The 10 Most Controversial Death Penalty Cases Ever

The 10 Most Controversial Death Penalty Cases Ever 1 Duane Buck (Ongoing) A black man named Duane Buck was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend and her friend in Texas in 1995. At the trial, a psychologist declared that “criminals are more likely to commit violence in the future than criminals of other races”, which is a pretty damn bold statement to make. Needless to say, that statement enraged quite a few members of the black community and issues of racial bias were brought up in all six cases in which the psychologist in question had given testimonies. All five of the other cases were reopened except Buck’s, and all five of the other defendants were re-sentenced to death anyway, as the psychologist’s testimony really was only a miniscule part of the prosecution’s evidence in each case. Buck was literally on his way to execution on September 15, 2011 when the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped it, sending Buck back to his cell for a stay of execution (some would argue it’s almost more cruel to put a man through that than just killing him!). His case is being reviewed and at this point a decision has not been reached, so Buck remains in his cell on death row awaiting the verdict. 2 Troy Davis (2011) Troy Davis’s murder had been a long time coming when he was executed in late 2011 for the murder of Georgia police officer back in 1989. There had been nine eyewitnesses to Davis’s murder of the police officer, however seven of them would eventually take back their testimony and declare it as false. This, among some other intricate details of the case, led to former President Jimmy Carter and US Representative of Georgia Bob Carr pushing for Davis’s sentence to be reconsidered. The appeals for Davis’s sentence continued right up to the morning of the day he was executed, and many people are still appalled by the decision to go ahead with his execution. “I have to admit, this one really stumps me,” said UC Boulder’s Radelet. “It really surprises me. I’m just astonished that they’re going to let this execution go forward.” 3 Humberto Leal (2011) Mexican citizen Humberto Leal was arrested in 1994 and charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl named Adria Sauceda in Texas. He bludgeoned her to death and left the body on a dirt road in San Antonio. No one was ever in any doubt of Leal’s guilt – as far as everyone is concerned, he definitely did it. But that’s not the issue. The problem is that when Texan police arrested the Mexican and incarcerated him, they never gave him the opportunity to call the Mexican consulate, and they didn’t even inform him that he had the right to do so. This is a huge deal, as it’s very important to fully explain to someone their rights when you arrest them. And the more that people investigated the matter, it was revealed that Leal wasn’t the only Mexican citizen on death row in Texas who had been denied the right to call the Mexican consulate. After some messy politics involving the International Court of Justice’s conclusion that these denied rights were unacceptable and the Supreme Court’s decision that Congress had to pass the necessary laws, Leal was granted a stay of execution due to fears that carrying out his death sentence might create friction in US-Mexican relations. Nevertheless, Lean was eventually killed by lethal injection in 2011 and no real blowback was ever experienced. 4 Teresa Lewis (2010) Teresa Lewis was arrested and convicted of paying a third party to murder her husband and stepson in 2002. She was sentenced to death by lethal injection. The public was quick to draw attention to the fact that Teresa had a less-than-impressive IQ of just 72 (anything under 70 deems a person to be mentally retarded). Popular crime author John Grisham was just one of the distinguished figures among Lewis’ many supporters who fought for leniency on her behalf, and her lawyers suggested that pleading guilty would get her a shorter sentence, but she wound up getting slapped with the death penalty and was executed by lethal injection in 2010. 5 Cameron Todd Willingham (2004) In the early 2000’s, Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted for setting fire to his own house and consequently murdering his three young daughters inside. His wife had not been home at the time of the incident. Throughout the trial, there was huge debate over whether or not Willingham set the house alight on purpose. A deputy fire marshal stated that lighter fluid or “some other accelerant” had been poured along the house’s hallways and set alight, and the prosecutors claimed that he did it to cover up the injuries he had given the three girls through abuse. However, a second fire investigator later concluded that there had been “multiple scientific errors” in the first fire marshal’s report and that he couldn’t detect any signs of arson at all. Five years later, the Texas Forensic Science Commission released a report that echoed the second fire marshal’s sentiments, although it was far too late by that point – Willingham’s conviction remained as it was and he was executed in 2004. His wife maintained throughout the whole ordeal that her husband hadn’t abused their children and certainly hadn’t murdered them. 6 Carlos de Luna (1989) In 1983, Carlos de Luna was arrested in Texas for the murder of a convenience store clerk and sentenced to death. De Luna insisted he was innocent for the entire duration of the trial and the subsequent years until his execution, without much support from anyone. Unfortunately, it was only way after his execution – almost 20 years, in fact – that it was revealed a man named Carlos Hernandez had been boasting to relatives and friends about how he got off the hook for stabbing the clerk. Dina Ybanez, an acquaintance of Hernandez, spoke to the Chicago Tribune about the casual confession in 2006. “He said he was the one that did it, but that they got somebody else, his ‘stupid tocayo’, for that one,” Dina Ybanez told the Chicago Tribune. Tocayo is Spanish for “namesake”. It was only after this article that a detective came forward and admitted the investigation had been sloppy, and that the police hadn’t pursued important tips regarding Hernandez. I think we can give the Texan police a slow, sarcastic round of applause for that one. 7 Caryl Chessman (1960) In 1948, a Californian man named Caryl Chessman received the death penalty for robbery, kidnapping and rape. During one of said kidnappings, the victim had suffered bodily harm and this contributed to the jury’s final decision to sentence him to death. Chessman wrote and published several books from his death row prison cell that claimed he was innocent and his confession to the crimes had been “coerced”, which accumulated public support including famed writers/poets Ray Bradbury and Robert Frost, as well as President Roosevelt’s wife Eleanor. After a whopping NINE stays of execution, Chessman was finally executed in 1960 by means of gas chamber. While he was in the chamber, a federal judge permitted him another stay of execution but he was already dead by the time they pulled him from the chamber. 8 Bruno Hauptman (1932) In one of the most famous crimes in all of the 20th Century, Charles and Anne Lindbergh’s twenty-month-old son was abducted and murdered, even after the Lindbergh’s had given some ransom money. Two years after the initial and horrific incident, a German immigrant by the name of Bruno Hauptmann was caught spending some of the ransom money he’d allegedly received, and his arrest led to one of the most debated cases of all time. Hauptmann never once admitted to the abduction and murder of the Lindbergh baby, and after his execution more voices started to join the choir that suggested Hauptmann’s innocence, not the least of which was his widow, who was still fighting to have her dead husband’s name cleared of all charges when she passed away in 1994. Over the decades, experts have questioned the lack of fingerprints left by Hauptmann at the scene (no trace was found whatsoever), and several eyewitness accounts contradict the accusing evidence laid against him. 9 The Scottsboro Boys (1931) Eight African-American teenage boys referred to as “The Scottsboro Boys” were given the death penalty in 1931 for raping two white women on a freight train. Every member of the jury was white, the two defense lawyers were a rusty retiree and a Tennessee real estate lawyer with no knowledge of Alabama law, and the entire trials were over in a single day. The black community was outraged (one of the boys sentenced to the electric chair was 12 years old) and carried out a protest in Harlem, New York City. Due to the overwhelming controversy, the authorities were forced to take the case to Supreme Court and it was declared that the accused had received inadequate defense. Four of the teenagers had all charges against them dropped, three were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Clarence Norris was given the death penalty a second time, although it was later reduced to life imprisonment, and then he was pardoned in 1976. 10 Sacco & Vanzetti (1927) Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants in America who received the death penalty for shooting and killing two men during an armed robbery in 1920, and were finally executed in 1927. The two Italians were among a bit of a cult of extreme supporters for Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, and many people have suggested that it was this fact that resulted in their execution, rather than the two murders. A 6-year legal battle followed their initial trial, which is unheard of for that era. Some distinguished figures such as Albert Einstein were among the public demand for a retrial, especially after another man by the name of Celestino Madeiros came out and confessed to the murders. Their death by electric chair was far from the end of this ongoing debate – some say that Sacco was guilty but Venzetti had been innocent, and many experts on the subject have claimed that neither one of them actually killed either of the two men.

2 Troy Davis (2011)

Murtaza Rangwala

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