re: S. Carolina voids conviction of 14 year old accused murderer

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Posted by Sid in Lakeshore It is unfortunate that this 14 year old was executed and also that the actual perpetrator likely got off. But this did happen 70 years ago. We all know that this would not happen today.

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So we can agree that people who claim black oppression is ancient history are wrong?

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Hook us up with a first-hand account of how this went down.

You were there, right?

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stupid.

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And for the record, I study criminal justice. I'm familiar with how confessions are obtained. I've studied the West Memphis 3 case assiduously. There's a pretty easy procedure for gathering a false confession, especially when the suspect is a juvenile or mentally handicapped.

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The 5 kids who did about 15 years in the Central Park Jogger rape were convicted based upon confessions although there was no DNA evidence linking them. The DNA was eventually linked to a convicted rapist who confessed to raping the woman alone..

The Dixmoor 5 in Chicago.


False 'confessions' happen all the time. I can wrap my mind around racism or the 'any old Negro will do' convictions , but the West Memphis 3 I can not understand. Paranoid Accusations of witchcraft , devil worshipping,etc... is mindboggling.

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The Grio...you will pardon me if I don't yield to this source.

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There is nothing stopping you from googling George Stinney's name and finding plenty of sources which meet your criteria. You wont find a single one that makes this 'trial' and execution look good.

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That said, there certainly appears to be a whole lot of problems with this, which is why the judge tossed the conviction on process grounds.

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Why that is so hard for people to admit, I don't know (and that is not meant as a swipe at you).

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Why that is so hard for people to admit, I don't know (and that is not meant as a swipe at you).

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1) A lot of people are very ignorant of American History. Racial discrimination and Jim Crow may be in their history books, but whether it is actually taught (and how it is taught [completely benign versus Holocaust]) is another issue.

2) Even more people are completely ignorant of the justice system (civil or criminal). The vast majority will never step foot in a courtroom as a party or an accused. All they know is what they see on TV, or what they "hear about" from other sources. People that actually do this for a living know that there's not a whole lot of accuracy there.

3) There is (at least among many in the population) an inherent trust in the justice system because, for the most part, it actually works. The fact that I say it "works" does not mean that the outcomes are always what "the public" wants or would like.

For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth, as to the LAW, the GJ decision in the Wilson case was correct. I cannot speak to Garner, because I don't know what evidence was presented; however, if the only charges that were being considered required INTENT, then that GJ's decision was correct.

How is this any different from when "bad guys" get off on "technicalities" or because the prosecution did not carry its burden of proof? Yes, in those instances there is a trial (but, so was the Zimmerman case, and if one paid attention at all to that trial, you would know that the defense of justification was proved by the facts/evidence [GZ had a reasonable fear of death, or grave bodily harm]).

Slavery was like a hundred years ago! Why can't people understand that?!

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The guy pulling the switch had to have felt some guilt putting a 14 year old in that chair

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no, probably most people really thought he killed them...that's the most pitiful part of the whole thing.

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I will never support capital punishment in any case.

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pretty much, but I it's easy for me to say when I haven't had the misfortune of having someone I love taken from me in such an awful manner.

If your college age daughter was kidnapped, raped, strangled, her corpse defiled numerous times, her head removed, etc...how would you feel?

what if your infant was raped, murdered, etc. died alone and scared...and in pain.

it's easy for us to say. if it is 100%, no question...fry them (but you know the standard will not be met and miscarriage of justices will occur)

so yeah, I'm against the death penalty, but mostly because I'm fortunate

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but I it's easy for me to say when I haven't had the misfortune of having someone I love taken from me in such an awful manner.

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You're absolutely right. I often wonder if my opposition towards capital punishment would hold up if someone dear to me was murdered. Hope I never discover the answer.