Fiston tokenge

John T .Hill
Criminal Justice 1010
5 April 2016
Justice system in America
If we look at crime in American is really high because they few things the havent been
done, when comes to work with criminals they certain things the government need to
work on, first we should have a clear order of how we can involve our self and work with
them, so I being to wonder why are many males and females in prison, the first thing I
looked at was that how do we investigator certain crime because alike of investigation
this is how it works when it comes to alike of investigation some people are been going
into death row .the was a story in Greenwood California during 1982 the was a old
woman who was murder by the name of Dorothy Edwards her body was discovered in
her upscale home.
In January 19th 1982 Dorothys body had 52 wounds, and 11 broken ribs and
abrasions on her vagina. When the forensic team gathered what evidence was inside the
home, hair samples were found on the bed, blood in various place outside there were
some fingerprints. When the police gather all the information and the asked one of
Dorothys neighbor, James Holloway, he told the police that Edward lee Elmore was a 23
years old handyman who worked for Dorothy from time to time. Elmore was never been
convicted of felony before, when the police matched his fingerprints form other
misdemeanor arrests, he was accused of murder and among lesser charges.

The Greenwood police went looking for Elmore 36 hours after Dorothys body
was found. When he got arrested he had no violent behavior. The police took hair and
blood samples and placed him in the county jail house. When the first detective was
question him, he said he had feeling that there might be something that MR Elmore was
hiding, Mr. Elmores case went to trail only 82 days after his arrest. The police found
small spots of blood matching Dorothys blood type on Elmores pants and shoes but the
prosecutors also told the jury that dozens of Elmores pubic hairs were found on
Dorothys bed.
When Elmore was in prison he had inmate by the name of Gilliam who claimed
to have heard Elmore confess to the crime while in jail. That he went to down to robber
the lady after thirty-six jurors had determined that Edward Elmore should be put to death.
After being in prison for eleven years a 34-years law student by the name of Diana Holt,
she went to South Carolina death penalty resource cent as a summer intern. She was
asked to work on reviewing Elmores case as her first assignments, when she being
looking at her Elmores fail she started having suspicions that Elmores trials werent fair.
She was troubled that Elmores defense attorney didnt call any witnesses, when time
went by the she felt like there was something wrong.
She went on to meet Elmore through her own description she said she saw this
young man and he is so docile and gentle and quiet and happy, she couldnt image that
how can someone be on death row be happy, in her own wards all that didnt make any
sense to her from that moment she knew there was no way she could let Elmores case
go. Diana being searching through Elmore case she found potential grounds for appeal
she went on look at evidence she find that the evidence bag contained 49 hairs through

those number Diana found suspiciously close to the number of hairs police pulled from
Elmore after his arrest. The were nearly 100 photographs which were token from crime
scene but not a single photo showed hair on bed. Because at any crime scene the first
thing youre going to do is you photograph, so as Diana dug deeper into the case, a new
suspect began to emerge she went on to speak to the next door neighbor who discovered
Dorothys body had acted suspiciously. When the neighbor went to open the door he had
to put on glovers before he went to open the door.
Since Diana is search on case was going well she decide to ask for a new trial for
Edward lee Elmore, she finally read what Elmore said in the original trial, she felt more
determined than ever to fight back so in order to solve the mystery of who did murder
Dorothy Edwards, Diana began looking for alternate suspects and she found the neighbor
who discovered the body James Holloway. During Holloway testimony he said when he
went inside the house he seen that wall of blood for the first but he doesnt call the police
and he decides that hes going to go to the other side neighbor and get her to come in the
house with him.
So hes at the closet door again and he decides to put gloves on and then he opens
the door, Diana become also suspicious that Holloway immediately told police who the
perpetrator could be and that young man was Edward lee Elmore, what was more
surprising was that the police allowed Holloway a possible suspect to clean the crime
scene the day after Dorothys body was found. He could do whatever he wanted in there
since the law enforcement gave James Holloway to clear up there was no law
enforcement presence watching what happened, there was no preservation of the crime
scene.

While Diana looking and searching she went on to find that James Holloway and
Dorothy had been having an affaire for the last 30 years. According Diana she said if
James was having an affaire with Dorothy the motive could be jealousy and Holloways
detailed description, few years later James past way in 1994 for Elmore is been on death
raw for more than 13 years, Elmores survival would depend on Diana getting him a new
trial a process Diana would launch only 98 days after passing her bar Exam.
When Diana got a new trial for Elmore the first witnesses she called was James
Gilliam, the inmate who said Elmore confessed to him in jail Gilliam said this during the
trial he made a deal with the prosecutor to testify against Elmore in exchange for release
from prison. But with Elmore facing the electric chair he felt bad abut what he had done
when he went to the stand Gilliam said the testimony that I gave in the prior trials was
false. That he made up the story to try to get better treatment for himself on his criminal
sentence. Through that Diana made other discovery evidence list showed Elmores pants
had passed through eight different people before the trial one name on list jumped out at
Diana, Thomas Henderson was a state police agent who grew up across the street from
Dorothy Edwards and James Holloway and he was friendly with both.
Again according Diana to she Tom Henderson had nothing to do with forensic
investigation at all he wasnt supposed to be involved in the case anyway because these
were people he knew his whole lifelong there was no reason for him to have removed
these things from laboratory. Diana and her team presented all evidence but that was not
all they needed fro Diana to prove Elmores innocence was not enough to get a new trail
Elmores team would need to prove that Elmore constitutional rights had been violated.
On December 21st 2000, new hearing was held if a new trial were to be granted Elmore

could be released on bail and join his family for the holidays after more than 1 year on
death row. When same judge who had started Elmore may well be not guilty unexpected
rather than adjourn and read the filings before ruling, the judge issued his decision on the
spot all motion are denied the judge said one hair is not enough an execution date was set
fro Elmore while awaiting his date with the electric chair after 22 years on death row
Edward Elmore was in lockdown wait for a electric chair,
When he was tested they found out Elmore is mentally retarded after nearly 28
years; Elmore was finally leaving death row the state was reluctant to retry the case
knowing the defense had unearthed that could implicate both police and prosecutors so
they offered Elmore a plea bargain, after 30 years Edward lee Elmore was released form
prison.
Is not only Edward Elmore who has gone through this they many more out there
because if man or woman can spend so much time in prison and only after 30 years later
is been prove not guilty all this I counter this as alike of investigation, police should look
more into a crime and it shouldnt be best on color of the skin.

Work cited

Read the U.S. Court of Appeals opinion on the

case
Read more about the plea deal (PD