#decided to post today because its the 23rd in japan!!!!!!
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CONGRATULATIONS BECAUSE TODAY IS THE DAY YOU WERE BORN
commissions | da tip jar
#sasuke#sasuke uchiha#naruto#mukkie's art#decided to post today because its the 23rd in japan!!!!!!#congratulations babyboy i love u -pats his head-#happy sasuke saturday!#2 sasuke saturday pieces. wow
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Pervis Tyrone Payne
You can listen to the United States of Crime episode (#2) about this case here.
TW: MURDER, MURDER OF CHILDREN, DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE
The Death Penalty has been utilized as a form of punishment since man had a moral code. But today, only 53 countries offer the death penalty as a sentencing option for those convicted of a crime. The majority of countries in the world have either abolished the death penalty entirely or have made it available only in extreme cases. Belarus is the only holdout in Europe and most of the counties making up northeast Africa and the middle east retain the death penalty as a method of punishment. Guatemala, Guyana, and Cuba still practice capital punishment in Central and South America. Many Asian nations, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand keep the death penalty as an option but only enforce it in rare cases or for specific crimes. America is one of only five first world nations, alongside Japan, China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan, to still actively sentence people to death. The United States stands alone as the only western country to still execute people. Japan only allows the execution of people convicted of murder and especially brutal crimes and the only method of execution is by hanging. India and South Korea also only executed prisoners by hanging. Mainland China offers two methods of execution, death by firing squad or lethal injection. Taiwan executes prisoners using a single handgun aimed at the prisoner’s heart or their brain stem under the ear if they consent to organ donation. Currently, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Peru only exercise the death penalty in extreme cases. The current methods of execution used worldwide include beheading, electrocution, hanging, shooting, and lethal injection.
In 2019, 22 people, all male, were executed in the United States. An additional 34 people were sentenced to death last year and the total number of people on death row across the country is estimated at 2,656. In America, 30 states still have the death penalty and 20 have either abolished it or put a moratorium on capital punishment. On March 23rd, 2020 as I was writing this episode Colorado, which had put a moratorium on capital punishment, voted to abolish the death penalty.
The morality of the death penalty has been a polarizing issue for Americans for decades. The 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. George ruled the death penalty as it was practiced at that time unconstitutional. This decision was based on the inconsistencies in sentencing at the time because defendants who were convicted very different crimes ranging in severity were given death sentences. However, the Supreme Court left it open for States to impose their own death penalties as long as clear standards were provided. In the four years following the Furman ruling, 35 states enacted their own capital punishment laws. Two main types of death penalty laws were written, the first stated clearly which crimes could be punishable by death and how variables in a case should be weighed. These variables include mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances. Mitigating factors explain and/or offer an explanation for the crime while aggravating factors reveal the aspects of the crime that are extraordinary and call for a harsher sentence. The second kind of death penalty law that was enacted made capital punishment mandatory for certain so-called capital crimes.
In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gregg v. Georgia and upheld the first type of death penalty laws which take into account mitigating and aggravating factors. The ruling struck down the mandatory death penalty laws on the grounds that they were “unduly harsh and rigid”. Executions, which had completely ceased in 1972, resumed in 1977. 50 executions took place between 1977 and 1985 as the Supreme Court heard the case of McCleskey v. Kemp, which dealt with how capital punishment had been utilized in the state of Georgia. The case was based on a study conducted by University of Iowa professor David Baldus who found that African American defendants who were charged with killing white people were given a death sentence seven times as often as white people who had been tried for killing African Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that while there was statistical evidence of racial discrimination, this was not enough to repeal the law. This ruling was based on the finding that the state itself had not encouraged racial discrimination in its courts.
In 2002 the Supreme court ruled on the case of Atkins v. Virginia and found that the execution of people with intellectual disabilities violated the 8th amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. In 2005 the case of Roper v. Simmons was decided by the Supreme Court. This landmark case made it illegal to execute people who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes. Crimes that do not result in death are now not death penalty eligible crimes.
This topic is one that I’m deeply interested in and fascinated by and in posts to follow I will discuss other aspects of the Death Penalty in America, such as execution methods and their flaws, the elderly on death row, the appeals process, and the cost of upholding the death penalty. But today’s case relates to the Atkins v. Virginia ruling and the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities or limitations.
The case we’ll be talking about today is that of Pervis Tyrone Payne. In 1987, Payne, an African American man, was 20-years-old and living in Shelby County, Tennessee. Payne was dating a woman named Bobbie Thomas of Millington, TN and on the morning of Saturday, June 27th, Payne went to Thomas’ apartment at the Hiwasse Apartment complex to wait for her. She had been out of town on a trip and was expected to arrive home that night and the two had plans to spend the weekend together. He brought an overnight bag with three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor with him and left this bag at the door of the apartment. According to the version of events presented later at trial, Payne stayed around the apartment complex for most of the day and spent his time injecting Cocaine and drinking beer. He left the apartment sometime during the day to ride in his friend’s car with him. The two men took turns driving so that while the one in the passenger seat could read a pornographic magazine.
At 3:00 in the afternoon, Payne returned to Thomas’ apartment complex but Thomas was still not home. Across the hall from Thomas lived Charisse Christopher and her two children, 3-year-old Nicholas and 2-year-old Lacie. It is unclear how well Payne knew Christopher from spending time at Thomas’ apartment, it is believed that they had possibly seen one another in passing. Regardless Payne entered the apartment of Charisse Christopher without permission. When Christopher saw Payne in her home she began screaming at him to get out. The apartment complex’s resident manager lived in the unit directly below Christopher’s and heard her screams. She reported hearing a “blood-curdling scream” come from the apartment and called the police. In between making the call and when the police arrived, the manager reported that the screaming had stopped and she had heard someone using the sink in the bathroom of the upstairs unit. Mere minutes after the police were called, the first officer arrived at the scene.
Payne was observed exiting Christopher’s apartment while carrying his shoes, he then picked up his overnight bag, and descended the stairs. The officer approached him at the bottom of the steps and noticed that he was covered in blood the officer later stated: “It looked like he was sweating blood”. The officer stopped Payne and asked him who he was, Payne responded “I’m the complainant”, which doesn’t make any sense. Payne was then asked what was going on upstairs and proceeded to hit the officer with the overnight bag. Payne dropped his shoes and began running away from the apartment building to another one. The officer attempted to catch up with Payne but could not before he disappeared.
Additional officers had arrived on the scene at this point. They entered Christopher’s apartment and found Charisse Christopher Laci, and Nicholas on the kitchen floor. 3-year-old Nicholas had been stabbed multiple times completely through his abdomen but was still breathing. Laci and Charisse were deceased. Charisse had been stabbed an excessive number of times with a butcher’s knife in her abdomen, back, and head. There does not seem to be a consensus on how many times she was stabbed, I found sourced that stated it was 9 times, 42 times, and 84 times. Regardless, it appeared that the fatal injury was a cut through her aorta. She was found lying on her back with her shorts pushed up on her body and a used tampon had been placed next to her. The butcher knife was lying at her feet and her hand and forearm had been stuck through the adjustment strap at the back of Payne’s baseball cap. 2-year-old Laci was found deceased next to her mother, having bled out before help arrived.
Inside of the apartment Police recovered the three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor, which had Payne’s fingerprints on them. Another empty beer can was found outside of the apartment. Additionally, Payne’s fingerprints were found on the telephone and the kitchen counter of Christopher’s apartment. Investigators had the officer’s description of Payne and the search for him began immediately. He was found later the same day in the attic of an ex-girlfriend’s house. As he was escorted out of the house, Payne told the police “Man, I ain’t killed no woman”. Officers noted that Payme had a “wild look about him. His pupils were contracted. He was foaming at the mouth, saliva. He appeared to be very nervous. He was breathing real rapid.” When Payne was taken into custody, he was still wearing blood-soaked clothing and had multiple scratch marks across his chest. His watch also had blood stains on it and in his pockets police found a packet with Cocaine residue, the wrapper from a hypodermic syringe, and the cap of a hypodermic syringe. He had ditched his overnight bag in a nearby dumpster and it was later found with a bloody white shirt inside.
Pervis Payne was charged for the murders of 28-year-old Charisse and 2-year-old Laci Jo. 3-year-old Nicholas survived the attack. Payne was prosecuted for two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The trial began in 1988 and several neighbors testified as to what they experienced on July 27th, 1987. Multiple people heard Chairsse’s screams and heard someone frantically trying to close the back door to the yard shared by residents. One woman testified that she had seen the hand of someone whom she perceived to be an African American man reach over the yard fence. Below the hand at the wrist was a gold watch, similar in description to the one Payne was wearing when he was apprehended.
The medical examiner testified as to the state of Charisse and Laci’s bodies. He told the court that Charisse was menstruating at the time of her death, hence the used tampon found near her body. He swabbed her vagina and there was acid phosphatase present, which indicated the presence of sperm, but ultimately no sperm was recovered. Acid Phosphatase is found where high concentrations of seminal fluid recently were. Because there was no sperm found in the body, this enzyme could have been left by pre-ejaculate.
Payne took the stand at his own trial, which is extremely rare in murder cases. There are many reasons why Defendants do not testify in murder trials. Most are advised not to by their counsel to avoid self-incrimination, protect from the brutality of cross-examination, and to deprive the prosecution of the opportunity to make the defendant look bad. Payne told the court that he did not hurt any member of the Christopher family. He claimed that another man had pushed by him when he was walking up the stairs and that man had burst into Charisse Christopher’s apartment. He said that he had heard a baby crying and Charisse calling for help. According to Payne, he found the door open and called to Charisse before entering. He described the scene as follows:
“I saw the worst thing I ever saw in my life and like my breath just had--had tooken--just took out of me. . . . she was looking at me. She had the knife in her throat with her hand on the knife like she had been trying to get it out and her mouth was just moving but words had faded away. And I didn’t know what to do”
Payne explained that his clothing had been stained when he tried to remove the butcher knife from Charisse’s neck. He claimed that Charisse was still alive and reached out to him and grabbed his shirt. This unnerved Payne and he fled the apartment when he heard police sirens approaching.
Payne was them cross-examined by the prosecution. He was questioned as to why the left leg of his pants had bloodstains on it. During the exchange, Payne said that Charisse’s blood got on his pants when she “hit the wall”. He asserted that she had grabbed his arms and he recoiled, at which point she fell backward onto the wall and the floor. Payne was asked four times if the blood got on his leg when Charisse fell back into the pool of blood as he had claimed. On the fourth reiteration of the question, Payne changed his answer. He was asked by the prosecuting attorney “Is that what you said, sir, that she got blood on your when she hit the wall?”. Payne then, for the first time, did not affirm that this is what he said. He responded, “I didn’t say she got blood on me when she hit the wall”. The attorney asked if he had not just said the opposite and he responses that he had not said that blood had gotten on him when Charisse “hit the wall”.
This piece of the cross-examination stands out to me. The fact that Payne said the same thing more than four times and then suddenly denied that he had said it is not normal, even if a defendant is lying. It shows that there is some confusion or lack of understanding on Payne’s part.
Payne was ultimately found guilty of all charges. He was eligible for the death penalty. Before sentencing, mitigating and aggravating factors were presented to the court. Payne’s girlfriend, Bobby Thomas, testified that Payne went to church wither her often, which in itself doesn’t really speak to someone’s character, just their belief system. She also told the court that her three children loved Payne and that he was a great father figure to them. She knew him as a caring person that did not use drugs or drink and would never hurt someone.
Payne’s parents also testified. They explained that he had no criminal record whatsoever and had never been arrested. Like Thomas, they testified that Payne did not use drugs or alcohol. He had been a hard worker and assisted his father, who was a painter. They described him as a good son and an exemplary father figure for Thomas’ children.
A clinical psychologist also testified during the sentencing phase. The psychologist had administered an IQ test to Payne. The results showed that Payne’s verbal IQ was 78 and his performance IQ was 82. Generally, the IQ threshold for a diagnosis of intellectual disability commonly referred to as mental retardation is a score of 75. Because of this, Payne was considered by the psychologist to be “mentally handicapped”. He noted that Payne was the most polite prisoner he had ever interviewed.
Along with the aggravating factors of the case, Charisse Christopher’s mother testified to the distress and hardship her daughter and granddaughter’s murders had imposed on her. She told the court that Nicholas, Charisse’s surviving son, still cried for his mother and sister even a year later. Nicholas experienced severe physical and mental trauma from the attack. Payne was sentenced to death for both murder counts and an additional 30 years for the attempted murder of Nicholas.
Payne appealed his sentence to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Payne’s legal team filed the appeal on several grounds. They asserted that the victim impact statement given by Charisse’s mother emotionally influenced the jury against him, thus violating his 8th amendment right of protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The court ruled against Payne and affirmed both of the death sentences. In 1991, Payne appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The question at hand was whether the 8th amendment prohibits the jury in a capital case from considering the impact of the crime of the surviving family members. In a 6 to 3 decision, the court ruled against Payne. This decision effectively overruled the decision in the 1987 case of Booth v Maryland, which had established that such emotional testimony did infringe on a defendant’s 8th amendment rights.
Pervis Tyrone Payne never admitted to the murders and maintains his innocence. He has been living on Death Row in Tennessee ever since, having exhausted all of his appeals. He twice had execution dates set, both in 2007 and before each date arrived he received a stay of execution. In September of 2019, the state of Tennessee filed a motion to set the execution date for Payne for December 3rd, 2020. His legal team filed a 120-page response to the state’s motion to set an execution date in December of 2019. Supervisory Assistant for the Federal Public Defender Kelley J. Henry and Assistance Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit Amy D. Harwell allege that Pervis Payne is “indisputably intellectually disabled” and in adherence to Atkins v. Virginia, his execution would be illegal. In 2019, Payne’s IQ was retested by Dr. Daniel Martell and it was found to be only 72. Dr. Martell identified neurocognitive impairments and adaptive behavior deficits in Payne that had been documented at the age onset.
Dr. Martell explained that a factor at play in this case in something known as the Flynn Effect. The Flynn Effect states, in layman’s terms, that a person’s IQ score increased over time. This effect has been noted in the United States and similar countries and it is believed that the average rate of 0.3 IQ points per year. Not only is the Flynn Effect fascinating, but it also exemplifies the failings of using IQ tests when deciding who is eligible for the death penalty. Because of the Flynn Effect, a person could be considered mentally unfit for execution and then years later become fit for execution. Also, to be able to accurately measure current IQ scores against past scores, a reduction of 0.3 points per year between tests is required. The Atkins decision gives states discretion in how they define intellectual disability as a matter of law. Most states use IQ-based definitions, but do not adjust for the Flynn Effect. The inconsistent definitions and thresholds to determine intellectual disability are cause for concern when talking about the decision to execute someone or to sentence them to life in prison.
According to Dr. Martell, Payne’s functional IQ, taking the Flynn Effect into account, is 68.4, well under the standard of 75 points as a determination of mental fitness. Dr. Reschly, an expert in Intellectual Disability, also evaluated Payne and reported a full-scale IQ of 74, before adjustment for the Flynn Effect. This score puts Payne into the intellectually disabled category according to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. According to documents and testimony from his family members, Payne had a long history of developmental delays. In school, he was known to teachers and fellow classmates as “slow” and he was unable to graduate high school and failed the Tennessee Proficiency Exam five times before dropping out. For reference, an average 9th-grade student would pass this exam on the first try, Payne took the exam every year starting in 9th grade for five years. When Payne was in the 9th grade, he was unable to complete writing assignments and his teachers had stopped grading him based on his ability to reach the required level of comprehension based on his grade and instead graded him for his effort in class. According to one teacher, Martha Faye, “Pervis was slow and had low comprehension...He didn’t read well enough to understand the material on his own, and even when the material was explained to him, he had to be told over and over what to do. He couldn’t retain instructions or information from one day to the next”.
Family members also noticed Payne’s deficits. Rolanda, Payne’s younger sister by 7 years, claims that Payne couldn’t help her with her homework as a kid. His family was aware of his inability to comprehend anything more complicated than simple, short instructions and his mother did not allow him to iron or wash clothing because he could never complete a task without destroying something. Despite this, his parents never demanded that he do better in school and accepted his limitations. In his teen years, Payne worked at Pizza Hut and his supervisor described him as “mentally challenged”. He always had to refer to instruction sheets that were posted at all work stations long after he had finished training and had been working there for a while.
When Payne went to work for his father, Carl Payne, the patriarch understood that instructions had to be repeated several times to make sure that Payne understood them. He was unable to follow instructions with too many steps. Carl Payne reports that as a child Payne was delayed in learning to walk and talk. He could not feed himself until he was 5 years old and he was also plagued by a stutter until early adulthood. His mother believed that Payne’s difficulties were because he was born prematurely. After dropping out of high school, Payne still could not count money, add up the cost of items, use a tape measure, read aloud, or identify street names and follow maps.
Payne’s attorneys also allege that there is a strong chance that Payne did not commit the crimes. The document by Henry and Harwell includes Payne’s version of events. He claims that he was going up to his girlfriend’s apartment and heard a noise come from Charisse’s unit. He went inside to help whoever was crying out and was so overwhelmed by the gruesome scene that he panicked and fled the apartment. These actions would be more aligned with Payne’s history of mental deficiency, his reported lack of violence and drug use, and his reputation as a kind and gentle person. The motive for the crime as put forth by the prosecution was Payne’s desire to sexually assault Christopher, a woman whom he did not know.
The story about Payne using cocaine and drinking beer before the murders is also unsubstantiated. Payne was not drug tested when he was apprehended, despite his mother’s request that he be tested. The defense also alleges that the tampon was recovered two days after the murders and does not appear in any of the crime scene photographs. Payne’s injuries, mainly the scratches, were not consistent with a violent struggle and the blood on his clothing matched his description of events.
The acid phosphatase also could not be linked definitively to Payne. According to the defense, the original prosecution did not present testimony from Darryl Shanks, Charisse’s boyfriends at the time. Shanks told investigators that he and Charisse had consensual sex just hours before her murder. After the trial during a post-conviction hearing, Shanks recanted his affidavit. Payne’s counsel claims that they were never made aware of Shanks’ interview or this potentially critical evidence. As a side note, this seems like a Brady violation to me. For those who may not know a Brady Violation occurs when a piece of evidence that could be exculpatory is willfully or negligently hidden from the defense by the prosecution. This affidavit from Shanks would have cast substantial doubt on the prosecution theory of motive, which could have swayed the jury’s decision.
One of the more egregious pieces of possible prosecutorial misconduct is the alleged suppression of blood and semen evidence. Henry and Harwell discovered residue evidence that had not been introduced at Payne’s first trial. They attempted to obtain this evidence but the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s staff refused to give it to them without a court order. According to Henry and Harwell, they had never been outright denied evidence while working on a case before. An Emergency Motion to be Permitted to View Evidence was granted on December 20th, 2019 and that day Payne’s counsel examined the evidence in Memphis, TN. Among the pieces of evidence was a comforter with bloodstains, bloody sheets, and one bloody pillow. These pieces of evidence are in contrast to the prosecution’s assertion that the kitchen of Christopher’s apartment was the only area considered a crime scene. The victim’s tampon was also kept as evidence and may have traces of sperm that could be tested for DNA. According to Tennessee Code 40-30-304(2), If evidence is still in existence and in good enough condition to be tested, the court shall order DNA analysis. In 2006, Payne had filed a Petition for Post-Conviction DNA analysis, which was denied.
Now that we’ve gone over the contrasting evidence and the mitigating factors laid out by the defense, let’s talk about alternative suspects. At the time of her death, Charisse Christopher was divorced from her husband, Kenneth Christopher. It is well documented that Mr. Christopher was physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive toward Charisse during their marriage. Charisse eventually fled the couple’s home and moved to her hometown of Millington where she filed for divorce. In the divorce complaint, Charisse cited cruel and inhumane treatment, abandonment, and neglect as grounds for the divorce. Mr. Christopher had a long and violent criminal history predating the marriage and continuing on after it had ended. Mr. Christopher had no less than 9 DUI charges and he had been escorted by police from his mother’s home due to his drunkenness after she called for help.
At first, investigators ruled Mr. Christopher out because he was serving the last year of the five year prison sentence for aggravated assault. He was housed at the Fort Pillow State Penitentiary, which was renamed the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Lauderdale County, TN. However, Mr. Christopher was allowed to leave the premises on weekends if they were considered minimum security. Mr. Christopher could have left the prison on the morning of the murder, which was a Saturday, committed the crime, and return to the prison without repercussion or much notice. According to the filing, Mr. Christopher was aware that Charisse was in a new relationship and knew where she lived.
Pervis Payne also maintains that a man was already inside of Charisse Christopher’s apartment before he entered. He described the man as a black guy with a long white or beige tropical shirt that was covered in blood. He said that he observed the man jump from the landing on the second floor to the steps before running past Payne. Payne claims that the unknown man dropped coins and items while fleeing and that he picked them up and put them in his pocket, hence the drug paraphernalia later found on him. He told officers about this man in the tropical shirt while being transported to police headquarters. A neighbor, John Edward Williams, came forward in 1992 and said that he had seen Payne walking to the apartment building as another African American man rushed out of the building, got in a car, and drove away. Minutes later, Williams saw Payne running from the upstairs unit. According to Williams, the same black man he had seen run past Payne had been to Christopher’s apartment several times before and had observed Christopher and the man arguing.
Williams and a man named Leroy Jones gave affidavits which included their knowledge of Charisse Christopher’s use of illegal drugs. Now, this information is absolutely not to diminish the extreme tragedy of Charisse and Laci’s deaths or to paint Charisse in a negative light. It is being mentioned to create a clearer picture of the situation and one of the possible theories presented by the defense. Jones was involved in drug trafficking in the area and knew that his brother, Charles Jones, had enlisted Christopher to sell drugs for him. According to Leroy Jones, Charles Jones had told an associate name William Hall to “take care of the Christopher woman”. This conversation took place one week before the murders. Williams, Jones, and Kenneth Christopher all admitted to having used drugs with Charisse Christopher in the past, specifically amphetamines. Methamphetamine and amphetamine were present in Christopher’s blood at the time of her death according to the toxicology report. The theory alluded to in Payne’s defense filing is that Charisse Christopher was murdered by William Hall on the orders of Charles Jones to silence her or enact some form of revenge.
Henry and Harwell site five similar cases in which defendants were wrongfully convicted of murder after stumbling upon the crime scene. Those defendants, Chad Heins and Clemente Aguirre of Florida, John Nolley and Darryl Adams of Texas, and David Ayers of Ohio, have been exonerated. We don’t have time to discuss this extremely heavy topic on this episode but I want to note that the response by Henry and Harwell also includes a section entitled, The Death Penalty is Racist which details how capital punishment had been used to systematically oppress African Americans in Tennessee for centuries. The section begins on page 64 and I have included the link to the entire response in case anyone wants to read it.
Despite this, in my opinion, extremely well-crafted response in opposition to the motion to set an execution date, the state of Tennessee’s motion to set the date was granted on February 24th, 2020. Currently, there are no attempts to save Pervis Tyrone Payne’s life in motion. This case has evolved so much since Payne’s initial trial in 1988 and the work of Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell has completely changed my view of this situation. I’m sure many of you, like me, heard the initial version of events and thought “well it sounds pretty obvious that he did it”. When I was researching this case I thought that this episode was going to be about the issue of executing a likely intellectually disabled, but 100% guilty person because of a flawed measurement of mental functioning. But this case is about those measurements AND about the impending execution of a man who I, personally, could not in good conscience say is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The accounts from Payne’s teachers, classmates, and family members support the conclusion that his intellectual functioning is impaired, which would render his sentence of death unconstitutional under the Atkins ruling. Payne was always a nonviolent, caring, and person as his girlfriend and family members testified to. People with intellectual disabilities do not randomly attack a mother and two small children in this manner. The crime was extremely brutal and I have a hard time believing that Payne simply decided to sexually assault and then murder a woman he did not know while waiting for his girlfriend to come home.
Murderers most often have a criminal history of violence before they commit a homicide. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, around 70% of people convicted of murder have previous arrests and/or convictions. Payne did not have any criminal history whatsoever, nor did he have a history of violence. Furthermore, people with intellectual disabilities, like Payne, are much more likely to be victims of violence than to be perpetrators. According to a study conducted by Lovell and Skellern, people with mental disabilities in a clinical setting tend to react violently when they are confronted with communication difficulties, frustration, and emotional distress.
Many patients who acted out had a history of impulsive and unpredictable behavior. Generally, violent reactions were more strongly associated with disorders including ADHD, Dementia, and Bipolar disorder. People with mild intellectual disability were found to be more deliberate in their verbal and physical assaults, whereas people with moderate or severe intellectual disability were likely to lash out indiscriminately due to circumstantial stressors. Because of Payne’s specific intellectual disability and his lack of a criminal record, the likelihood of him being the murderer is statistically slim, but not impossible. It would be extremely unusual for the type of crime perpetrated against the Christopher family to be the offender’s first crime.
The extent of violence inflicted on Charisse Christopher in particular is characteristic of an offender acting out of anger, retaliation, or passion. Payne had no discernible connection to Christopher that would elicit these feelings. The prosecution alleged that Payne made sexual advances toward Christopher and became violent when he was rebuked. But Payne had no history of sexual aggression or assault and he was waiting for his girlfriend to get home. It wouldn’t make sense that he would attack a random woman and her children instead of stifling his sexual desires until he was with his girlfriend.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up a fairly touchy aspect of this case. Charisse Christopher and her children were white. Pervis Payne is black. As we discussed earlier in this episode, there is a documented history of African Americans being disproportionately sentenced to death for killing white people. It is also likely that the investigators for this case were majority white. In 2019, Nicholas Christopher, now 35-year-old, gave an interview to the british tabloid, the Sun. Nicholas recounts the events of his mother and sister’s murders with surprising detail. He claims that he did not see the face of his mother’s attacker, but his aunt Angie later said that Nicholas saw a picture of Payne on the news after he had recovered and he told her “That’s the man who killed my mom”.
While this seems like compelling evidence, and this analysis is not intended to diminish Nicholas Christopher’s experience or loss, there are well researched reasons why Nicholas could have easily misidentified Payne. Cross-Race bias, something that will come into play in future episodes, is a huge issue with Witness Identification. Cross-Racial bias is the reduced ability to differentiate people of races other than one’s own. In criminal cases, this can lead to misidentification if the defendant is a different race than the witness. Studies have shown that babies as young as 6 months old demonstrate a level of cross-racial bias. Nicholas may have seen Pervis Payne and identified him simply because he was black and wasn’t drastically different to the real killer. It should also be noted that Nicholas was only 3 years old. There is a good reason why children that young do not usually testify in criminal trials. Children that young are extremely open to outside influence, they lie, they can be re-traumatized by the experience, and they don’t have reliable memories. On top of all of that, Nicholas was an extremely traumatized child, who wouldn’t be after experiencing what he did? Trauma can cloud a person’s perception and their ability to code memories accurately. So while Nicholas’ interview is interesting, I would be hard pressed to weigh it against other more forensically solid aspects of this case.
I think that the assertions made at trial by the prosecution that Payne had been doing drugs and drinking all day should not have been admitted without proof that drugs were in his body when he was arrested. Without proof, a claim like this is mere speculation. The failure to test the items from Christopher’s bedroom is another failing that I have trouble looking past. With modern forensic science at our disposal, I think there’s no excuse for not testing potentially critical evidence. The worst thing that can happen, from the prosecution’s standpoint, is that the DNA does not match Payne. Even in that scenario, wouldn’t you rather admit that your theory was wrong than be a party to the execution of an innocent man? It is in the interest of truth and justice for Charisse, Laci, and Nicholas Christopher to investigate every shred of evidence. If DNA proves that someone else was in Charisse Christopher’s apartment in the moments before her death, then Pervis Payne deserves another trial.
A 2014 study conducted by Samuel Gross, Barbara O’Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward H. Kennedy concluded that at least 4.1% of people on death row at any given time are likely innocent and/or would be exonerated. According to th Death Penalty Information Database, there are 18 likely innocent people who have been executed since 1976, that we know of. The most recent addition to that list was made after the execution of Larry Swearingen on August 21st, 2019. As of now, Pervis Payne will join the ranks of executed but possibly innocent people on December 3rd, 2020. Despite the solid information pertaining to Payne’s intellectual disability, baseless assertions by prosecutors, the lack of forensic evidence against him, his enduring proclamation of innocence, alternative suspects, and the sheer lack of violent tendency or motive, the state of Tennessee does not seem to care that they may be executing an innocent, intellectually disabled man. But this isn’t a rare occurrence. It’s merely a story line that has played out in America for centuries, and even with all of our new technology and investigative strategies, it keeps replaying. Why? Because we let it.
If you feel that Pervis Payne’s execution should be stopped, please call the office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee at (615) 741-2001, you could tweet to him, his twitter username is @GovBillLee, or you can email him through the Tennessee Government website https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html.
#death penalty#true crime#murder#forensic psychology#crime#podcast#true crime podcast#pervis payne#pervis tyrone payne#the innocence project#capital punishment#charisse christopher
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New year
And a new decade!
Wow, what an original title.
My Christmas vacation was amazingly cozy. I spent the 23rd-27th of December at home with mum and dad. On the 23rd me and mum went to the flea market to buy yarn and thin knitting needles for my bunny plushie project. We also found an adorable winter themed PowerPuff Girls duvet cover that I got to have in my bed for the holidays.♥
On Christmas Eve I got to watch morning cartoons on mum’s new sofa in my soft Oodie. We spent Christmas Eve traditionally having rice porrige for breakfast, going to take candles to the graves, going to the sauna and having a delicious dinner of smoked fish, salads, roast, mashed sweet potato, fried carrot and parsnip, and a dessert of home made gingerbread ice cream. Then we watched From all of us to all of you and handed out presents. My photo book was a big hit and made both mum and dad tear up. They both loved their moomin themed presents as well. I got Jamie Oliver’s VEG cook book, a radio for my summer house, a face wash from the Body Shop, and some gloves that got mixed up with dad’s at some point. Now mine are pink and mum has a purple pair. My dad also got me a 100 square meters of protected forest that will by law be kept in its natural state forever, which is an incredibly magical and special gift. ♥
On Christmas morning we woke up to the most beautiful snowy landscape and a calm little snowfall. Me and mum shovelled the driveway and went for a really long magical walk to the beach and around our area. The beach was full of little lanterns and candles burning in the snow. In the evening I started knitting my bunny plushie with the instructions found on the book I got at grandmum’s place. Mum helped me get started but I made her entirely by myself. By January 19th she already has a face too, with only a few details missing.
On Boxing Day me and dad drove to see the cousins and mum went to see granny and grandpa. It was really good seeing my cousins again for the first time since I think last Christmas (?), and dad’s cousin visited my aunt that day as well, so dad and his sister got to see their cousin as well. Me and my twin cousins finally made a Whatsapp group, which will make keeping in touch a lot easier.
On the 27th I came back to the apartment to spend some time working on my projects (and play some Sims..). My guy came back home on the 28th and we opened the rest of our presents. We got some cute kitty mugs and some (less cute) moomin pillowcases. I got new socks from my guy’s grandpa and my guy got me the brick oven bakery and the pizza delivery set of Sylvanian Families! ♥ My guy loved his Otamatone and we’ve had a lot of fun with it. ♫
We spent the day before New Years with my twin cousins who came over. We went to a trampoline park and Burger King, and played some Smash Bros Ultimate and Mario Kart. Then we spent about 4 hours until 2 am playing Overcooked. One of the twins works at a fast food restaurant so he was really damn good at coordinating our team. We decided that we would only accept 3 stars and had to spend a lot of time on some of the stages, but it was a blast. My guy is really bad at communication and team work though (heh, sorry) so it sucked for whoever was on his side. My cousins left on the morning of New Years Eve, and our friends came over around 6 pm. We made pizza, talked, went to see the mayor’s speech and watched the fireworks. For once the weather was completely clear and comfortably warm so the fireworks were a lot of fun. After midnight we spent the rest of the night until 6 am playing a quiz game, cards against humanity and Overcooked. I’m so glad I went back to work on the 7th and not on the 2nd.
My New Year’s resolutions this time are to continue working on my crafts and finish at least 2 of them, to only buy recycled items (apart from a couple things that I’ve planned on and needed to buy for a while), trying to spend a plastic free July (no single use plastics or plastic packaging), continuing my photo project with at least 3 photoshoots, working on my grimoire and finishing at least 12 pages, continuing to play the piano and get better at reading sheet music, spending the coziest and witchiest summer at my cottage/summer house, reading/listening to books and stretching/body care. A lot of these are things that are already habits and a part of my life so they aren’t that big of a deal even though the list is long. Mainly my resolutions are there just to push me to continue creating. I have set a date around midsummer/Litha to check my progress. So far piano has definitely already fallen behind so I need to try and pick that back up real soon. I have my new pile of sheet music books to start with.
So my winter has been filled with cottage visits nearly every weekend. At Christmas we went for a bonfire and carols. We have been feeding lots of little birds, walking in the nature and even went ice skating last weekend. This winter has been almost entirely snowless and very warm, and the birds are already singing and starting to nest even though it’s only January. There is no snow on the lake ice so last weekend my mum, dad and I had a perfect private skating rink with some magical sunshine and beautifully frosted trees. These are the moments that make winter worth it even though the lack of snow makes everything so dark, which makes me so incredibly sleepy. Luckily the days get about 7 minutes longer every day. It’s already almost light out when I leave work. Only 3-4 more months until we get to spend more time at the summer house, and soon I’ll be out there on that lake on my SUP board. That place truly heals me and helps me remember what's important in life. Nature is always beautiful no matter the weather, and everything over there has a purpose, unlike in the city.
Almost all of my apple seeds sprouted, and every one of my first saplings has already died from what I suspect is the lack of light. Some of the second batch are still alive, and I’ve got a third batch to plant. Hopefully those will make it to be planted outside. I even picked up a board from our cottage shed to make a windowsill in the kitchen for the saplings.
My guy and I have been enjoying our second playthrough of the Witcher 3, this time on the Switch. I love laying on the sofa all warm and cozy in my Oodie and working on my crafts, or putting photos in an album while he plays. Our PC playthrough was tedious because I had to sit down and do nothing through hours of gwent or side quests. Now I get to lie down and work on my own projects during the side quests. The PS2 era graphics do bother me a bit, but the story is immersive enough and the cutscene quality is not reduced too bad.
The first 2 weeks of work have been pretty decent. I’ve even had a couple of good days. ☼ I’m about to start a rough spring of trainings for both staff and teachers, which will be mentally exhausting, but I will try to keep myself busy with hobbies, and enjoy the coming spring to the fullest. January has already flown by, which is both exciting and scary. As for working out, this spring I’ve got a lineup of body combat, the occasional 45 minute guided meditation class (which I love because last week we had a body scan meditation and that’s my favourite type), HIIT ‘45 whenever I can leave work early to go to class, and ballet.
Yesterday we celebrated grandad's 90th birthday. Lately I’ve been really sad thinking about my aging grandparents. I recently went through my old post cards because I’m planning on making some crafts with them, and while doing that I found all of granny and grandpa’s letters and post cards and got some very emotional flashbacks to my childhood and the stories grandmum used to tell me. After a few glasses of cognac grandpa gave me a really emotional and sweet speech about how proud he is of me and how he remembers the time the swing in their yard broke down from under me and the times he taught me how to ski. He has truly taught me to never give up and be resilient in everything I do. I love my grandparents so much and I want to try and spend as much time with them as possible. It is so unfair that we never get enough time to spend with all the loved ones... Regardless, happy 90th birthday to the best grandpa. ♥ ♥ I love you so much.
Speaking of family and celebrations, I was asked to be a bridesmaid to my friend whom I've known since kindergarten. It is an incredible honor and I really can’t put into words how special it is to have someone who’s known me since I was 4 years old - and now she’s getting married! I will do my best to make her day special, but it is a lot of stress and pressure on me - especially as I’ve never planned a wedding and I’ve only been to 2 in very recent years. Her other bridesmaid got engaged the same week as she did so they are both planning on getting married the same month. We’ll see how that goes, and if one of them has to postpone their wedding or not, but regardless the other bridesmaid won’t have as much time and focus for my friend as I will since she’ll be planning her own wedding at the same time.
I think we only have 61 or 62 days until Animal Crossing New Horizons, and still no AC direct. Instead we’ve had a Pokémon direct and a Smash Bros direct.. If preordering seems worth it and/or there is a Switch console bundle I’ll take the 20th of March off work to go get it in the morning. We were planning on taking a trip to Japan this spring but we’ve postponed it until the autumn since the Super Nintendo World will be opening in the summer, and my guy can earn some money at his summer job.
Me and my friend were going to have a photoshoot today but the weather isn’t great (it’s very windy) and she had a weird stomach bug last night so we postponed. Instead I’m trying to finish up some odd to-do list jobs so that I can start preparing for Imbolc. It’s coming up so fast, but that’s also very exciting. ☼
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Module 10: Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado
Compare the work of Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson versus the work of Eugene Smith and Sebastião Salgado. They are four photojournalists with different approaches.
– What are the main differences and similarities?
– What’s the better journalistic approach?
Similarities Differences Andre Kertesz
&
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Black and White photografies.
Humanistic photographer, photo essay
They did not accept changes in their photos.
They want to tell a story with their photos.
They both believed that the photographer needs to be invisible to the subject for capturing the decisive moment.
Kertesz influenced art along with journalism
Bresson pioneered street photography, specialises in candid photography
Eugene Smith
&
Sebastiao Salgado
Black and White photografies.
Their photos are focused on sad subjects and facts, evoking emotions.
They want to tell a story with their photos.
They do not like to make changes in their pictures using the dark room.
Smith developed photo essay into a sophisticated visual form
Salgado does not believe that he is a photojournalist, but a social photographer
Andre Kertesz
Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1894, Andre Kertesz worked as a clerk at the Budapest stock exchange in 1912 when he bought his first camera. Two years later, he was sent off to World War I, when he was 20 years old and picture that miserable and hard life and shared with the world.
It was in 1925 when he moved to Paris because of a lack of opportunities and started to work as a freelance photographer. (Albers, P. 2015)
In 1928 he participated in the First Independent Salon of Photography, where his pictures were notably for his blend of a romantic sensibility with modernist attitude. He was cited by critics and mentioned as a proof that photography could be considered a fine art.
Kertesz published three books with his photographs. Immigrated to the USA in 1936 and settled in New York, where he started to work for House and Garden magazine as a professional photographer. At the age of 60, he retired and started to focus on more personal topics that he used to enjoy when an amateur photographer.
Kertesz is known for his the visual lyricism and humanism that characterized his practice. His camera angles are different, with height and depth. His photos are mostly in an urban scenario.
“I always had a small camera with me on the front line, where I made candid, informal photographs, unlike the official photographers for the War Department. They always came with a huge camera on a tripod after the battle was over to make a scenic photograph that would show the destruction” (Andre Kertesz) (Course Notes Module 9).
Henri Cartier- Bresson
Henri Cartier- Bresson was born on August 22nd in Chanteloup, Seine-et-Marne. He studied at the Lycée Condorcet, Paris. He studied painting under André Lhote. In 1926 he took his first photographs. In 1931 he saw a photograph by Martin Munkácsi in the arts magazine Arts et Métiers Graphiques and decides to focus on photography.
In 1932 he bought his first Leica and travelled across Europe with his friends Leonor Fini and Pieyre de Mandiargues. First publications in Voilà and Photographies.
He had his first exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York in 1933. His photographs are subsequently shown at the Ateneo Club in Madrid.
From 1935-39 he worked for cinemas before moving to war photography in 1940. He joined the “Film and Photography” unit of the Third Army in 1940. Taken prisoner by the Germans on June 23rd. After two failed attempts successfully escaped on his third attempt in February 1943. He worked for MNPGD, a secret organization created to help prisoners and escapees.
He took a series of photographic portraits of writers and artists in 1944 for Editions Braun (Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Claudel, Georges Rouault).
In 1947 he held a photo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Creates the cooperative agency Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, David Seymour (Chim), William Vandivert, and George Rodger. From 1948 to 1950, he spent three years in the Far East: in India for the death of Gandhi, in China for the last six months of the Kuomintang and the first six months of the People’s Republic, and in Indonesia for its independence. His photographs are published all over the world.
1952: His first book, Images à la Sauvette, with its cover by Matisse, is published by Tériade. The first exhibition in England, Photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
In 1954 he is the first photographer allowed in the USSR since the beginning of the Cold War.
Later he travelled to China, Mexico, India, France, the USA and USSR from 1955 to 1973.
In 1974 he decided to focus again on drawing and resigned from Magnum Photos. (HCB foundation )
He believed that the photographer needs to be invisible to the subject for capturing the decisive moment. He said, “life is once forever” by which he meant that once the decisive moment has passed, it can never again be repeated. Every minute occurs once and after it is over you can do nothing about it.
He had said that staging your subjects to get a perfect picture is unethical. He thought that was the basic rule of candid photography. But many of his own photographs were posed. Henri Cartier- Bresson admitted that capturing one image to depict the event is very difficult. Therefore, he practised photo essay to capture the entire event from various perspectives.
Similarities with Andre Kertesz:
They both believed that clicking the decisive moment is important. They did not care about the technical aspects of photography. They both did not think of photography as a way of reporting things.
(Lessons W Eugene Smith taught me about photography, 2013)
The Decisive Moment: “To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression” (Salgado, 1990, p.147).
In 2000 he set up the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation with his wife, Martine Franck, and daughter, Mélanie. The idea is to provide a permanent home for his collected works as well as an exhibition space open to other artists. And in 2002, The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation is recognized as being of public interest by the French State.
Henri Cartier-Bresson passed away in Montjustin, Provence on August 3rd, 2004. (HCB foundation )
(Magnum Photos, 2014)
Eugene Smith
American photojournalist
Worked extensively and popularised photo essay
He was a humanitarian photographer
He always believed in having a purpose for clicking a photograph. This shows the focus that he had while photographing.
He wanted his photographs to convey an emotional resonance with his viewers.
He also wanted to change people’s view about war. He was ready to risk his life for clicking a photograph if people would realise the negative side of war and stop wars in the future.
He said that if a photographer does not know the answer to ‘why am I clicking this?’, then they should stop photographing.
Eugene Smith also tried to capture the reality behind the war. He photographed the lives of people who were a part of the war. This shows his humanitarian approach to photography.
Eugene Smith was considered by many to be aggressive in person but he always cared deeply for his subjects. He was always respectful to them. And if he found injustice being done to anyone, then he would like to photograph it and bring that topic to light.
Unlike Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Smith thought that it was alright to stage photographs. If staging added authenticity of place to an image, then it could be used.
He used to print his photographs a number of times till he thought that the photograph looked fine to him. He always wanted to control the final image in post-processing. While Henri Cartier-Bresson did not post-process his images. He would get a trusted printer to do his work. He was more interested in photography.
He was never concerned about his finances, fame and recognition. He just wanted to do his job as best as he could.
(Lessons W Eugene Smith taught me about photography, 2013)
He also worked as a photojournalist war correspondent for Flying Magazine from 1943-44 and one year after that for Life magazine. He followed the American offensive against Japan when he got severely injured. He had to undergo surgeries for the next two years.
After recovering, he focused on making a number of photo essays that went on to become very popular.
His largest photo essay is of 1975 Minamata village in Japan. The entire fishing villages faced huge troubles due to mercury dumping be a chemical company.
(Howard Greenberg Gallery, 2018)
JAPAN. Minamata. Iwazo FUNABA’s crippled hand, a victim of the disease. 1971.
JAPAN. Minamata. Iwazo FUNABA’s crippled hands. She is a victim of the Minamata disease. 1971.
JAPAN. Minamata. Takak ISAYAMA, a 12 year old fetal (congenital) victim of the Minamata Disease, with her mother. 1971.
(Magnum Photos, 2014)
Some think that Eugene Smith was very hard on himself and sacrificed his health to concentrate on his career. He said that photography is everything for him and rest of the things do not matter that much. This lead to him passing away at the early age of 59 due to a heart stroke. He left behind $18 in his bank account and tonnes of photographs which continue to inspire photographers to this day.
(W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, 2004-2017)
4. Sebastiao Salgado
Sebastiao Salgado was born on February 8, 1944, in Aimorés, Brazil. A region with no access to a good education, which made him travel about 180 kilometres until Vitoria, for schooling. Salgado attended one of the best universities in Sao Paulo and got his MA in Economy. He also got married to Lelia Wanick and had two children with her. Today he is an award-winning photographer known by his arresting documentation of communities around the world.
Salgado has a monochromatic style, he believes that it forces his viewers to focus on the pictures’ topic, other than colours. His style combines complexity with a high sense of drama, and his work is dedicated to awareness of conditions of both wildlife and humans. Salgado’s photography has often focused on the effects of hardship, poverty and oppression on people of various cultures, and with the effects of industrialization on the natural landscape. Inspired by the photojournalism of Lewis Hine, W. Eugene Smith and Walker Evans, Salgado has tackled subjects like famine, poverty and social inequality in black-and-white photos that are unsparing yet often beautiful.
Salgado has earned fame for his stark photos of people coping with the effects of poverty, famine, industrialization and political oppression. He has received numerous awards for his photojournalism and has twice been named Photographer of the Year by the International Center of Photography. He and his wife founded the photographic agency, Amazonas Images and co-founded the environmental education centre, Institutio Terra that works on the restoration of Brazilian rainforests.
“My pictures gave me 10 times more pleasure than the reports I was working on. To be a photographer was, for me, an incredible way to express myself, an incredible way to the see the world from another point.” (Sebastiao Salgado)
– What’s the better journalistic approach?
It is true that the path of these four artists was not easy and all of them are inspiring, creative and good examples of photojournalism photographers. They wanted to tell people a story and they did it very well. Despite all that, we came up to a conclusion that Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s way of working is better. They follow the code of ethics in journalism, and their pictures are exactly what the real moment was, no changes, the real life and the real fact.
References:
Albers, P. (2015, March 27). André Kertész. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Kertesz
BIOGRAPHY (2014, April 02). Sebastiao Salgado. Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.biography.com/people/sebastião-salgado-40046\
Course Notes Module 10. “Presenting the moment: Eugene Smith and Sebastiao Salgado” (2018).
Course Notes Module 9. “Capturing the moment: Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson” (2018).
Getty Museum. (n.d.). André Kertész. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1847/andr-kertsz-american-born-hungary-1894-1985/
HCB foundation . (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved from henricartierbresson HCB foundation : http://www.henricartierbresson.org/en/hcb/biography/
Howard Greenberg Gallery. (2018). W Eugene Smith. Retrieved from Howard Greenberg Gallery: http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/w-eugene-smith
Kim. E. (2015, March 02). 5 Lessons Sebastião Salgado Has Taught Me About Street Photography Retrieved April 1, 2018, from http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2015/03/02/5-lessons-sebastiao-salgado-has-taught-me-about-street-photography/
Lessons W Eugene Smith taught me about photography. (2013, May 13). Retrieved from Eric Kim Photography: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2013/05/13/7-lessons-w-eugene-smith-has-taught-me-about-street-photography/
Magnum Photos. (2014). Henri Cartier- Bresson: Portfolio. Retrieved from Magnum Photos: https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2K7O3R14TE52#/SearchResult&ALID=2K7O3R14TE52&VBID=2K1HZS2RBPID4&POPUPIID=2S5RYD1EZGYV&POPUPPN=50
Magnum Photos. (2014). Portfolio- Japan.1971.Minamata vs. the Chisso Corporation W. Eugene Smith. Retrieved from Magnum Photos : https://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDWZXTR#/SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDWZXTR&VBID=2K1HZS2O2M5AO&POPUPIID=2S5RYDY592XK&POPUPPN=17
Salgado, S. (1990). In Galeano E. H., Ritchin F. and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (Eds.), An uncertain grace. New York, N.Y.: Aperture Foundation.
The Art of Photography. (2015, May 14). Sebastião Salgado Photographer (Brazilian). Retrieved April 1, 2018, from http://theartofphotography.tv/photographers/salgado/
W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund. (2004-2017). W. Eugene Smith legacy. Retrieved from W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund: http://smithfund.org/smith-legacy
Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado Module 10: Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado Compare the work of Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson versus the work of Eugene Smith and Sebastião Salgado.
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Op-Ed: Coinbase exchange pauses trading as bitcoin bubble may have burst
Op-Ed: Coinbase exchange pauses trading as bitcoin bubble may have burst
At 11 AM Eastern Time today, December 22, Coinbase announced that all buys and sells had been temporarily disabled. This is the second time in two days that the exchange temporarily disabled buys and sells.
At just before 6 PM Thursday Coinbase temporarily disabled buying and selling but was able to resolve the issue within 15 minutes. Bitcoin's big drop The service interruption today came as the price of bitcoin fell below $11,000 briefly. It is down 44 percent from its record high last Sunday. Last Sunday bitcoin established a new record high more than $19,800. On Thursday, it traded at around $15,500 for much of the day but then in the afternoon a selloff developed that gathered steam over the night. Friday morning it set a low of $10,400 but by the afternoon recovererd some to $13,100 Friday afternoon. In just five days bitcoin lost 47 percent of its value from its high about $9,400. In just one hour Friday morning bitcoin lost a thousand dollars. Alex Sunnarborg, a founding partner of the cryptofund Tetras Capital said in an email:"I would say the drop in bitcoin is a result of the massive new inflows of retail investors who are relatively 'weak hands' and more prone to sell at the sight of falling prices than the capital that has been in the system for a while that has a longer term outlook." It could be that given the high prices some big players decided to selloff at a huge profit and then buy back in at a price thousands of dollars less than they paid. Perhaps there are some short sellers as well. Bitcoin futures also declined significantly There could have been short selling on the futures exchanges as well as investors bet on a drop in price. Tne new CME bitcoin January futures managed to reach "limit down" as they fell nearly 20 percent to $12,265 in early morning trading Friday. They recovered slightly to $12,750 later but trading was still going on. The earlier futures contracts offered by CBOE on December 10 also plunged down to $12,050 as there too the price volatility caused a brief halt in trading. Bitcoin offshoot and competitor bitcoin cash also crashes Bitcoin cash had just recently been added to the roster of the Coinbase exchange. The listing caused a huge rise in the price of bitcoin cash and a drop in the price of bitcoin as discussed in a Digital Journal article at the time. After reaching a new high over $4,000 just two days ago the price fell back a full 40 percent to $1,873 on Friday but had recovered to trade near $2,500 by the early afternoon. While these drops seem steep, no doubt some analysts will see them as a needed correction and perhaps even a sign that there will be a period of consolidation before any further rise. It may be that some newcomers are now panic selling trying to save some of their investment. Bitcoin is still well up over its price at the beginning of the year, more than 1,300 percent. Bitcoin cash is also up 380 percent from when it was listed on August 1. This probably does not provide much solace for those who jumped in recently and bought the coins near their peak prices. Jamie Lee founder of litecoin sells off his holdings Many have warned of the risk of investing in crypto currencies. Jamie Lee founder of litecoin warned that anyone buying litecoin should do so only if they were ready to lose all their money. Lee just last Wednesday sold off all his litecoin. He might have been ready to lose all his money but I imagine he collected a tidy sum after selling his coin. Litecoin is a competitor of bitcoin and had been rising in price lately. Just shortly before Lee sold out it had risen 8,000 percent this year. Sell off of bitcoin was inevitable That there was a large drop in bitcoin's price is hardly surprising. What is surprising is that it has come so late a many investors continued to hold their coin even after having made huge profits. Benjamin Roberts, CEO of Citizen Hex a start-up based on the secoond largest crypto coin etherium (ether) said: "Investors were sitting on such significant gains that a correction was inevitable. These markets are driven in the short term by word-of-mouth adoption and profit-taking, and in the long term by the increasing utility of blockchain tech." Problems at Coinbase Coinbase is the leading US exchange and platform for trading major cryptocurrencies. Unitl last Tuesday it traded only three major currrencies, bitcoin the largest, etherium second largest and litecoin. For months Coinbase had been saying that it would start allowing for withdrawing of the bitcoin offshoot bitcoin cash as of January 1, 2018. Instead it suddenly announced it would launch trading in bitcoin cash with full support. Some think that there may have been insider trading involved before the launch and as a recent Digital Journal article reports Coinbase is carrying out an investigation. With a huge influx of new customers, it is hardly surprising that social media sites Reddit and Twitter report that some customers are having trouble completing transactions smoothly. The company admitted Friday that high transaction volumes were causing delays in wire transfers resulting in wire deposits being delayed up to 5 business days. South Korean and Japanese investment in cryptocurrencies slowing. Asian investors especially from South Korea and Japan have helped inflate cryptocurrecy prices. However, China has clamped down on the market banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) and also closing cryptocurrency exchanges at least temporarily. The result has been that South Korea and Japan have dominated trading volumes and often prices are higher than on Coinbase. One lesser South Korean exchange Youbit was hacked recently for a second time and lost 17 percent of its assets. It subsequently filed for bankruptcy. There is an investigation to see if North Korea was involved. It has been blamed for other hacks. The Governor of the Bank of Japan said at a recent media conference that the recent surge in bitcoin prices was abnormal However, Joe DiPasquale founder of the cryptofund BitBull Capital said: "These don't concern me for the long-term because we've seen more and greater issues in the past. Right now people are biding their time until the bottom is felt. It is a buying opportunity, perhaps in the next day, but you have to see where support is reached to make that decision." It remains to be seen whether enough investors see this situation as a buying opportunity or whether they will simply wait for a further decline in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As I ready this for posting , bitcoin has recovered considerably trading at about $14,050 and appears to be trending upward at around 1:30 AM UTC. December 23rd. Perhaps many do see this as a buying opportunity.
This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com
Source
http://digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/op-ed-coinbase-exchange-pauses-trading-as-bitcoin-bubble-may-have-burst/article/510689
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