Tuesday, October 25, 2011
ICB, "The Corner": Is Justice Served?
Is the trial of Dick and Perry a fair one? One might conclude that Capote did not believe this to be the case. He provides numerous details in "The Corner" that indicate he believes justice was not served ... at least not fairly. Cite one -- JUST ONE -- of these details and discuss it. Try to find something a classmate has not already discussed here.
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From Brian:
ReplyDeleteJustice was absolutely not served. On the contrary, America is a murderer. By practicing the death penalty, we are not only violating our own constitution, we are taking human lives, and descending to the level of murderers. For this reason it was not a fair trial. Among the evidence Capote uses to back me up on this the fact that one of the jurors explicitly stated that "ordinarily I'm against it [the death penalty], but in this case, no," (Pg. 326), which is a clear indication of a prebias against the defendants.
I think the only reason Capote is not in favor of the death penalty is because of Perry. Even at the end he portraies Dick as heartless by having him be indifferent to his own death. Capote obviously feels sympathy towards Perry, especially with the decision to not have him sent to Larned because of his schitzofrinia. "'It is entirely unexessay, a waste of time to send the defendant to Larned'" (267) Capote only throws that quote in to make the reader believe that the trial was biased.
ReplyDeleteI think the trial of Dick and Perry was not truly a fair one, but I think even if it was a fair trial the jury would still come to the same conclusion. What Dick and Perry did was horrendous and brutal and they both knew that when they committed it. I feel that Capote was trying to show a different side; in my opinion he certainly believed that their trial was not fair. For example, Capote is sure to mention that “an auction of the victim’s estate occurs one week before today- in other words, the very day before the trial begins.” (269) Capote mentions this to show that from the beginning the trial was biased.
ReplyDeleteThe trial is very obviously biased. If it had taken place in a town that was not as tight knit as Holcomb, the trial may possibly have been more fair. There were numerous instances when this was made clear, but one of them is when Dr. Jones is attempting to present the results of his analysis on the killers. Twice he gets cut off: "though Dr. Jones agreed to elaborate, the prosecution was entitle to object-and did, citing the fact that Kansas law allowed nothing more than a yes or no reply to the pertinent question" (pg 294). Had Dr. Jones been allowed to answer fully, he would have gone on to tell the court why he thought each killer had a form of mental disorder. This shows that even though there was enough evidence to support a psychotic case, it was not allowed to be presented in this court.
ReplyDeleteI think that perry really changed the mind of Capote with this whole trial because if he didn't have some kind of feeling towards perry then Capote most likely would look at it like we do and think how bad of a person these two killers have to be.I think this is really proven by the end of the novel where perry apologizes before being hung and Dick is just being his stone faced self.
ReplyDeleteWe talked earlier on about the mitigating evidence, something which is brought up quite a lot in The Corner. For instance, the psychiatrists answer to whether Perry is 'sane' or not is a very important issue brought up. But he does when he testifies, he does not have an answer and if he were to answer with the material Capote presents, perhaps the death penalty would have been reconsidered for Perry.
ReplyDeleteRyan
ReplyDeleteI do not think the trial was a fair one. The attorneys given to Dick and Perry seemed to have already given up on the case when they were assigned. "I do not desire to serve, but if the court sees fir to appoint me, then of course I have no choice."(257) Even though the evidence is not in his favor he should still at least try to make an effort. Mr. Flemming already sounds defeated in his statement above
I Don't think Dick and Perry's trial was entirely fair. They were guilty and it was known. In my opinion they were doomed from the start. And because they guys don't have the money to pay for a good attorney they got stuck with someone who knew already it was a done deal. "' I do not desire to serve,' he told the judge. 'But if the court sees fit to appoint me, then of course i have no choice.'" This man obviously is just doing his job and doesn't even want to try to help Dick and Perry. He gave up before anything even happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Capote felt the trial was fair because of the M'Naghten Rule, which Capote describes as "the ancient British importation" (267). The M'Naghten Rule states that if a murderer is aware of what he did was wrong, he is held responsible for his actions. It is clear in the quotes that Capote choses that he doesn't like the M'Naghten Rule because it doesn't help Perry's cause of keeping him from the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteFrom Morgan:
ReplyDeleteI do not think the trial was fair. One instance where the trial was biased is based on the attorneys assigned to Perry and Dick. One of them even says, "I do not desire to serve, but if the court sees fir to appoint me, then of course I have no choice."(257) Neither of them really want to serve, considering it would be bad for their reputation, so neither of their hearts are truly in the case. Their job requires them to leave their opinions at the door, but in reality they probably view the killers in the same way as everyone else: cold and heartless.
From Rebecca:
ReplyDeleteCapote emphasizes the bias that Judge Bate holds against the defendants. He allows the prosecution to do things that he doesn’t let the defendants do. Dick’s lawyer argued that the pictures were overkill and served to stir up the emotions of the jury. “’The sole reason the pictures are being introduced is to prejudice and inflame the minds of the jury.’ Judge Tate overruled the objection and allowed the photographs into evidence, which meant they must be shown to the jury.” (281), Then when the defendants wanted to show pictures of Perry’s drawings, the judge put a stop to it. “’If your honor please, this is going too far…’ His Honor saw that it went no further.” (296).
Thank you to all of those who contributed!
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