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Black Cases

Because the United States' operation is based on the U.S. Constitution, federalism allows the state government to share powers with the federal government. Under the various capacities, different court cases are heard in the national and state court systems. A defendant can be inflicted with the death penalty if they are found condemned of capital offenses, like first-degree murder, murder with special circumstances, treason, or genocide. Because capital offenses are criminal cases, the state court systems are responsible to hear the majority of them. The Supreme Court and state courts' discretion in keeping the death penalty option are separate for the most part, if not appealed to the Supreme Court. According to the Legal Information Institute, “ it is not necessary that the actual punishment imposed was the death penalty, but rather a capital office is classified as such if the permissible punishment prescribed by the legislature for the offense is the death penalty.” After Roper v. Simmons in 2005, the federal court deemed if the defendant was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, they can not be sentenced to death because it violates the 8th Amendment.

George Stinney Jr.

Before the Roper v. Simmons ruling, black, 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. was the youngest person in the United States to be sentenced to death on June 16, 1944. Stinney was initially found responsible for the bulgenoning child murders of two, white girls. He died by electrocution. Although his case and death happened during the span of 80 days in 1944, his convictions were annulled 70 years later in 2014.

His exoneration was on the grounds that his 6th amendment was violated. After close examination it was found there was faulty interrogation that included coercion, absence of counsel and parental guidance. With Stinney’s treatment, the persecutor relied heavily on an unsigned, off-the-record confession. Impartial evidence was absent for Stinney’s defense like witness testimonies from his family members that were with him during the time of the crime and community members. The culprit who is suspected of committing the crime against the two girls comes from an white affluent family, where the father happen to have served as the jury’s manager for Stinney’s case.

Exonerated Five

"The full-page advertisement was taken out by Trump in the May 1, 1989, issue of the Daily News." Donald Trump spent $85,000 in submitting the ad across four New York City newspapers.

The systemic issue of biased investigation conduct is also seen in the Exonerated Five case. The Exonerated Five are made up of four black boys, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, and one latino, Raymond Santana. They are formerly known as the Central Park Five and the Jogger Case. The boys received mixed convictions for assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and attempted murder of a white woman in 1990.

The boys faced intense, un-recorded interrogations for at least seven hours in the absence of legal counsel with video confessions following, beside Salaam. Wise additionally had no parent present during questioning and confessing. The five boys later pleaded not guilty and recanted their statements because they were produced under imitation. Despite no DNA evidence linking any of the boys to the crime scene, they were sentenced to 5 to 15 years. After 12 years, the sole perpetrator, Matias Reyes, confessed to the crime while providing a DNA match to the only DNA selection found at the scene. Their false confessions were recognized for inconsistencies and their convictions were vacated in December 2002. They later sued the state and the city for reparations and received about $44 million in compensation.

During the 1990 trial, former president Donald Trump (a real-estate character at the time) bought full-page ads voicing his reaction to the handling of the Central Park case. In the ad, Donald Trump says the following:

“I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence.”

The boys were ranging from the ages of 14-16 years of age when the ad was released. In an archival interview with Larry King, Trump feels his belief is commonly felt by the majority because he received 15,000 letters of praise following the ad. In retrospect, Salaam reflects in an 2021 interview with PBS MetroFocus, saying:

“I look at what Donald Trump as being the nails that sealed us in the coffin. And then what happened after that, they published our names, our addresses, and phone numbers in the New York City newspapers. When you think about Donald Trump’s ad, it was a whisper into society to have someone come to our homes to drag us from our beds, and to do to us what they had done to Emmett Till.”

Because the boys were minors, their identity was supposed to remain confidential. Salaam shares that his family received an insurgence of death threats following Trump's advertisement, culminating a climate of aggressive hate. A Central Park Five representative comments that Trump's ad influenced the public opinion, possibly tainting the partially of potential jurors "who rightfully [already], had a natural affinity for the victim."

As of 2019, Donald Trump has refused to apologize and retract his statements despite the exoneration of the men.