Facts: After spending a morning and afternoon drinking beer and injecting cocaine, Pervis Tyrone Payne entered the apartment of 28-year-old Charisse Christopher and her two children, Lacie, age two and Nicholas, age three at approximately 3:00 p.m. on June 27th, 1987. Payne made sexual advances toward Charisse Christopher. She resisted, which lead Payne to kill both Charisse and Lacie. Nicholas was found with several severe stab wounds that completely penetrated him front to back, but he managed to survive. Payne was apprehended later that day hiding in the attic of a former girlfriend’s house. Payne was convicted by a jury of two counts of murder. At sentencing, Payne presented the testimony of his mother, father, Bobbie Thomas and a clinical psychologist. These testimonies’ showed Payne was of good character, he attended church and he was of low intelligence and mentally handicapped. The State presented the testimony of Ms. Christopher’s mother, who spoke of the negative impact of the murders on Nicholas. Furthermore, the prosecutor presented argument regarding Nicholas’ experience. The jury sentenced the Payne to death on each count of murder.…
In 1946, Gaskins decided to burglarize the home of a women he knew. During the commission of the crime the women walked into…
While here, Pitzel took out a policy with the Fidelity company, and Holmes followed his example a month later, both giving notes for the first payment. Pitzel and Holmes obtained, somehow, a corpse from the New York Hospital, brought it here, surrounded it by the evidence of the incidents of death in the Callow Hill Street House, and obtained the $10,000.…
The 18th Amendment was the ban of transportation, sale, and manufacture of alcohol. It was originally ratified on January 16, 1919 and in over 200 years the 18th Amendment is still the only Amendment to have been repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.…
In September of 1993, Christopher Simmons broke into the suburban St. Louis home of Shirley Crook with the intention to rob and possibly kill her. Simmons and a friend tied the victim up with duct tape and drove her to a nearby state park. At the park, Simmons pushed the victim, who was still alive, off of a bridge and into the Meramec River where she drowned. Simmons was 17 years old at the time of the murder. Before the crime, he had told several of his friends of the plan to burglarize a home and kill the occupants, noting that they could do it and “get away with it” (not get charged for it) because they were juveniles. 1…
Would you take your daughter to the doctor if she had a cyst the size of a wallet? In the article “Trust in God” by Winston Ross, he explains how the Worthington´s family lost their child due to bronchopneumonia and sepsis. Unfortunately, they never took their daughter to the hospital. They tried the faith healing, recommended by the church. It all started with a bump on her neck, and as she got older it grew slowly choking her to death. This wasn’t the only tragic death that this family has had. The little girl’s name was Ava, and her uncle passed away from faith healing that didn’t work. Several children that belonged to the same church has passed away from faith healing and not getting medical attention. The faith…
In 1931, nine black teenage males were convicted of raping two white females on a freight train in Tennessee. It was traveling from Chattanooga to Memphis; however, the case was initiated in Scottsboro, Alabama. Thus, the nine defendants became known as the Scottsboro Boys. In the initial court hearing, eight of the nine boys were issued the death sentence. As the author indicates, this case was a strong illustration of the intense prejudice towards black men and women in the early 1900s, and it demonstrates whose word prevailed when it involved black versus white.…
Personally, I think Gary would rank as a “Torturing Murderer” because though psychotic, he did not typically prolong their torture. Yes, he watched them as they suffocated and defiled their bodies but he did not necessarily torture the victims.…
Ephraim Wheeler was convicted and hanged for the rape of his thirteen year old daughter Betsy Wheeler. It occurred in the woods of rural Massachusetts on June 8, 1805. The incident was reported to Hannah Wheeler, Betsy 's mother. Hannah Wheeler then reported the incident to Justice Robert Walker, who then arrested Ephraim Wheeler on that day. What was expected of a wife in 1805 Massachusetts, when confronted with such a vicious criminal act? Having such a crime inflicted upon yourself, would be hard enough to live through, but to have such an evil act forced upon your helpless thirteen year old daughter- by a husband and father is unfathomable.…
Hewit, P. (2010, October 19). Do We Need to Know all the Details of Williams ' Crimes?. The…
Grant is a bitter, self-absorbed young man. But he is the key to solving a young black man’s dignity and honor. Jefferson is that man. He has been misaccused for murder and robbery, and is sentenced to the electric chair. During the trial Jefferson’s defendant stated that Jefferson was not a man but a ‘hog’. That name triggered Grant’s journey on becoming a hero.…
Southerners allowed widespread lynchings while hiding behind the excuse of "defending the honor of its women." (61) The charge of rape was used in many cases to lynch innocent African-American men. The victim 's innocence was often proved after his death. Wells states that the raping of white women by negro men is an outright lie. Wells supports her statements with several stories about mutual relationships between white women and black men. White men are free to have relationships with colored women, but colored men will receive death for relationships with white women.…
During the 1980s where crime rates were skyrocketing and the subway system was at the brink of closing down, a subway shooting occurred involving a disciplinarian and a law-abiding citizen and four juvenile delinquents. A man named Bernhard Goetz entered the train and sat next to four young black men. These four men were notorious for several crimes, they were the most feared around the area that Goetz lived in; one of the four men, Troy Canty, walked up to Goetz and demanded that Goetz would give him money. Goetz was in a situation where he was about to get robbed and that these four men were not going to stop unless someone stepped up to them and teaches them a lesson and Goetz thought he was the perfect candidate due to his history of being strictly disciplined by his father. Goetz also had a history of being mugged by three people who were also black and subdued one of the attackers after he was robbed. Unfortunately for Goetz the person that was part of the gang that mugged him was released with only a misdemeanor which left Goetz resentful. Gladwell states…
It took the Army five weeks to release information regarding the real cause of death of Pat Tillman. When the Army released the news to the public, it shocked many including his family. However, they didn’t provide much detail to the public other than that he was killed by “friendly fire”. Afterwards, they provided his family with further evidence surrounding their son’s death. They gave his family a box of 3,000 detailed pages from the incidence, but was so confusing the family stated, “it was almost like trying to put together a crossword puzzle.”…
In the book the Mugging of Black America, Earl Ofari Hutchinson relays an interesting experience by a reporter. The reporter, who spent two and a half hours watching suspects march before Washington, D.C. Superior Court Judge Morton Berg, noted that all but one of these subjects was Black. He stated, ¡§There is an odd air about the swift afternoon¡Xan atmosphere like that of British Africa in colonial times¡Xas the procession of tattered, troubled, scowling, poor blacks plead guilty or not guilty to charges of drug possession, drug distribution, assault, armed robbery, theft, breaking in, fraud and arson.¡¨ According to Hutchinson, the reporter witnessed more than a courtroom scene; he witnessed the legacy of slavery.…