Wrongful Conviction Case Study

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The justice department in the United States is charged with determining whether an individual is guilty or innocent once they have been accused. This determination is based on the pieces of evidence presented to the jury during the trial and prosecution. The defendants are entitled to a state attorney who defends them against the accusations alleged against them. In some cases, however, the pieces of evidence gathered may convict a person depending on how well they are presented, particularly at initial trial levels. These situations can lead to a wrongful conviction which is the same circumstances that led to the wrongful conviction of Darryl Hunt for rape and murder in 1984. This paper examines the historical background of the case; different cause of the wrongful conviction as well as steps the justice system can undertake in minimizing such occurrences.
Darryl Hunt was arrested, charged and consequently convicted of murder in 1984 for a crime he did not commit. At this time he was 19 years old. Early in the morning on August 10th 1984, Deborah Sykes was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death (Hewlett, 2014). Deborah was a 25-year-old local newspaper editor. This crime occurred on the outskirts of a North Carolina Town, …show more content…
Relying on faulty witness testimony is another shortcoming in the investigations that often lead to wrongful convictions (Huff, & Killias, 2013). In the Darryl Hunt cases, there are several inherent instances of faulty eyewitness testimony which formed the basis of prosecutor's evidence in convicting him of the murder of Deborah Sykes. For instance, the person who made the call to 911, claimed to be Hunt's friend Mitchell, but was actually Johnny Gray. Gray changed the story from the person he described during questioning, to tentatively identifying Hunt, when the police paraded the photos of the

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