The Death Penalty: Johnnie Michael Cox

All the victims died in the afternoon and some died within an hour of a house call by Dr. Shipman, which established another pattern set by Harold Shipman. Dr. Shipman proceeded further by forging death certificates and orchestrated his colleagues approving forged cremation forms for the victims. All victims were cremated, which destroyed the evidence for law enforcement to be able to recover if needed. He was under the suspicion of murder but was never informed to stop practicing during any investigations or allegations (Daily mail.com). The British law enforcement officials never arrested Dr. Shipman

On September 30, 1888 the murders of the third and fourth victims were committed. Elizabeth Stride was murder on Berners' Street. Her throat cut, but there was no mutilation. She was found around 1:00 am by Louis Diemschutz. Ten minutes later and three quarter of a mile away, Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim, was found at Mitre Sqaure. Her throat had been cut, her face mutilated beyond recognition, her right ear lobe nearly severed, a portion of her nose had been cut off, her face slashed, and one kidney had been removed. On October 15th, George Lusk received a horrific package which included a letter addressed to him and a portion of a kidney. The letter stated it was half of the kidney he took from one of the women.

Like most things for me, I begin with a story. I have intentionally omitted the names of the killers, this is the victims story not theirs. By all account’s Marjorie Hipperson was a striking young woman, in her early twenties working as a nurse in Hollywood, she had a prosperous future ahead of her. She was returning home on a Saturday evening in May of 1957 from her and her fiancée engagement party to prepare for their upcoming trip to Chicago. Marjorie and her soon to be husband planed to travel to his hometown for their wedding. She began that evening to pack for her journey by neatly arranging her clothes on her nightstand. When Marjorie failed to show for work the next morning or answer any phone calls, her fiancée went to apartment to check on her. Upon his arrival at her home, he discovered his would be bride’s naked lifeless body, her nightgown pulled over her shoulders, her pantyhose wrapped around her neck. At twenty-four years of Age Marjorie had been beaten, raped and strangled to death with her own clothing

An emergency call came in at 9:45 am made by Doug Greene who is a neighbor of the victim Anna Garcia claiming that he had not seen Anna Garcia since her normal morning walk at 6:30 am the previous morning and that the dog had been barking for 2 hours, he had also mentioned that Anna Garcia was wearing a sweater when he had seen her the previous morning while experiencing a 92 degree heat wave. Mr.Greene had called Anna’s telephone with no answer, and had also rang the doorbell with no answer. The EMT and local police had arrived to the scene at 9:56 am, needing to break the door down. EMS discovered Anna Garcia laying face down, dead.

One example of wrongful execution is the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Willingham was executed in February 2004 by the state of Texas for committing murder to his three daughters by setting his house on fire. Prosecutors believed that the girls were abused and killed by setting the house on fire to attempt to cover up the evidence (1). Willingham had maintained his innocence and spent 10 years appealing for his convection up until his execution in 2004 via lethal injection. However, there were multiple issues surrounding the investigation method, evidence,

Peter Egan was abusive toward Barbara Egan, Barbara and Gerald were both killed by two bullets to the head along with Peter. One of Gerald’s gunshot wounds were in the temple by a .25 caliber bullet. Barbara had signs of struggle multiple cuts and bruises on the right

In 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham murdered his three daughters by setting fire to their home in Corsicana, Texas. The damning evidence against Willingham was the arson investigator’s findings—that the fire was intentionally set with the help of a liquid accelerant, a discovery proven by laboratory tests and burn patterns. Willingham claimed he was innocent for years, appealing his conviction until his execution at the Texas State Penitentiary on February 16, 2004. However, Willingham may not have been the murderer. In 2009, the Texas Forensic Science Commission panel reopened the case, determining that the arson investigators had used flawed science when they labeled the fire as arson. And while fire science has improved since the year of the alleged arson, experts have argued that the Corsicana Fire Department was negligent in their findings. The science commission is still investigating the arson ruling, and if the judge clears Willingham, it will be the first time an official has formally declared a wrongful execution in Texas. So did he actually do it? We may never know, for it’s all just speculation now. Does this mistake pale in comparison to all those who have “rightfully” been executed under the death penalty? Depending on your moral code, it might. But rather than narrowing this argument down to one specific instance, let us look at the death penalty on a broader scale, its merits and its flaws, the factors that push someone to standing in fear of the execution

Capital punishment, also called death penalty, is the execution of a criminal convicted and sentenced to death by our court system. The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though the punishment is not always followed by execution, because of the possibility of life imprisonment.

Not only that, but capital punishment is unjust when the accused is financially deprived. In a capital case, high quality (and expensive) lawyers are necessary for the defendant to have a glimpse of hope, and in many cases the defendants cannot afford such a luxury. Therefore, capital punishment encompasses an indirect bias against the impoverished. Furthermore, some specific cases can be linked to atrocious act, such as the case of Clayton Lockett, in which he was sentenced to the death penalty and was executed in a disturbing manner. The state of Oklahoma allegedly experimented with lethal injections and refused to disclose the drugs that they used. Clayton D. Lockett was injected and began suffering immediately. After a grueling hour of unbearable suffering, Clayton finally died of a

The death penalty is one of the oldest sentences in the books. This penalty can help deter crime, but not if it’s abolished at state levels. As of April 2011. 34 states had the death penalty legislation in place (Parks). Stated in the article by Parks, “In an October 2012 Gallup poll, 64 percent of participants said they were in favor of the death penalty for a convicted murder.” (Parks). Keeping the death penalty in place gives justice to the victims and families, prevents crime, and allows more space in prisons.

Brief history of the death penalty in the U.S. since 1930, when death penalty started to began to be collected on a regular basis. Death row and the execution chamber were located in the Huntsville unit from 1928 to 1965. The last electrocution was carried out on 30 July 1964. Texas electrocuted a total of 361 inmates from 1924 to 1964. Death penalty is a legal process done by state for committing a crime. Death penalty both in the U.S. and around the world is discriminatory and disproportionately I think death penalty is right because I think death penalty is right because if you do something very bad you should be here. I think doing the time in prison is enough punishment for any crime. In 1976, capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. following a four court ruled it unconstitutional in 1972. Remarkably unforgiving punishment, its more blacks getting executed than any other race. The death penalty is a remarkably unforgiving punishment, its more whites getting executed than any other race. Convicted in 1979 of all four murders’ with special circumstance on each count of felony murder as well as multiple murders in case of the Brookhaven events. The jury also convicted him of robbery in both cases, and found that he personally used a firearm in the commission of crimes. The jury recommended the death penalty, and the judge accepted the recommendation and sentenced him to death penalty. From the beginning of his sentence Williams maintained his innocence regarding the

After questioning people about what they had seen it was found that Charlotte Corday was the one to kill him she was captured right after guards figured out where she was. Today at high noon she is to be executed. I know for sure that me and the rest of the world shall be there to watch her pay for what she has done.

When a police officer arrived, though, it was seen that her neck had been so severely slit that it had almost been severed. Upon both inspections of her body, it was found that her clothes were in disarray (Jones, Mary Nichols- The First Victim).

The victim had been stabbed 27 times, raped, and strangled to death. There was sufficient evidence throughout the apartment, consisting of bloody handprints on the wall near the staircase and blood in the sink; it was promptly sent away for analysis. The murder weapon was not found; however, the police did find a broken knife in a neighbor’s yard.

Cameron Todd Willingham (1968-2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed by lethal injection for the murder of his three young children by arson in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Although Willingham fought for his innocence for 12 years on death row, he was executed in Texas in 2004. Many questions came up with the investigation of the arson of Willingham’s case and many recent and new evidence have proven Willingham’s innocence, but yet, it was too late to save Willingham’s life. Willingham’s case and other stories of failed justice is important not just because they expose specific errors, but also those cases teach us the powerful moral intuition that we should believe in justice but should not ignore the stories of injustice. Capital Punishment is a harsh criminal justice system, and without a complete fool-proof justice system, the risk of putting innocent people to death through capital punishment should not be done.