Ron Williamson, The Innocent Man Essay

The case I chose to write on is based on a DVD that we watched in class called ‘Beaten by a hair’. In this case, a woman was reported missing after she went to work and never returned home. After the police discovered a bloody pillow case in the woods, near her house, they linked it to the missing pillow case in the woman’s room, and then realized that they had a murder case on their hands. A mystery in the case was that one of the local neighbors had mentioned seeing the woman leave through the front door of her house but the evidence says different, so investigators had to find out who left the house that morning. I am interested in this case because it was very intriguing how the forensic officers put all the pieces

Good day! In the near future you will be meeting with Twyla Johnson about the investigation of the 1975 murder of her sister, Diane. After 40 years, her family is heartbroken and very anxious to finally have this murder solved.

In today’s society the criminal justice system that we live in is flawed in so many ways. Some say that it works while others go to prison or jail for crimes that they didn’t commit. In this paper I will be covering specific examples from the book, The Innocent Man, where the defendant’s rights were violated. John Grisham talks about innocent men being innocent and convicted for murder and sent to unlawful court proceedings. In this paper I will be focusing mainly on the violations of his 6th amendment. The 6th amendment is the right to effective assistance of counsel.

Until which, he came across a man named Dennis Fritz. Dennis Fritz was a miserable man without much hope, and with these circumstances he befriended Williamson. Both of their antics led to them spending nights in jail for reckless endangerment or drunk driving, nothing ever too serious though. That was until the case Debbie Carter, a local in the town, had been raped and killed. Five years later, they decided upon arrested both Williamson and Fritz to what appeared to be a false testimony. This never seemed to be enough though for the townspeople of Ada. For them, a raping and killing was more than just jail time. They wanted the truth about the murder of Debbie Carter. This led to Williamson and Fritz being tried for her case, in which unfortunate results came back. Fritz was now imprisoned for life and Williamson was to be executed. The story is more aimed towards Ron Williamson, and his life while in prison. At some points it was sheer luck that Ron was released. One point in the story Ron Williamson is about to be executed in three days after waiting on Death Row. That was until Williamson received a “stay”, allowing him to avoid execution. It was not until 12 years later in 1999 that both Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were both released from

In the case of the three murdered eight-year olds, West Memphis police department’s investigative work led to a numbered list of suspects. Some of the suspects were quickly ruled out while others took a little more investigative work. In the end, the list of suspects was shortened until all who remained were Christopher Morgan, Mr. Bojangles, John Mark Byers, Terry Hobbs, and the

The United States prides itself on having robust, deeply entrenched measures implemented across its core agencies, including the police and criminal justice system, to safeguard against wrongfully convicting people who, after further reflection, are factually found to be innocent. As citizens, we have been educated to trust, among other things, that our systems protect the notions that one is innocent until proven guilty and that prosecution must prove any charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet, wrongful convictions are more prevalent than we might think. In particular, the publicity of hundreds of cases over the last few decades has put a spotlight on this indisputable

The public's shock at the murder soon began to share equal time with its growing dismay at the Boulder police's investigation, a dismay fed by a steady stream of leaks from the Boulder County prosecutor's office about the inept police investigation being conducted. For one thing it became known that the police had badly botched the initial investigation by failing to seal off the crime scene. For another it appeared the police were treating the primary suspects

Criminal justice systems must ensure the review of the forensic science by providing standardization of the interpretation of evidence. Trusting that the system at hand which relies upon an adversary system can ensure adequate protection from faulty forensic science is unrealized (Gershman, 2007). Most importantly is the lack of checks and balances in a judicial system where according to the Bureau of Justice Department (2011), 90 to 95% of criminal cases in state and federal level are resolved by plea bargain (3). Forensic science should be validated before its use through empirical standardized, and the court system must subscribe to the ethical use of forensics to serve justice (Garrett & Neufeld, 2009). Prosecutorial misconduct contributes significantly to wrongful convictions (Joy,2006). Examples are not isolated nor rare, and conclusion coupled with unprincipled motivation requires a more stringent requirements ethics, transparency, and standardization (Joy,2006). Criminal justice systems do not identify innocent defendants, thereby losing significant factors that contribute to wrongful conviction (Gould, J. et al., 2013). Police and the courts continuously increase their reliance on forensic science to corroborate evidence, signifying the necessity for validation and standardization (Strom, K., & Hickman, M., 2015). However, we must embrace that flawed forensics impacts our criminal justice system and can contribute to the death of the innocent. Blind faith in a proven imperfect system jeopardizes

Upon completion of the report, it is clear that an examination of the unresolved murder is necessary. No stone will be left unturned; no avenues left unexplored. To seek justice for Marilyn Monroe and her family, an in-depth analysis must be conducted in order to break down the data and identify a possible killer.

We hear in the news about police misconduct, use of excessive force, embezzlement, but one thing I found while researching what I should write this paper on is the Wrongful convictions of innocent men and women, that spend years in prison being innocent, and there is nothing that gets done till it’s too late. Some wrongful convictions are honest mistakes, but many times law enforcement and prosecutors lose sight of the obligation of ensuring truth and justice, and are focused on their conviction rates. As with any job, they are honest people and ones that just don’t care and are corrupt, this exists in the criminal justice system. One way to prove someone is innocent now is through DNA testing, but even at all levels of a criminal investigation there could be misconduct or mishandling of evidence, which then causes the evidence to become compromised.

All five of the victims were women; however they were of different ethnicities and ages. The only apparent similarities between the victims were that they were all female victim’s, they had all been strangled and disposed of in the Green River area. Upon consideration of victimology in this case it was discovered that each of the victims were prostitutes (Reichert, 2004).

Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were arrested for a rape and murder they didn’t commit. The Innocent Man covers almost every detail regarding the victims’ lives, the suspects’ lives, the backstories of the families, the in depth details of mental health, the judicial system, and more you can probably think of. I recommend The Innocent Man to anyone who loves to learn about Crime, Lawyers, and the exposing of corruption and bad police work.

Law enforcement officers have the obligation to convict the guilty and to make sure they do not convict the innocent. They must be dedicated to making the criminal trial a procedure for the ascertainment of the true facts surrounding the commission of the crime. To this extent, our so-called adversary system is not adversary at all; nor should it be. The State has the obligation to present the evidence. (Rosenthal, 2009)

In 2014 the Innocence Project claimed that as many as 120,000 innocents were in prison. This is due to the many problems in this system. Now there are many problems with our justice system, but today I will focus on three of those problems. Unethical interrogations is a very serious issue in today’s justice system. There is also too much credibility given to eyewitness accounts in people's minds. False confessions and in turn wrongful convictions are a critical flaw in the system as well.

Ron Williamson was born in Ada, a small town in Oklahoma. His future looked bright when he was young and he was an exceptional athlete who was drafted by the Oakland