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Ryan W. Ferguson
Ryan W. Ferguson (born October 19, 1984) is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student. Kent Heitholt was found beaten and strangled shortly after 2 a.m. on November 1, 2001, in the parking lot of the ''Columbia Daily Tribune'', where he worked as a sports editor. Heitholt's murder went unsolved for two years until police received a tip about a man named Charles Erickson who had spent that evening partying with Ferguson. Erickson could not remember the evening of the murder and was concerned that he may have been involved in it. Despite failing to recall having killed Heitholt, Erickson eventually confessed and implicated Ferguson in the crime as well. Ferguson was convicted in the fall of 2005 on the basis of Erickson's testimony as well as that of a building employee. Both witnesses later recanted their testi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Camm
David Ray Camm (born March 23, 1964) is a former trooper of the Indiana State Police (ISP) who spent 13 years in prison after twice being wrongfully convicted of the murders of his wife, Kimberly, and his two young children at their home in Georgetown, Indiana, on September 28, 2000. He was released from custody in 2013 after his third trial resulted in an acquittal. Charles Boney is currently serving time for the murders of Camm's wife and two children. Initial investigation Police were summoned to the Camm residence shortly after 9:30p.m. on September 28, 2000, to find Kim, Bradley, and Jill Camm shot to death in the garage of their home. Camm told police that he returned home from playing basketball at a nearby church and found his wife shot to death on the garage floor. He then saw his daughter, Jill, sitting upright in the backseat, still strapped in her seatbelt. Brad was draped over the driver's side of the backseat as though he had been trying to get away from the assai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bungee Cord
Bungee cords equipped with metal hooks A bungee cord (sometimes spelled bungle; also known as a shock cord) is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, usually covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath. The sheath does not materially extend elastically, but it is braided with its strands spiralling around the core so that a longitudinal pull causes it to squeeze the core, transmitting the core's elastic compression to the longitudinal extension of the sheath and cord. Specialized bungees, such as some used in bungee jumping, may be made entirely of elastic strands. Uses upA child on a bungee cord device in Moscow, Russia Bungee cords have been used to provide a lightweight suspension for aircraft undercarriages from before World War I, and are still used on many small homebuilt aircraft where weight remains critical. Bungee cords were also used in parachuting to assist in opening the old-style parachute container after the ripcord wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habeas Corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether the detention is lawful. The writ of ''habeas corpus'' was described in the eighteenth century by William Blackstone as a "great and efficacious writ in all manner of illegal confinement". It is a summons with the force of a court order; it is addressed to the custodian (a prison official, for example) and demands that a prisoner be brought before the court, and that the custodian present proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether the custodian has lawful authority to detain the prisoner. If the custodian is acting beyond their authority, then the prisoner must be released. Any prisoner, or another person acting on their behalf, may petition the court, or a judge, for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pro Bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them. is also used in the United Kingdom to describe the central motivation of large organizations, such as the National Health Service and various NGOs which exist "for the public good" rather than for shareholder profit, but it equally or even more applies to the private sector where professionals like lawyers and bankers offer their specialist skills for the benefit of the community or NGOs. Legal counsel Pro bono legal counsel may assist an individual or group on a legal case by filing government applications or petitions. A judge may occasionally determine that the loser should compensate a winning pro bono counsel. Philippines In late 1974, former Philippine Senator Jose W. Diokno was released from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kathleen Zellner
Kathleen Zellner is an American attorney who has worked extensively in wrongful conviction advocacy. Notable clients Zellner has represented include Steven Avery (who was the subject of the 2015 and 2018 Netflix series ''Making a Murderer''), Kevin Fox (who was falsely accused of Murder of Riley Fox, murdering his daughter), Ryan W. Ferguson, Larry Eyler, and 19 exonerees who are listed in the National Registry of Exonerations. Early life and education Kathleen Zellner was born in Midland, Texas, the second of seven children. Her father Owen Thomas was a geologist, and her mother Winifred was a chemist who became a nurse.Chris Harvey (November 18, 2018)"'If you're rich, you can get away with murder' - Making a Murderer lawyer Kathleen Zellner,"''Independent''. When she was nine years old, she and her family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She attended Marquette University in Wisconsin, and then the University of Missouri, before graduating with a B.A. from Concordia University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrongful Conviction
A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent people have sometimes ended up in prison for years before their conviction has eventually been overturned. They may be exonerated if new evidence comes to light or it is determined that the police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial. In some jurisdictions this leads to the payment of compensation. Academic studies have found that the main factors contributing to miscarriages of justice are: eyewitness misidentification; faulty forensic analysis; false confessions by vulnerable suspects; perjury and lies stated by witnesses; misconduct by police, prosecutors or judges; and/or ineffective assistance of counsel (e.g., inadequate defense strategies by the defendant's or respondent's legal team). Some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear; that is, it is a larceny or theft accomplished by an assault. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between jurisdictions. Robbery is differentiated from other forms of theft (such as burglary, shoplifting, pickpocketing, or car theft) by its inherently violent nature (a violent crime); whereas many lesser forms of theft are punished as misdemeanors, robbery is always a felony in jurisdictions that distinguish between the two. Under English law, most forms of theft are triable either way, whereas robbery is triable only on indictment. The word "rob" came via French from Late Latin words (e.g., ''deraubare'') of Germanic origin, from Common Germanic ''raub'' "theft". Among the types ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convicted
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which is considered an acquittal. Sometimes, despite a defendant being found guilty, the court may order that the defendant not be convicted. This is known as a discharge and is used in countries such as England, Wales, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The criminal justice system is not perfect and there are instances in which guilty defendants are acquitted and innocent people are convicted. Appeal mechanisms and post conviction relief procedures may help to address this issue to some extent. An error leading to the conviction of an innocent person is known as a miscarriage of justice. After a defendant is convicted, the court determines the appropriate sentence as a punishment. In addition to the sentence, a conviction can also have other consequ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fingerprint Analysis
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfaces such as glass or metal. Deliberate impressions of entire fingerprints can be obtained by ink or other substances transferred from the peaks of friction ridges on the skin to a smooth surface such as paper. Fingerprint records normally contain impressions from the pad on the last joint of fingers and thumbs, though fingerprint cards also typically record portions of lower joint areas of the fingers. Human fingerprints are detailed, nearly unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity. They may be employed by police or other authorities to identify individuals who wish to conceal their identity, or to identify people who are incapacitated or deceased and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interrogation
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful information, particularly information related to suspected crime. Interrogation may involve a diverse array of techniques, ranging from developing a rapport with the subject to torture. Techniques Deception Deception can form an important part of effective interrogation. In the United States, there is no law or regulation that forbids the interrogator from lying about the strength of their case, from making misleading statements or from implying that the interviewee has already been implicated in the crime by someone else. See case law on trickery and deception ('' Frazier v. Cupp''). As noted above, traditionally the issue of deception is considered from the perspective of the interrogator engaging in deception towards the individual being inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strangling
Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging causes death (alongside breaking the victim's neck). Strangling does not have to be fatal; limited or interrupted strangling is practised in erotic asphyxia, in the choking game, and is an important technique in many combat sports and self-defense systems. Strangling can be divided into three general types according to the mechanism used: * Hanging—Suspension from a cord wound around the neck * Ligature strangulation—Strangulation without suspension using some form of cord-like object called a garrote * Manual strangulation—Strangulation using the fingers or other extremity General Strangling involves one or several mechanisms that interfere with the normal flow of oxygen into the brain: *Compression of the carotid arteries or ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
