Identifying Violations of Due ProcessEssay Preview: Identifying Violations of Due ProcessReport this essayThe following situation is an actual case. Fortunately, it is not typical of our criminal justice system. Yet for such a situation to occur, even infrequently, confirms that there is a constant need to ensure that all rights that constitute due process are respected.
In 1980 in a small town, a sixteen-year old white girl disappeared while looking for a restroom at a high school. Two custodians later found her body hidden in the loft of the school auditorium. She had been raped and strangled. The community in which this crime occurred was one with a history of racial prejudice and conflict.
The custodians were Jones, a white man, and Smith, a black man. Both were questioned by the police and made to sign statements explaining where they had been and how they had found the body. They were taken to a hospital and were made to give samples of their saliva, blood, and hair. Then a police officer drove them back to school. As he dropped them off, he said, “One of you two is gonna hand for this.” Then he turned to Smith and said, “Since youre the black, youre elected.” One week later, Smith was arrested for raping and murdering the girl. He was tried and convicted by an all white jury from which qualified blacks had been excluded, and he was sentenced to death.
The prosecution and her attorneys claim the victim in the second robbery was the only child she had heard of until her arrest in the second incident.
The attorney told The Times that no one could figure out who the suspects were until they were eventually determined to be black.
Smith admitted that he knew of the suspects as a black girl, but said he did not think they were black.
Smith said he called the women for help when he saw them coming to his property on Saturday, February 23, 2001, at about 5 p.m
According to Smith, these were all black females in a car.
On February 22, 2000, Smith was walking home from the house when they saw him. Smith says his friend, Jody, approached the women and began to beat them.
Jody (Smith’s best friend) says, “Jody Smith (The Times)’s friend went to the man in the car. He pushed [Jody] right on the head where she is now. The woman pulled out her boyfriend in the back and ran off in the front right side of the car. My friend and [my friend’s] friend, [my friend’s] friend told me you saw these two black women in the car pulling away from me one by one.”
Jody Smith said she later saw the car again and told Smith to be afraid of her.
Smith said they had been out for more than a half mile when the women confronted him about the car. Smith says he then told her what had happened.
Jody said, “I said my name is Jody, and I’m going to call 911. And then she got me a call back and told me that [the black] woman had been arrested. So I call 911 and they say, ‘We’re going to call 911.’ And then they say, ‘We’ll call back in two minutes,’ and I go, ‘Yeah, I’m getting that.'”
Smith said that, when he called 911, it was the following day. He said that she was arrested about 3 weeks later – March 9th 2001.
[h/t: The Times]
The prosecution and her attorneys claim the victim in the second robbery was the only child she had heard of until her arrest in the second incident.
The attorney told The Times that no one could figure out who the suspects were until they were eventually determined to be black.
Smith admitted that he knew of the suspects as a black girl, but said he did not think they were black.
Smith said he called the women for help when he saw them coming to his property on Saturday, February 23, 2001, at about 5 p.m
According to Smith, these were all black females in a car.
On February 22, 2000, Smith was walking home from the house when they saw him. Smith says his friend, Jody, approached the women and began to beat them.
Jody (Smith’s best friend) says, “Jody Smith (The Times)’s friend went to the man in the car. He pushed [Jody] right on the head where she is now. The woman pulled out her boyfriend in the back and ran off in the front right side of the car. My friend and [my friend’s] friend, [my friend’s] friend told me you saw these two black women in the car pulling away from me one by one.”
Jody Smith said she later saw the car again and told Smith to be afraid of her.
Smith said they had been out for more than a half mile when the women confronted him about the car. Smith says he then told her what had happened.
Jody said, “I said my name is Jody, and I’m going to call 911. And then she got me a call back and told me that [the black] woman had been arrested. So I call 911 and they say, ‘We’re going to call 911.’ And then they say, ‘We’ll call back in two minutes,’ and I go, ‘Yeah, I’m getting that.’”
Smith said that, when he called 911, it was the following day. He said that she was arrested about 3 weeks later – March 9th 2001.
[h/t: The Times]
A writ of habeas corpus to the state supreme court was filed, and a hearing was held seven years later. The appeals court judge found that the arresting officer and district attorney suppressed evidence favorable to Smith. They had lied and created false testimony to have Smith charged and convicted.
At Smiths trial, the medical evidence that would have shown that Smith was innocent was “lost.” The medical examiner “forgot” the results of the autopsy, “lost” his notes on his findings, and “lost” the samples he had taken from the victims body.
A police officer threatened witnesses whose testimony supported Smiths innocence, then coached witnesses to lie in court. The officer also falsified the findings of the lie-detector test that supported Smiths innocence.
The sheriff defied the original trial courts order to release Smith on bail. The judge, rather than enforcing his order, changed it and denied bail. Smiths defense lawyer won two stays of execution, which saved his life while he waited for his case to be heard by the appeals court.
The judge who presided over the 1987 hearing stated in his findings that Smith “did not receive a fair trial, was denied the basic fundamental rights of due process of law, and did not commit the crime for which he now resides on death row.”
At the end of the hearing the judge stated, “In thirty years this court has presided no case has presented a more shocking scenario of the effects of racial