John Jerome White Incarceration

Introduction The book that I selected is called “Getting Life” by Michael Morton, who is a man that was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife in Texas in 1986. This book takes us from a happy young couple to the day of the murder, through the investigation into his wife’s murder, Michael’s trial and conviction, 25 years in prison, appeals, release from prison, and reintegration into society. One unique fact about this case is that is the first case where the prosecutor in a wrongful conviction case was subsequently convicted of prosecutorial misconduct, stripped of their law license and sentenced to serve time in jail.

The case I pick was about Chad Heins. He was wrongfully convicted of murdering his sister-in-law in northern Florida. Chad Heins was exonerated on December 4, 2007, due to DNA evidence proving that another man committed the crime. On April 17, 1994, Tina Heins was brutally stabbed to death. Chad lived with his sister-in-law and brother Jeremy.

He then asked the detectives “what are you questioning me for”, the police then told him that one women accused him of trying to rape her and another women accused him of actually raping her. The case stems from two assaults in lowell massachusetts. On November 16, 1983 a young woman was stopped by an unidentified man who engaged in conversation prior to sexually assaulting

Detectives emphasized to David that the assailant may or may not be in the photo line up. Detectives also "told him they had arrested the man who raped him, and asked him to pick the assailant out of a photographic lineup. " David then picked Larry Youngblood as his assailant out of the photo line up. Although the photo lineup that David was given was reliable many other parts of this case were not.

In September of 1961, a woman from District of Columbia had an intruder break into her apartment. While the invader of the home was there, they had taken her wallet, and also raped the woman. During the investigation of the crime, the police had found some latent fingerprints in the apartment. The police then established and processed the prints. The prints were then connected back to 16 year old Morris A. Kent.

Davis was falsely accused for the three charges against him. First, the victim who was the cleaning lady was blindfolded and could not tell the police who she thought did it, so she had to look at a bunch of people and take a guess at who she thought did it. This was the main reason why Davis was falsely accused because the victim could not identify the men who actually did the crime. Despite telling police she could only remember the perpetrators’ hair color, the victim made a tentative photo identification of Davis, but did not identify a second person. She was later presented with a live lineup that included both men and she identified both of them as the attackers(“Larry Davis”).

“The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.” The mission of the Innocence Project is to exonerate people who they believe don’t belong in jail and aren’t guilty of the crime they were convicted for. People write to them asking for them to investigate on difference cases and they will evaluate potential cases by gathering information about each case application and see if they can determine whether DNA testing can be conducted. Christopher Abernathy was one of the many people who they successfully exonerated. Christopher was convicted for murder, rape, and robbery.

In the article, “Family of Man Cleared by DNA Still Seeks Justice,” Wade Goodwyn writes about the rape of Michele Mallin and the confession that sets free a wrongly convicted man. Timothy Cole, a student in Lubbock was arrested and convicted as the Texas Tech rapist based on the eyewitness account of one victim. On Sunday night, March 24th, 1985, Michele Mallin, a college sophomore at the time, needed to move her vehicle to a legal parking spot after forgetting to earlier that day. At around 10pm, after finishing moving her car, a man appeared asking her for jumper cables to fix his broke down car. Mallin recalls him pushing her back into her own car, threatening to kill her with a knife and chain-smoking the entire time during the attack.

Evidence also shows that there was a hair recovered from Beernstens pubic area. The DNA was matched to Gregory Allen. Gregory Allen had already been put away for sexually assaulting another women, so in that case it was obvious who the real rapist had

But, there is much research and funding lacking for those who spent time in prison, but never did the crime in the first place. A current task at my internship is to create a post exoneration questionnaire to seek out those who have bene freed and find out what they would have needed after being released that they did not receive – this includes housing, compensation for time lost, assistance with jobs, assistance with mental health issues, and catching them up to speed with what went on in the world while they were wrongfully behind bars. Those who are wrongfully convicted and exonerated don’t even get a bus ticket or twenty dollars right away – their compensation takes a while to kick in and they are navigating foreign territory. Beyond this, much of their life has changed beyond the prison bars, families have grown and loved ones have moved on, often times their house and possessions are gone.

Can you imagine being incarcerated for almost 20 years for a crime that you didn’t commit? Can you imagine the turmoil and agony Clarence Harrison endured while living out years imprisoned waiting the day that he would be found out to be a free man? What about the fear of now being released from prison after have served 17 years, being thrust back in society and told to live as though he had never been removed? Clarence Harrison was a 28 years old when he was arrested of the streets of Decatur, Ga.

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,

A woman discovered the bodies of 2 young black men concealed in the vegetation alongside a road in 1979. These murders were the beginning of “Atlanta Child Murders”, which would total, nearly 20 young black males by 1981. These black young men had been strangled or suffocated (Trace evidence Wayne Williams (n.d.). The police had no witnesses only and relied on the forensic evidence of fibers found on the bodies and clothing of the victims.

“ Those who have been exonerated each spent an average of 14 years in prison, and some even up to 35 or more years...but they also usually have to wait a few more years if and before they are exonerated (Innocence Project).” This Explains that to be able to become free you have to still be in for years . The perpetrators and or suspects who were caught, “148: True suspects and/or perpetrators identified. Those actual perpetrators went on to be convicted of 146 additional violent crimes, including 77 sexual assaults, 34 murders, and 35 other violent crimes while the innocent sat behind bars for their earlier offenses(Innocence Project).” DNA statistics, and no evidence that showed he

The biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there.