Unfair Trials

A trial in our history that could be considered unfair was the 1999 execution of Troy Farris in Texas. Farris was accused of shooting a sheriff's deputy near Fort Worth in 1984. The man admitted to being present during the drug deal but denied shooting the officer. Lawyers argued that the trial was unfair on a number of grounds including the claim that the court excluded a juror who openly expressed that he was against the death penalty (suspiiiiicious!). Farris was also denied a new trial by the US Supreme Court in 1990. Though in 1994 a similar case in which a juror who was also opposed to the death penalty was excluded the case was reversed. The court later admitted that they had been wrong in their sentencing of Troy Farris and in turn over ruled their prior ruling. However this had no effect on Farris's actual case because his lawyers were appealing at the federal level rather than the state level. In 1995 the Texas Legislator established severe restrictions on the rights of those on death row to launch new state level appeals. However the court refused to block Farris's execution and claimed that he did not fit into these new guide lines. Farris was executed and his lawyer Miss Maurie Levin claimed that it was both "infuriating and terrifying" and that she had never heard of a case where the Court had admitted to an error and yet refused to grant a new trial to the defendant. The court however claims that the were in the right based on the testimony of Farris's brother-in-law, Jimmy Daniels, who claimed that Farris had confessed the killing to him in private.
This case is similar to the Salem Witch Trials as depicted in "The Crucible" in that someone was unfairly executed. Hundreds of people were both convicted and hanged during the Salem Witch trials and there was no real proof that any of the men or women being accused had ever performed any type of magic at all. They are also similar cases in that the court stuck to their sentences based solely on the testimony of one person. For example, the court in Texas "stuck to their guns" based on the testimony of Jimmy Daniels who had no proof other than his word that his brother-in-law killed the sheriff's deputy. An example from "The Crucible" is that Rebecca Nurse was accused of being a witch and I believe sentenced to death at the end of the play based on the fact that all her children had survived into adulthood while all but one of Mrs. Putnam's babies had died. There was absolutely no proof to convict Rebecca and yet she died anyway just as Farris was executed based on something that he supposedly confessed to in confidence with no one else around to back up the claim.

The Crucible and Me

Although The Crucible is a very old play and I am not a Puritan like most of the characters in it, I am able to relate a little bit to the play. The connection that I am able to make is through Rebecca Nurse. I am not saying that I am all high and mighty and people look up to me, I'm saying that I have been falsely accused of a "crime" that I did not commit and did not find out about until it had already happened. Now before you start freaking out let me explain. In my house there is a carton of milk (among other things) that is for everyone to use and put in their coffee and cocoa and what ever else it is that you want to drink...and then there is the coffee creamer that is only to be touched or used my mother and all her important coffee needs. Then there is my 13 year old brother Jacob, and he does not like to follow rules and frankly likes to make my mother mad, however my mother thinks that he is an angel and feels that he can do no wrong (gag). Now one night Jacob made cocoa and decided that instead of putting regular milk in his mug he would use my mother's coffee creamer. He used about a quarter of what was left in the bottle actually. When my mother went to make her coffee the next morning (1/3 coffee and 2/3 creamer) she noticed how much less coffee creamer there was in the bottle than there had been the morning before. She asked Jacob and of course he said that he had nothing to do with it and his shiny little halo gleamed above his head. Having eliminated Jacob from the suspect list that left my 4 year old brother Daniel and me. Now because Daniel is 4 she didn't even think of asking him...because he can't get his own drinks. So who did she accuse? I'll give you a hint...it was me. I got a very stern talking to and was unable to have any of the coffee that she made for the rest of the month while Jacob got off scott-free and even made a point of telling my mom that he was certain that it was me who had done it.
How does this relate to Rebecca Nurse you ask? Well Rebecca Nurse was accused (and later hanged) of being a witch. She was an outstanding member of society and most everyone liked her and her husband. She basically did absolutely no wrong but was accused and sentenced for a crime she was not a part of. She was able to recite all of her bible verses and wanted nothing to do with Samuel Parris's witch hunt, which I would say should have proven that she was innocent. She reacted the same way that I did when I was accused of the "coffee creamer crime", we both immediately admitted that we had nothing do with anything of the sort. Which most people (the people at the trial and my mother) immediately take as protesting to much, a sure sign of guiltiness. We are both women who did not deserve the punishment that we received for crimes that we did not commit.