A True Story of Crime and Punishment Essay Example for Free

A True Story of Crime and Punishment EssayA true flooring of how a man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, May God Have Mercy exposes the imperfections in the criminal justice constitution and how it direct to the death of an innocent man. Roger Colemans case became the main story on nightly newscasts and prominent television set shows such as Larry King Live, Nightline, Good Morning America, and the Today Show. M whatever crucial, yet harmful decisions were make that ultimately resulted in an innocent mans execution at the death house in Greensville, Virginia. The police, the prosecutor, and the pretend puke all be held responsible for Colemans death. However, the reason Roger Coleman was non acquitted of the murder of Wanda McCoy in the first military post and thus in a position to be executed was because his original lawyers, Steve Arey and Terry Jordan, did not fork over him with adequate representation, as required by the Constitution of the United States of America.Steve Arey and Terry Jordan were young, inexperienced lawyers who should eat up neer even been considered for a capital case. Judge Persin, the presiding Judge in the case, however, decided on these dickens gentlemen because opposite more experienced lawyers refused to take the case because of the grand financial sacrifice it would require. Albeit public speculation that Judge Persins previous profession as a prosecutor had led him to heavily favor the prosecution, his decision stood. The two prosecutors who Arey and Jordan would be opposed by were Mickey McGlothlin and Tom Scott. Both prosecutors had far more experience than the self-abnegation lawyers, but that didnt stop Judge Persin from appointing Arey and Jordan to the case. It was an obvious mismatch, intentional or not, and was just the beginning of m whatsoever problems that would scrape up for the defendants case.The murder of Wanda McCoy took place in Grundy, a small township in Virginia. The year was 1 981, and Brad McCoy, Wandas husband, arrived sign of the zodiac from work to find his wife dead, the apparent dupe of a brutal rape and murder. The police investigated the umbrage scene, recorded witness announces, and searched for suspects. When they identified their prime suspect, Roger Coleman, the police do the arrest. Due to the negative public spirit that had generated following the arrest, Coleman demanded that his lawyers file for a change of venue with the apostrophize. Since Grundy was such a small town, it wouldbe in truth difficult to pick an impartial panel to give Coleman a fair running. Every person in the town had to have read or chitchatn something on the murder. The fact that the police provided supposed conclusive try against Roger Coleman and made it public, many of Grundys residents wanted to see Coleman sentenced to death.Steve Arey had been preparing the case to present to Judge Persin, but at the pull round minute, he notified Terry Jordan that he w ould not be able to attend due to a preceding engagement. Areys lack of respect for Coleman and the case in general left Terry Jordan with a crucial decisionwhether to want a continuance or to press the motion himself. He chose to present the case himself. The defenses decision to argue the motion was a terrible decision. Not only should Jordan have sought a continuance because he was not prepared to argue the case, but neither of the defense lawyers had done any research or made any effort to obtain record to support their case for a change of venue, leave out for a couple of newspaper clippings and a picture of the hanging-tree sign. The prosecution, on the early(a) hand, had gotten approximately fifty affidavits from members of the town claiming that they did not have any biased feelings about the case. As expected, Judge Persin denied the change of venue request, and efficaciously set the tone for Roger Colemans trial.The beginning of every trial begins with inauguration statements, which provide the jury with a lagger of the endorse they will provide and what it will effectively show. A lawyers opening statement is probably the just about important part of the entire trial, and usually puts the jurors leaning favorably towards the side with the more convincing performance. manage any other criminal case, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. They are required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. Mickey McGlothlin presented an organized and persuasive opening statement that gave the jury the impression that Roger Coleman was guilty based on the significant amount of evidence against him.The defenses opening statement should have attacked the evidence that the state provided, and also attacked McGlothlins credibility. The defensesopening statement should have consisted of a description of the friendly consanguinity that existed between Roger Coleman and the McCoys. It also should have also included Colemans alibiPhilip VanDykeand the fact that VanDykes time card reinforces the time that he said he was with Coleman and the time that he clocked into his job. Arey and Jordan also had an opportunity to smear McGlothlins credibility by referring to evidence that he failed to mention in his opening argumentthe pry mark on the door, the broken fingernails on the victim but no scratches on Coleman, and that the substance found on the victim was soil, not coal dust, which had been on Colemans clothes.The defense instruction didnt refer to any of those facts. No scientific evidence was brought up, and it failed to respond to McGlothins statement that on that point was evidence that Coleman had in fact admitted to committing the crime. The opening statement was a complete disappointment for Coleman. It started to raise questions wrong of Coleman of whether his own defense lawyers thought he was guilty and thitherfore were not putting the time or effort in to prove his innocence. In e ither case, his defense lawyers had presented a completely inadequate opening statement, and it left the jury with the feeling that Roger Coleman was guilty.In addition to failing to present a solid and powerful opening argument, another major problem with the defense counsel was their extreme lack of preparation for the trial (their own witnesses and the states witnesses). Before the Coleman case, Terry Jordan had never tried a murder case, a rape case, any case involving race or hair analysis or a criminal case of any kind that lasted more than one day (112). Being from Grundy, Jordan should have interviewed approximately if not all of the local witnesses, but that did not happen. He did not interview all of police officers that were investigating the crime nor did he interview Dr.McDonald, who was the first one to examine Wanda McCoys body and who estimated her time of death. He did not interview Hezzie McCoy, Dr. Oxley (the bear on who performed the autopsy), or even Elmer Gist, who was the states blood and hair expert. In fact, Jordan cross-examination of Elmer Gist was solely based on Gists report about hair comparisons and one on blood analysis. He had not read anything about blood or hair analysis, because if he had, he would have been more capable of performing an effective cross-examination of the states most crucialwitness.Terry Jordan also failed to carefully examine the physical locations that could have led to Colemans innocence and acquittal. He never actually went inside the house where the murder took place, nor did he examine the door to see if there was any evidence of forced entry. He never examined the bathhouse where Coleman said his pants got wet from, and he did not go to the mine where Roger worked. The route that Coleman supposedly took that night was never gone over to see how long it took and to see if there was time for him to commit the crime given the stops that he made prior to the murder. Jordan did not look for other witn esses who the state had not identified, and he did not ever take on for VanDykes time card, an essential piece of evidence. No photographs were taken at any point, making everything that was presented in court non-visual. Visuals would have made the defenses case much stronger. Steve Arey had interviewed most of the same witnesses that Jordan interviewed, along with a couple other defense-alibi witnesses.The state was heavily favored in the case to begin with because of their experience in criminal cases, as opposed to the defense counsels lack of experience in such cases. As expected, Judge Persin ruled in favor of the state and Roger Coleman was sentenced to death. Many criminal cases are appealed after their conclusion, and this case was no different. The defense has xxx days to file a Notice of Appeal with the Court. The defense prepared their appeal and mailed it to the Court. However, the attorney generals office told the defense that they had filed the appeal one day late and that it would not be accepted. This was another huge mistake by the defense. Although a legal technicality should not be the cause for an innocent mans evidence to be withheld, the law specifically stated that a Notice of Appeal must be filed inside thirty days of the Judge signing the order that rejected all of the defenses arguments. The defense had missed a crucial deadline and Roger Coleman would be punished because of it. The defense would not be able to make grow the Court to mind to their case again and this would eventually lead to Colemans death.The fact remains that neither Terry Jordan nor Steve Arey conducted a total enough investigation to really present a strong case to oppose the prosecution. Roger Coleman was never really given a fair trial, and it ultimately led to his conviction and death. His lawyers failed to use the evidence that was available to get their client acquitted. Their inexperience and lack of motivation resulted in an innocent mans death. Ther e were many opportunities for the defense counsel to question witnesses, to seek experts opinions on the forensic evidence, and to insert new evidence to support Roger Colemans case, but they did not do so. Jordan and Arey should have never been appointed as Colemans counsel, and that alone made Colemans chances of acquittal slim to none. Roger Coleman was never given a fair chance, even later on in the process before he was executed, however, his defense lawyers performed well below the standards that a man on trial for his life deserves. Their terrible mistakes and decisions led to the death of an innocent man.