Imagine that you are vacationing with your family. When you return home, you are arrested on an extremely serious charge: murder.
You’re baffled. There is no way you could have committed this murder. You were on vacation in another state at the time that the crime was committed. But, you trust the justice system. You maintain your innocence, and you assume that you will be rightly freed and that the real killer will be caught.Read More
Our justice system is far from perfect: mistakes happen with alarming frequency. And when they do, innocent people are sent to prison for crimes they didn’t commit.
In fact, this is one of the strongest arguments against the death penalty. Many people—from ordinary citizens to professors to legal professionals—are disturbed by the idea that the government might execute an innocent person.
This was almost the case for one man: Edward Lee Elmore.Read More
The criminal justice system in Florida has certainly dominated the news in recent years. First, the George Zimmerman trial sparked outrage. Then, the case of Marissa Alexander renewed outrage at Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Now, the Sunshine State has made the news again because of the “loud music” case.Read More
A Florida man faces decades in prison after shooting into an SUV full of teenagers during an argument over music. Michael Dunn has been convicted of three counts of attempted second-degree murder. Each carries a minimum sentence of 20 years.
According to an article from CNN, in November 2012, Dunn pulled in to a Jacksonville gas station and parked next to an SUV that was playing loud rap music. Dunn claims that one of the teenagers threatened him after he asked them to turn the music down.Read More
It started with an argument over texting, and it ended with one man dead and another in custody. How could an argument over something so trivial go so far wrong?
Chad Oulson, a 43-year-old husband and father, was killed after an argument with another moviegoer turned violent, reported the New York Times.Read More
A pair of teenage gang members has been arrested in connection with the October slaying of a Riverside-area man. The slain man, Rene Balbuena, was responding to an ad placed in Craigslist for a cell phone. According to police, the 17-year-old and 18-year-old pair had used the Craigslist ploy on previous occasions, leading to several instances of armed robbery.Read More
After twenty-two years of not being able to successfully identify the person responsible for the death of “Baby Hope,” police in New York City have arrested and charged a man with murder. The man is accused of sexually assaulting the four-year-old child and then killing her and stuffing her body in a picnic cooler. The picnic cooler was found near the side of the highway in 1991.Read More
Following on the heels of the headline-making George Zimmerman trial, the trial against Florida mother Marissa Alexander gained national attention and controversy.
According to a recent news report, “Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot in an effort to scare off her allegedly abusive husband.”Read More
People often share the most private details of their lives, from their political views to pictures of their kids, on Facebook and other social media platforms. And those status updates, comments, pictures, and other shared details often get individuals in trouble with the law.Read More
The George Zimmerman trial has been surrounded by controversy almost from the outset. What began as a routine homicide in Sanford, Florida soon caused a public outcry and has prompted a national discussion about today’s race relations and our criminal justice system.
Late last month, the trial came to a close with a verdict of not guilty. Zimmerman was found not guilty of both second-degree murder and manslaughter, the latter of which is a less serious charge. The verdict has brought the case renewed attention and has provoked calls for an overhaul of controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws.Read More
