Brendan Forte
Extra Credit (1.5 Hours)
The
Confessions
Summary
This
documentary was about four men who confess to a brutal crime that they did not
commit. There was a woman that was raped and murdered and the wrong people were
accused. There is so much that goes wrong in this process. This shows the many
things that goes wrong when innocent people got convicted.
Body
Something
that caused these men to confess was the long interrogation that they all
faced. A man named Glenn Ford took them into the interrogation room for hours
upon hours trying to get what he wanted to hear. They were threatened by the death penalty.
They thought that it was better to finally give in and confess although they
did not do it, rather than tell the truth and die. Two of the men specifically
said, it destroyed them emotionally. The interrogation made them feel caged
scared, and they did not know what to do. They were worn down until they could
not go anymore. He said his fear was not of what happen next it was of Ford. He
also said in the interrogation room it was different. Ford told him what he
wanted to hear and they repeated it back. One man even said he did not realize
what he even said until after he heard the recording later.
One
arrest led to the next. Daniel, Joe, Eric, Derek, Polly, and Ferris. These were
the six men accused of committing the crime. It started with Daniel, then he
said Joe’s name, which led to the other four. With all six men arrested, there
was still no DNA match. One day, a woman received a violent letter changed the
story. It was from a man named Ballord, who had been in prison for 2 years. In
the letter he wrote, “You know who killed her… It was me. HA, HA.” His DNA was
tested, and it came back positive. He also admitted that he worked alone. The four
men thought they would be let go, but that was not the case. The investigators
tried to make it a group crime by tying them into it.
The
men started to believe that they actually did the crime. It was as if they were
being brainwashed to say that they did it. The men went to trial and started to
have positives thoughts. There was a time when Eric finally thought he was
going to go home a free man, but there was a turning point. The audio tape of
him confessing to the crime was played in court, and the jury eventually found
him guilty, and he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Next was Derek, and the
same thing happened. The audio tape was played, and the jury found him guilty
but he was charged with life in prison. The other two men, chose not to talk in
front of a jury because one was afraid of the death penalty and one started to
believe he did it. The only confession the jury did not believe was Ballord’s
confession that he worked alone. When Frontline talked to Ballord on the phone,
they found out there was a deal made that saved him from the death penalty. The
deal was that he said he worked with the other four men. Even Ballord was
confused. He did say that he was not surprised that the other men confessed. He
said they confessed out of fear. On the phone, he said, “I committed the
murder, and no one worked with me. That is the truth and it is what I stand
by”. The case became noticed worldwide.
Petitions came in and the judge gave 3 conditional pardons to the three men
still in prison. On August 10, 2009 Derek, Joe and Daniel were released from
prison.
Geography & Demography
There
were seven men first accused. All seven men were white sailors. Later an
African American man named Ballord was mentioned. He is the man who actually
committed the crime.
Economics
There
was a lot of money put into the investigation of this crime. Even though the
men knew they were innocent, they needed to pay lawyers to defend them. One man
paid 22,000 dollars and was still proven guilty.
Politics
Although there
were six men already accused, Ford pushed for another name. Joe mentioned
another man named John was accused but had an alibi that was “airtight sealed”.
Still, he had a trial to see if he was guilty or not. Many men said where was
justice? When were people going to wake up? Glenn Ford could not change his
story because it would make him look bad. Where is the justice? Why was this
man trying so hard to make them confess to something they didn’t do? The
justice system is suppose to be trustable, but this shows a case that would
change that for many people.
Conclusion
This
story was extremely interesting and sad to watch. There were violent stories
and images shown and it was sad to hear that these men were accused of something
that they really did not do. I believed from the beginning that they did not
commit the awful crime. The man that interrogated them have changed their lives
forever. He made them confess to something they did not do. It was especially
hard to hear Ballords voice over the phone. To know that he commited such a
disgusting time was rough. The most amazing, and hard to hear part of this
video, was when Ballord said “I committed the murders alone”. He explained that
he felt like the investigators wanted the four men to be guilty. It is scary to
put myself in their shoes, to think if I served time for something I didn’t do. The video was interesting because it shows a
glitch in the so called trustable justice system.
Bibliography
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions/
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