nearly two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, and despite being exonerated posthumously, he was unable to enjoy his freedom and see the impact of his case on the world. His case brought to light the flaws in the criminal justice system and the need for more advanced DNA testing to be used in criminal trials. This helped to raise awareness about wrongful convictions and the importance of using accurate and scientific evidence in the legal system. In addition to that, The Tim Cole Act was passed in Texas on May 11, 2009, which provides compensation to wrongfully convicted and strengthens the use of DNA evidence in the criminal justice system. This law has had a positive impact on the state of Texas and has set a precedent for other states to follow in compensating the wrongfully convicted. The impact of Tim’s case was also felt on a national and even international level, as it shed light on the importance of using accurate and scientific evidence in the legal system and the need to reform the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions. Tim’s story has inspired many other cases to be re-opened and re-examined, leading to the exoneration of several other innocent individuals. Overall, the case of Tim Cole has had a profound impact on the criminal justice system and has helped to bring about important changes in the use of DNA

Show More
Related

Check-In Card At The Timothy Cole's Jail

1496 Words | 6 Pages

Timothy Brian Cole, a Texas Tech student, was convicted of a sexual assault he did not commit in 1985. He was later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. The real rapist was Jerry Johnson, who had a psychological breakdown and kept his mouth shut for nine years. Cole was a victim of the police and the flaws in the criminal justice system. Johnson tried to contact Cole, but had no success.

Read More

Analysis Of Jena Williams Cole Case

248 Words | 1 Pages

In the article “Cole Case,” the author, Jena Williams writes about Timothy Cole, a falsely accused man charged with 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Known as the Texas Tech Rapes, four women were raped from 1984 to 1985. As police searched for the rapist, Cole ran into an undercover cop on campus and told her his name and where he lived. Although not suspected to be the rapist, police ran his license plates and discovered Cole recently filed it as being robbed. Claiming to help him by investigating the robbery, police took Cole’s photo and placed it in a lineup of other mug shots.

Read More

Korey Wise Case Summary

552 Words | 3 Pages

This is a case study about a young man by the name of Korey Wise who was wrongly incarcerated in the Central Park Jogger case of 1989. Due to being the age of sixteen he was the only one out of the five boys wrongly accused to be sent to an adult prison. In this prison Korey was victim to many forms of abuse, physical and mental to name a few. He was found guilty despite the lack of evidence. None of the DNA samples or Semen matched up with Korey.

Read More

Summary Of Getting Life By Michael Morton

1667 Words | 7 Pages

Even when Michael’s new defense team, through the innocence project, found a crime that was eerily similar to the method of murder and subsequent events to the one that Michael was convicted of, the new prosecutor in Williamson County fought hard to keep DNA testing from taking place, even stating that they objected to the testing now because the defense hadn’t requested it before (Morton, 2014). There was further evidence of ineffectiveness in that the coroner who’d changed his estimated time of death between the autopsy and trial, had come under scrutiny for his findings in this case, as well as several others, with claims of gross errors “including one case where he came to the conclusion that a man who’d been stabbed in the back had committed suicide” (Morton, 2014). This was only one of the many injustices that were committed against Michael Morton throughout his trial. In August of 2006, the defense was finally granted permission to perform DNA testing on the items that had been taken from his wife’s body (Morton, 2014). Although this testing did not reveal any information about the guilty party, it did at least give Michael the knowledge that Chris was not sexually violated before or after her death (Morton,

Read More

Steven Vail Case

731 Words | 3 Pages

This was the proof of Avery’s innocence. It was Gregory Allen’s DNA. Steven Avery was released from

Read More

Papers On Steven Vail Case

548 Words | 3 Pages

In 2003, after spending 18 years in prison, Avery was found not guilty of a sexual assault he’d long stated he didn’t commit. He maintained his innocence and was able to return to his

Read More

The Innocence Project By Barry Scheck And Peter Neufeld

859 Words | 4 Pages

This allowed us to examine patterns beyond just the race of the exonoree…” (Smith & Hattery 2010) Examining the different cases that the Innocence Project has taken is a great resource because 209 out of 341 of exonerees were African American. Examining these cases would be extremely helpful when analyzing if race and socioeconomic status affect an individuals likelihood of being wrongfully

Read More

Book Review Of Picking Cotton By Jennifer Cannino

1518 Words | 7 Pages

The day after I finished the book without any enthusiasm, I attended one of the common read event called "An Overview of the Innocence Project and Innocence Work" held by a staff attorney with the Innocence Project, Karen Thompson. As mentioned briefly at the end of the book, the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization committed to exonerating wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing (Innocence Project 2015) origin from the project found by Richard Rosen, the law professor who helped Ron to win his freedom and were influenced by his case and the flow of letters from people in similar situation as Ron looking for a justice and seeing DNA technology as their last hope to clear their name. The presentation was quite informative and interesting, I learned the actual definition of scientific evidence - what can be considered as an actual scientific evidence or cannot be used as a scientific evidence and how it helped and continue to free many innocent people who are wrongly convicted. After the introduction and some more information on imperfection in criminal justice system and the investigation process, the audience - including me, were asked to watch a short clip as an exercise. Right away I knew she would ask us a question regarding the clip that related to false memory from the book, so I made sure to memorize every little detail trying hard not to miss anything.

Read More

The Case Of Steven Avery

650 Words | 3 Pages

But again in 2005, Steven Avery was arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. His arrest gained media attention quickly due to his previous arrest and his family being on the news defending her son for being falsely accused. Many civilians have questioned his arrest and are involved with this case along with his 16-year-old nephew Brendan dassy, who was also accused of murdering Teresa Halbach. This essay will conclude with the evidence of why Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are not guilty of the Teresa Halbach murder.

Read More

Who Is John Wayne Gacy A Serial Killer?

935 Words | 4 Pages

He spent 14 years on death row before he was injected with a lethal drug which killed him. (Crime

Read More

Convicting The Innocent Summary

955 Words | 4 Pages

Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong In Brandon L. Garrett 's book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, he makes it very clear how wrongful convictions occur and how these people have spent many years in prison for crimes they never committed. Garrett presents 250 cases of innocent people who were convicted wrongfully because the prosecutors opposed testing the DNA of those convicted. Garrett provided simple statistics such as graphs, percentages, and charts to help the reader understand just how great of an impact this was.

Read More

Annotated Bibliography: The New Jim Crow

1343 Words | 6 Pages

Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.

Read More

Innocence Project Thesis

1227 Words | 5 Pages

Since the founding of our judicial system there have always been individuals claiming innocence to a crime that they have been found guilty of, traditionally, after their sentencing no matter how innocent they may or may not be would have to serve, live and possibly die by the decision of their peers. The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck alongside Peter J. Neufeld faces this issue by challenging the sentencing of convicted individuals who claim their innocence and have factual ground to stand upon. The Innocence Project uses the recent advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to prove their client’s innocence by using methods that were not available, too primitive or not provided to their clients during their investigation,

Read More

Research Paper On African American Crimes

291 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout history, African Americans have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. The Jim Crow era made it extremely hard for African Americans to live a peaceful life. Today, if African Americans are wrongly convicted about a crime or an issue, they do not make it to trial. Their trial beings when they are assaulted by law enforcement, the new lynch mob, Police corruption and brutality has been an ongoing problem within the United States frequently. Though African American youth have been targeted by the police, these events are happening all too often.

Read More

The United States V. Frank Abagnale Case Brief

538 Words | 3 Pages

He was found guilty on multiple counts of forgery. However, he countered that he simply made fake checks and that they were not forged. Regardless, they still found him guilty and sentenced him to twelve years in a federal prison, Federal Correction Institution, in Petersburg, Virginia. However, he only served four years before he was paroled and was offered to help assist the Federal Bureau of Investigations in identifying and capturing other criminals. Specifically the one’s who were forging checks since that is what Abagnale knew best.

Read More

More about The Case Of Timothy Cole

Related Topics

Open Document