Jerry Brown Pardons Man Imprisoned for Decades for Murders He Didn’t Commit.

Justin McCarthy
Mr. Ippolito

Forensics Science 12H

Current Event 9: Jerry Brown Pardons Man

Due November 29th, 2017

Hauser, Christine. “Jerry Brown Pardons Man Imprisoned for Decades for Murders He Didn’t Commit.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/jerry-brown-pardon-murder.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/jerry-brown-pardon-murder.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

Upon reading the New York Times masterfull journalist Christine Hauser, Hauser states the central idea her article because not just was Craig Coley was wrongfully imprisoned for murder, but because he was found guilty by judges, he spent nearly 50 years behind bars. However, what makes this case so bad is that Mr. Coley was imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. This crime as stated by Hauser was that Craig was charged with murder. “Rhonda Wicht, 24, who had recently ended their relationship. Ms. Wicht was found beaten and strangled, apparently with a macramé rope, in her apartment in Simi Valley, Calif., the Ventura County district attorney’s office said. Her son, Daniel, had been smothered” (Christine Hauser). Therefore because Mr. Craig was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend and stepson, based on the evidence at the time was enough to sentence him for 70 years. However, only recently did the sentence get overturned by investigators because as Hauser states a “new investigation” (Hauser) proved that Craig was innocent which was based on new information on DNA Evidence. Thence the main theme that the author presents to us as readers is that while this man got the justice that he deserves, that still does not erase the fact that he was sentenced to a lifetime in jail and because of it, it shows us as Americans how much work we have to do for improving our legal system, even though he did get his innocence after the jury along with the California Governor Jerry Brown delivered the justice that this man deserved after wrongfully being imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit, and was possibly framed .

Jerry Brown’s pardoning of this innocent man not only is important because justice was finally carried out, but it also makes us as Individuals reflect on how efficient our legal system is right now. This is because there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for wrongfully charging a human for a crime that they did not commit. If there is not enough evidence to prove a suspect is guilty, then the case should be stayed for a period time and thus if new evidence does, in fact, appear, then that case should be reopened for investigation. Hauser’s article reflects on this idea many times over but when she notes that the district attorney for California admits that because of false evidence, injustice was served to this innocent man.  “Mr. Totten vowed his office would “pursue the absolute truth in this decades-old case.” He did not release the names of any new suspects. “As district attorney, I must tell you I look forward to the day when I can shake Mr. Coley’s hand, apologize to him for the injustice he suffered,” Mr. Totten said at a news conference. “I am also hopeful that one day soon we will bring to justice the violent man responsible for this most horrific crime.”” (Hauser). Therefore by Hauser highlighting that because this man was wrongfully acquitted for a murder that he did not commit, the district attorney who led the case against him has now tainted his own legacy as an agent of the law. Because the law is supposed to keep society and those who are innocent safe and serve justice to everyone, however, for this instance injustice was served and for many times over the law and jury system in our country can sometimes be borderline corrupt.

I believe from reading this article was of the biggest strengths that this author did very well was that she jumped into her topic right from the start because she does this very well, it establishes a hook and makes the reader want to keep reading. “A California man who served nearly 40 years in prison for murders of a woman and her 4-year-old son that he said he did not commit has been pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown after a new investigation proved he was wrongly convicted”  (Housier). I thought the way she structured her article was also very effective because with some of the article that I have read this year, some feel like unevenly balanced and in result, the entire article is somewhat off timing with its perfect potential. While I enjoyed this article very much, one fact which I believe this author could do a better job at was I wished that she could have gone a little deeper into how and what led to the justification by the jury to indict this innocent man for murder back in 1970. I believe that by doing this it makes the article not only better but it makes less complicated for individuals because she does note that he was indicted, but she does so in the legal description. This is an area which I think she can improve because by adding a little more forensic information because I think by adding data regarding the DNA typing test to her article it does only improve her writing, but it adds more verification to her article. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article and the overall reflection that I took away was that even though America has a complex legal system and in a result, some individuals might receive injustice for crimes that they did not commit- even though they are innocent.