Peter Rose Case

Injustice in the Court: Peter Rose
When the people of the United States of America think of justice, depictions come to mind. To some, justice is represented by the Lady Justice standing strong with a long robe and scale in her hand. This scene is enough to represent the balance that is seen in the justice system hoping for a fair distribution of law, with no bias or corruption. Unfortunately as every American strives for justice to prevail, there are cases each year where this is not the case. False convictions have become prevalent in the court of law and should be addressed to be aware of such corruption. In this specific instance, Peter Rose is one of the thousands of cases each year where the accused was found guilty and later exonerated
Residing in Lodi, California he was a working class caucasian man with 37 years of age. Peter Rose had no previous criminal history and was an active member of the San Joaquin county. As a registered member of the Democratic party he was an active member and contributed to the community through church membership as well. The case begins the morning of November 29, 1994. A thirteen year old girl named A.R. was sexually assaulted while walking to school. The man took her in an alley, punched her in the face and proceeded to rape her behind a house nearby. After raping A.R., the man jumped over a gated fence and ran away. A.R. was quickly able to flag down a passing car. A.R. told the car drive, Ronald White that she needed to be driven to her aunt's house. As Ronald White drove A.R. to the aunt’s house, A.R was able to spot the perpetrator on the street and said “There he is.” After A.R. arrived at the aunts home, her mother immediately called 911 where A.R was taken to the hospital for sexual assault examination. Rose was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Peter Rose was convicted of kidnapping a child under the age of fourteen, as well as sexual assault. The case itself seems relatively simple, although the case itself presents many misconceptions that lead to the conviction of Peter
These two factors will be closely examined and how this caused misconceptions during the court case. First Ronald White, the man that drove A.R. to the aunt’s house was the main person in describing the attacker. He described the man on the street as a caucasian man with long hair and a mustache. He was wearing a bandana on his head, a jacket, sweatpants, with brown gloves and boots. With this information, authorities were able to create a composite drawing published in the local california newspaper. The victim’s aunt was chosen to see the composite and clearly identified Peter Rose, who was a family relative that was closely associated with A.R. With this information, detectives used Rose’s information creating a photographic lineup shown to Ronald White. Peter Rose was not selected from the lineup. Ronald White selected another photo identifying the