Death Penalty Narrative

In the fall of 1992 Ray Krone was convicted of aggravated murder. An innocent man on death row, Ray Kurtis describes his journey through the system in Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice. Ray Krone was accused of murdering and raping Kim Ancona while she was closing up the bar where she was employed. Ray was a responsible, average, educated, thirty four year old white American male. He worked on technology for the United States Air Force and for the Postal Service. Little old ladies along his route would give him pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas; they couldn’t believe he would be involved among something like this. They, however, were among the few.
After Ray was found guilty, he had to get his sentencing. His feelings: “I was in a whirl; I couldn’t believe I was found guilty. I didn’t do it. How could I be guilty of something I didn’t do? How can that be our system of justice?” (p. 66). His crime had one aggravating factor; murder committed in a heinous or depraved manner. This was from the bite mark found on Kim Ancona’s breast. Krone had predicted that he was going to get the death penalty. “I wasn’t surprised when I was sentenced to death. The judge never ruled in our favor on anything. I wasn’t startled, I wasn’t stunned…I no longer had a life” (p. 44). The prosecuting attorney Jeffery Jones contract to defend indigent people in the county had certainly not been motivated by a desire to get rich. He wanted to help people; the last thing he thought would happen was a death penalty for Ray Krone. The dynamics of the Phoenix criminal justice system were against him.
Life on death row was another story. He thought his family and close friends were the only ones in the world who believed that he had not murdered Kim Ancona. For the time being, there was nothing they could do. After sentencing Ray went from Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix to Florence, home of Arizona’s death row in November 1992. “I mean I had chains just about everywhere except across my eyes and my neck. I was chained up and they put me in a van by myself and drove me straight to death row.” (52) There’s one thing death row inmates get when they are christened with their new status–respect. Inmates quiet down in their presence; the guards treat them with special care.
The appeal for Ray’s case came from someone unexpected. Jim Rix, Krone’s cousin, didn’t know that he had a relative on death row. Through a lawyer friend in Phoenix, Rix received the transcripts of Ray’s trial. In addition, he used his contacts from his dental software to track down Dr. Homer Campbell, one of the leading bite mark experts in the country and former president of the American Academy of Forensic Science. Rix showed Dr. Campbell the bitemarks and he quickly concluded: “This is bullshit! Who marked this?” (76). This clearly indicates a false match given in the previous evidence. Ray Krone was given a second trial which would have a new attorney and new evidence including tests to show that someone else’s DNA was present at the crime scene.
Many Americans oppose the death penalty. In Krone’s case, he luckily had a cousin hired a team of experts to help him. Through extensive research and reviewing the trial, Krone was proved innocent. This was done largely in part by taking a closer look at the DNA samples found at the crime. There are many non-profit groups aimed on educating the public about the social injustices of the death penalty. Protestors get out basic facts about capital punishment by writing them on signs, and there are many school organizations that help to take action on capital punishment throughout the entire United States. The death penalty is an example of evil disguised as good in our community.