Michael Blair was faced with multiple charges and years in prison for something he did not do. First Blair would be faced with a really long time in prison for capital murder. Wednesday, Blair was charged with capital murder because of the death of Ashley Nicole Estell, who was abducted on Sept. 4 from a crowded park in Plano, Texas (McFarland). This shows what Michael was charged with capital murder against a Texas teen, Ashley Estell, on September 4th from a crowded park. Second, Blair was already a convicted felon and claimed that he was innocent.
A convicted sex offender that was 23 years old was charged with capital murder, says that he did not commit the abduction and killing of a Texas girl (McFarland). This goes more into personal detail about the convicted murderer, Michael Blair, and the fact that he is pleading innocent in this capital murder charge. Michael Blair knew that he was not guilty of capital murder against Ashley Estell, but he would have a long fight ahead of him to get exonerated. The investigation would make him seem more guilty, than innocent. It is never a good thing for you if you are trying to plead innocent when you made it on America’s Most Wanted.
Firstly, even though Michael Blair was innocent he made it on America’s Most Wanted. The police received more than 1,000 tips about the case, which made it on the the famous TV show America’s Most Wanted Tuesday night (McFarland). Knowing this, it shows the severity of Michael Blair’s situation, and that 1000 or more people made tips about him. Next, during the search for Ashley’s body, over one hundred people helped out the police. Hundreds of volunteers joined the police in the search for the girl, and they found her body near a dirt road 6 miles away from the park she was abducted from (McFarland).
The fact that it took hundreds of people to help and find the missing body, shows how severe this was. The investigation and search for Ashley Estell was pretty intense and made national news. The results of this started out pretty bad but ended alright. Michael Blair’s results in this case did not end up as good as he wanted it to. To begin with, Blair would spend 10 years for a couple of crime. Blair was arrested on Tuesday night in 1988 at a motel in Plano Texas, and was sentenced to 10 vears in prison for indecency with a child and for burglary (McFarland) This tells the audience how long his sentence was and what he was charged with.
Secondly, Blair did get off the hook with the indecency and the burglary charges. Even though Michael Blair was a prime suspect and acting suspicious the DNA testing and evidence could not link him to the crimes committed, so he was exonerated (Hundley). This explains how Michael got off the hook, and was proven innocent for the crimes he did not commit. Thirdly, the district office gets a little personal about Blair getting sent to death row. On May 23, 2007, the Collin County District office says that they are not sure that Mr. Blair should be on death row for the slaying of Ashley Estell (Hundley).
This implies that some people took this personally, and that some people are second thinking the whole case. Michael Blair was originally sentenced to 10 years, but was all dropped when he was exonerated by DNA tests showing that he had nothing to do with the murder of Ashley Estell. Blair knew from the beginning of the Estell charges, but it doesn’t really matter because he’s still serving a life sentence. First off, even though people told him he was in the clear he wasn’t. “They said, ‘You are in the clear, nothing to worry about,” he said. “But they are digging deeper and deeper.
This don’t sound like I’m in the clear. I know I’m in the clear because I’m innocent. ” (McFarland). From this, the audience sees how stressful all of this is for Blair when people are telling him that he’s good yet the cops are going deeper and deeper into the investigation. Second off, even though Blair was exonerated, he would still face life in prison. Even if Blair gets the new trial and is cleared for the murder in 1993, he will still probably spend the rest of his life behind bars because of four life sentences for child sec crimes that he admits in 2004 (Hundley).
So in the end he still ends up serving a life sentence, which basically means this whole case was a waste of time. Michael Blair wasn’t the only one who served a lot of jail time for a crime that he did not commit, Victor Burnette knows this feeling all too well. Victor Burnette was cleared of a rape charge by DNA testing just like Michael Blair. Firstly, Burnette would spend a great deal of time in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. DNA testing has cleared a 30 year old Richmond man Victor Burnette of a rape charge in 1979, even though the woman who identified him says she doesn’t believe the test results (Mather).
So even though Victor was proven innocent by DNA tests, the victim refuses to believe he is innocent. Secondly, the final bill that Victor was purposed with was outrageous. Convicted of a 1979 rape he did not commit is upset with a proposed $107,078 payment to compensate him for eight years he spent in prison (Green). Basically, Victor has to pay 107,000 dollars for the jail time he did not deserve in the first place. The fact that Mr. Burnette had to serve jail time and a fine of $107,000 is absolutely appalling. Burnette had a good life before he got arrested, and this whole process affected him both emotionally and physically.
Firstly, the victim of the rape is trying so hard to ruin this innocent mans life. The Victim of the rape says that she is not going to put up with the exoneration results and that if the state tries to bring it up to her again then they will have to arrest her because she won’t accept it, and she says that she does not care what happens to the man, and she does not want him to be let go (Mather). So even though the victim can openly see that this man is innocent, she would rather go to jail herself, then accept the fact that Burnette is innocent.
Second, when Victor heard he was innocent, he didn’t have the same reaction as most people usually would. When Burnette found out about the results of the DNA testing he says that he was happy for only about three days but then it wore off mainly because he knew that even tho the DNA testing says that he is innocent he still had a very long, hard battle ahead of him, to win the pardon to grant his freedom (Green). Most people would be extremely happy to find out they are innocent, but when Victor realizes the journey ahead it instantly hits him with sadness again.
Thirdly, Victor had life going good for him before all of this went down. When Burnette found out about the results of the DNA testing he says that he was happy for only about three days but then it wore off mainly because he knew that even tho the DNA testing says that he is innocent he still had a very long, hard battle ahead of him, to win the pardon to grant his freedom (Green). Green was hit hard with reality when he actually stopped and think how much more he has to go through to actually be free again. Victor had a very rough path ahead of him after he found out he was innocent, and the rudeness of the victim did not help.
Burnette was one of a small group of people that had to go through the exact same thing that he did. First off, Victor’s case is one of the oldest case of those group of people. According to the Innocence Project, Burnette’s case is the oldest case in Virginia that has resulted in a exoneration, and the weird part is, is that Burnette is the one who persuaded the scientists to test the crime evidence says Shawn Armburst of Ithe Innocence Project (Mather). Victor was a smart, confident man, and in a way, he was the one who freed himself.
Second off, there has been about two dozen of the same case as Burnette’s in the past couple of decades. Over the past two decades, there has been over a dozen virginians that have been cleared and/or pardoned for crimes that they did not commit, which also includes capital murder. Most of which that have been cleared by DNA (Mather). With this information the audience can conclude that that there has been a couple dozen Virginians proven innocent by DNA testing. DNA exoneration isn’t very common as shown by the information above, however the results of this case were much better than Blair’s.
Victor’s results were a lot better then Michael Blair’s. Firstly, after Burnette convinced the scientists to do their tests and prove him innocent, his lawyer immediately filled out a pardon. In Burnettes understanding he knows that the victim of the rape still believes that it was him despite the DNA testing done, Burnette’s lawyer filed a petition requesting the pardon of Victor Burnette on April 20th, 2007 with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s office but he has not heard anything back since then (Green). As evident in the last paragraph, Burnette takes as much as he can into his own hands to try and get free.
Secondly, Burnette eventually became free and innocent of all crimes pinned against him. Burnette was paroled in November of 1987, proven innocent of the crime by DNA testing in 2006, and granted an absolute pardon last year, but a bill has been proposed to compensate him on an amount based on a formula approved by the General Assembly in 2004 (Mather). The hard work that Burnette put in all paid off in the end even though he wasted 10 years of his life in prison. Burnette’s case turned out a lot better than Blair’s case but both cases should have never happened in the first place.
