The Ford Heights Four
The Ford Heights Four (Verneal Jimerson, Dennis Williams, Kenneth Adams and Willie Rainge) were formerly imprisoned convicts, who were falsely accused and convicted of the double murder of Lawrence Lionberg and Carol Schmal in Ford Heights, Illinois, and later exonerated. Jimerson and Williams were sentenced to death, Adams to 75 years in jail and Rainge to life. Following the murder in 1978, the four spent almost two decades in prison before being released in 1996. This miscarriage of justice was due to false forensic testimony, coercion of a prosecution witness, perjury by another witness who had an incentive to lie, and prosecution and police misconduct. The DNA evidence uncovered in the investigation to clear their names eventually led to the arrest and conviction of the real killers. Murder and first trial On May 11, 1978, 28-year-old Lawrence Lionberg (who was working a night shift at a Homewood, Illinois, gas station) and his 23-year-old fiancé Carol Schmal were kidnapped. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the crime of killing a person with malice aforethought or with recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.") This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. Manslaughter is killing committed in the absence of ''malice'',This is "malice" in a technical legal sense, not the more usual English sense denoting an emotional state. See malice (law). brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. ''Involuntary'' manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, recklessness. Most societies consider murder to be an extremely serious crime, and thus that a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Ryan
George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934) is an American former politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. Elected in 1998, Ryan received national attention for his 1999 moratorium on executions in Illinois and for commuting more than 160 death sentences to life sentences in 2003. He chose not to run for reelection in 2002 in the wake of a scandal. He was later convicted of federal corruption charges and spent more than five years in federal prison and seven months of home confinement. He was released from federal prison on July 3, 2013. Early life George Homer Ryan was born in Maquoketa, Iowa to Jeannette (née Bowman) and Thomas Ryan, a pharmacist. Ryan grew up in Kankakee County, Illinois. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, he worked for his father's two drugstores. He attended Ferris State College of Pharmacy (now Ferris State University) in Big Rapids, Michigan. Eventually, he built his father's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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People Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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False Confessions
A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogation techniques. When some degree of coercion is involved, studies have found that subjects with highly sophisticated intelligence or manipulated by their so called "friends" are more likely to make such confessions. Young people are particularly vulnerable to confessing, especially when stressed, tired, or traumatized, and have a significantly higher rate of false confessions than adults. Hundreds of innocent people have been convicted, imprisoned, and sometimes sentenced to death after confessing to crimes they did not commit—but years later, have been exonerated. It was not until several shocking false confession cases were publicized in the late 1980s, combined with the introduction of DNA evidence, that the extent of wrongful convict ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Overturned Convictions In The United States
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States. Alabama Blount County * Bill Wilson was convicted of the 1912 murder of his wife and child and sentenced to life in prison. He was exonerated in 1918 when they were both found living in Indiana. Jackson County * The Scottsboro Boys were nine black juveniles convicted of an alleged 1931 rape of a white girl, eight of whom were initially sentenced to die by the electric chair. All were later either pardoned or had their convictions overturned. Jefferson County * Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully convicted in 1985 of the murder of two men in Birmingham and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that his defence was inadequate and he was exonerated in 2015 by a Jefferson Court judge after spending nearly 30 years in prison. Arizona Maricopa County * Ray Krone was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a bar manager. Bite marks found on the victim were said to match Krone's teeth. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Batson V
Batson is a patronymic surname, derived from Bartholomew. It may refer to: * Benjamin Batson (1942-1996), American academic and historian * Brendon Batson, English soccer player * Cameron Batson (born 1995), American football player * Daniel Batson, American social psychologist * Felix Ives Batson (1819-1871), American lawyer and politician * Henrietta Batson (1859-1943), English writer * Mark Batson, American record producer and songwriter * Matthew Arlington Batson (1866-1917), United States Army officer * Nadia Batson, female soca singer of Trinidad and Tobago * Nathan Batson, English cricket player * Ruth Batson (1921-2003), American civil rights and education activist * Susan Batson, American actress, author, and producer; daughter of Ruth Batson Fictional characters * Billy Batson the alter ego of Captain Marvel See also * Batson, Texas * Batson venous plexus, feature of human pelvic anatomy * Batson v. Kentucky ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brady V
Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated place and unincorporated community * Brady, Nebraska, a village * Brady, Texas, a city * Brady, Washington, a census-designated place * Brady Township (other) * Brady Lake (Ohio) * Brady Creek Reservoir, also known as Brady Lake and Brady Reservoir, McCulloch County, Texas Arts and entertainment * "Duncan and Brady", also known as "Brady", a traditional murder ballad * The fictional Brady family, in the American television show ''The Brady Bunch'' and various sequels and spinoffs * Brady Black, a character in the American soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' Companies * Brady Corporation, a manufacturer of products for identifying components used in workplaces * Brady Drum Company, a manufacturer of drums in Western Australia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of Wrongful Convictions In The United States
This list of wrongful convictions in the United States includes people who have been legally exonerated, including people whose convictions have been overturned or vacated, and who have not been retried because the charges were dismissed by the states. It also includes some historic cases of people who have not been formally exonerated (by a formal process such as has existed in the United States since the mid 20th century) but who historians believe are factually innocent. Generally, research by historians has revealed original conditions of bias or extrajudicial actions that related to their convictions and/or executions. Crime descriptions marked with an asterisk indicate that the events were later determined not to be criminal acts. People who were wrongfully accused are sometimes never released. By February 2020, a total of 2,551 exonerations were mentioned in the National Registry of Exonerations. The total time these exonerated people spent in prison adds up to 22,540 yea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the '' Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ford Heights, Illinois
Ford Heights (formerly East Chicago Heights) is a village and a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,813 at the 2020 census. Many of the area’s first settlers were African American and since its incorporation in 1949 the village has remained predominantly Black. Due to the lack of commercial activity and financial stability, the village has declined over the years. Urban renewal efforts were attempted in the 1960s, although the village has continued to decline. Geography Ford Heights is located at . According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Ford Heights has a total area of , all land. The village lies on the edge of the Tinley Moraine. Surrounding areas : Glenwood : Chicago Heights Lynwood : Chicago Heights Lynwood : Chicago Heights Sauk Village : Sauk Village History The area that would eventually become Ford Heights was first settled in the late 1840s. It served as a stopping point on the Underground Railroad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Medill School Of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the United States. Medill alumni include 40 Pulitzer Prize laureates,"Pulitzer Prizes" numerous national correspondents for major networks, many well-known reporters, columnists and media executives. Northwestern is one of the few schools embracing a technological approach towards journalism. Medill received a grant to establish the Knight ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chartered by the Illinois General Assembly in 1851, Northwestern was established to serve the former Northwest Territory. The university was initially affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church but later became non-sectarian. By 1900, the university was the third largest university in the United States. In 1896, Northwestern became a founding member of the Big Ten Conference, and joined the Association of American Universities as an early member in 1917. The university is composed of eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, which include the Kellogg School of Management, the Pritzker School of Law, the Feinberg School of Medicine, the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the Bienen School of Music, the McCormic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |