Randolph Arledge Case

Texas has 125 records of wrongful convictions since 1989. Unlawfully charging someone with a crime they did not commit, barely looking at the evidence, wrongly convicting someone so they are sentenced to life in prison was the case for both Randolph Arledge and Kennedy Brewer . Randolph Arledge was convicted for the murder of Carolyn Armstrong and Kennedy Brewer for the slaying of Christina Jackson. Both Brewer and Arledge have what they were charged for, evidence behind the story, why they were released and how many years they were in prison until they were released To start off Randolph Arledge was an ordinary man who was a victim of being wrongly convicted for a crime he did not commit. First, an innocent man was sentenced to many years in prison. Randolph Arledge was released from prison after twenty nine years when he was sentenced to ninety nine (McCathchy). Arledge was released after DNA testing, that he was innocent. Next he was convicted for a crime he did not commit. Arledge was convicted for the murder of Carol Armstrong near Corsicana (McCathchy). In 1984, Arledge was wrongly convicted for killing Carol Armstrong who was 21 years old. Lastly this is not the only time this had happened . Texas has had about 125 wrongfully convicted innocent people since 1989 (McCathchy). Since Texas had so many wrong convictions this made people question if Arledge actually did the crime or if it was another wrong conviction. Arledge was not the only person who was wrongly convicted and sent to prison for a crime they did not commit. Kennedy Brewer was another victim of being wrongfully convicted. To start off he was found guilty even though he was innocent. Brewer was found guilty of the slaying of Christina Jackson (“Decade later”). Jackson was Brewer’s girlfriend's daughter. Then Brewer and his girlfriend were both arrested even though neither of them committed the crime. After Ms. Jackson had been in jail for several months the charges against her were dropped (Shaila). When Ms. Jackson’s charges were lifted Brewer was sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile Ms. Jackson was out of prison Brewers charges were not lifted. Kennedy was sentenced to death after being accused of killing and raping a three year old girl (McCathchy). Brewer was then released from prison after thirteen years from DNA testing proved that he was not involved in the murder and rape of Jackson. When Brewer was convicted he was then released from DNA testing. As a consequence of not looking at the evidence innocent people are charged with a crime they did not commit. However this exact thing happened to Randolph Arledge. On August 30, 1982, 21- year old Carol Armstrong was found on a side of a highway near Corsicana, Texas. Stabbed 48 times, and raped (Maurice). People just assumed it was Arledge without looking at the evidence clearly because it was the first person they questioned and made sence for him to kill her. The next point is that he was not let free after DNA testing. Prosecutors and his attorneys agreed that he should be released after DNA testing on a hairnet …show more content…
Brewer was not alone that night, his girlfriend was with him and was also convicted for the crime. One saturday night in May of 1992 Brewer stayed in the house with Christine and two other children, Jackson came home at 12:30 am and he only got up twice that night (Dewan). Ms. Jackson said that Brewer only got up twice and she said it was to change a diaper and to get a bottle. If that is true, Brewer would have no time to kill Christina. There was a very similar story about two years before Christina was killed. Almost two years before Christine’s death, another three year old (Courtney Smith) had disappeared from her bedroom and was found raped and murdered in a nearby pond. And in this story the mother's boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison (Dewan). This story made people question if it was actually Brewer who killed Christina or if it was the same person who killed Courtney. After DNA testing was improved, many people were released after they were proven