Criminal justice free essay sample

Intelligence and Surveillance Barber-ism #3 Chapter 7 notes The text does a pretty poor Job of defining intelligence gathering and the difference between strategic and tactical intelligence. Let me take a shot at it and see if I can make it simple. Criminal intelligence in its most simple form is gathering information on the places a person goes, the folks the person interacts with, and the business in which the person is engaged because it is suspected the person is involved in, has been involved in, or will be involved in criminal behavior. Now, that may seem as awkward as the book definition and if it does I apologize. But it makes more sense to me than does the text. Heres the best way to distinguish strategic intelligence from tactical intelligence for our purposes. Strategic intelligence is information gathering for the purpose of building a criminal case. Tactical intelligence is information gathering for the purpose of executing a specific police action [usually, that translates arrest]. Misskelley refused to testify against Echols and Baldwin even though he was offered a deal in reduction time in his jail sentence. Misskelley was interrogated for 12 hours without his parents or an attorney present during this. Jessie Misskelley had a low IQ score of 72 indicating that he was mentally disabled and even after knowing this the West Memphis police still continued to interrogate him. Although he recanted his so called confession within hours after speaking to the police, it still played a major role in all three convictions of himself, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. I feel that Jessie was definitely coerced in making this confession. He failed to provide the correct details of the crime which included the cause of death, times the murders took place and the materials that were used in the murders. He often repeated what information Detective Ridge spoke of in the interrogation. Finally, approximately 46 minutes of the 12 hour interrogation was recorded on tape. In the case of State of Iowa, Appellant v. Rasheem Damonte BOGAN, I feel that Bogan and Misskelley were treated very similarly. They were both held for multiple hours and left with no other option other than to confess. Misskelley did sign a rights form however. Any information that Misskelley spoke of during that confession should not be included in the evidence or be considered by the jury. There is very little direct or circumstantial evidence that is present to support Misskelley’s confession. Misskelley begins his confession by telling Detective Ridge that he received a phone call from Jason Baldwin on May 5, 1993. This could not be possible because Jessie did not have access to a phone due to the fact that he was spending the night at a friends house who did not have a phone. Misskelley then continued to tell Detective Ridge that he met Baldwin and Echols at 9 A. M. on that Wednesday morning, which would be when the boys were in school. The boys did not skip school that day and they were all accounted for in class. Misskelley would go on to tell multiple different times at which they went to the woods. He then said that they walked to Robin Hood, located by Blue Beacon Truck Wash. This location was very recognized by the media during May 1993. Ridge then says, â€Å"Behind Blue Beacon? † and Jessie responds, â€Å"Behind it, right back there behind it. † Jessie clearly did not state the location of the crime scene only repeating what Ridge said. Misskelley went on to tell Ridge what went on while they were in the woods. He said, â€Å"Damien hit this one real bad, and then uh, he started screwing them and stuff. † From the records of the Medical Examiner there no evidence that the boys were raped. There was anal-dilation present in two of the boys but that is most likely from the water and there was no tearing which would occur during rape. Jessie was then presented with a picture from the newspaper that had the three boys that were the victims. He was told to identify the boys by their names and point out which one Damien supposedly hit. Jessie could not accurately name the boys. He goes back to the occurrence of Damien striking the boy and said that he â€Å"bruised him all up real bad†, which could not have happened because bruises would not occur on impact. Misskelley then says that he leaves and comes back multiple times during this time. He says that himself, Echols, and Misskelley took the boys clothes off and that there was blood present on them. There was no blood found any of the children’s clothes. Misskelley then said, â€Å"Then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff and I turned around and looked, and then I took off running. There no evidence of violent sodomy on any of the children and the children were â€Å"hog tied†, wrist to ankle, which would be a position to sodomize someone. The â€Å"hog tied† position doesn’t align with the boys being on their backs. Jessie states that he left the scene, but when asked further questions by Ridge he continues to say what happened. During the trial, Misskelley tells a slightly different story than which he told when interrogated on June 3. He first told Detective Ridge that they walked to the woods, but then said that they rode their bikes. He changes the time that they went to the woods multiple times again. When the knife was introduced as a possible murder weapon it did not match the description that Misskelley had given. Jessie reports that he returned the crime scene after the murders had taken place, but the crime scene was blocked off and patrolled by the West Memphis Police Department who were watching to see if the criminal would indeed return. There were no reports made of Jessie’s appearance in the woods after the murders. Gitchell and Ridge ask Jessie if had killed any of the boys or harmed them in anyway and his response was no. He did say that he saw Christopher Byers be killed by Damien by choking him. There was no evidence that Christopher Byers had been choked or strangled. The information that Jessie Misskelley provides in the interrogation and in court was not admissible. There was no evidence to support any of his accusations or statements. I think this proves that Misskelley was coerced into this confession. Direct evidence that supports the Echols/Baldwin convictions is the young girl at the softball game that claimed she heard Damien Echols say he killed the boys and would kill two more before he turned himself in. Another piece of direct evidence is the â€Å"prisoner snitch† who claimed that Baldwin confessed to killing the boys. When the young girl form the softball game took the stand she failed to answer any questions that she was asked. The â€Å"prisoner snitch† should not have been put on the stand either. They failed to include that the prisoner was informed of Jason Baldwin’s accusation by his parole person. The court would not allow the parole person to say that this was how the prisoner became aware of the situation. One of the reasons that he was included in the trial because juries love prisoner testimonies. Circumstantial evidence that supports the Echols/Baldwin convictions was the knife that was found in the pond behind the boys mobile home. This knife should not have been included in the evidence because there was no proof of who put it there. The other knife that belonged to Mr. Byers should have been handled with more care. The chain of existence and chain of evidence needed to be put together and handled with more caution. When Byers was asked about the blood that was found on the knife he changed his story from what it was before, which should have stopped the jury. The hair that was found in the shoe lace could have been one of the only piece of evidence that was qualify as circumstantial evidence, but the laboratory work was not done well enough. I do not think any of this evidence was enough to convict Damien Echols or Jason Baldwin. Overall, I think that the evidence and confession should not have been enough to convict Damien, Jason, or Jessie. I believe that Jessie Misskelley was coerced into giving a false confession. The statements that were made by Misskelley do not support the real fact of the investigation. More investigating should have been done on Mr. Byers. The â€Å"big† knife belonged to Mr. Byers and blood was found on it. His story was not complete and changed multiple times. Justice was served when all three boys were released from jail after the appeals.