Throughout history, our definition of justice has evolved to include individual rights and the effect on society as a whole. Today we define justice as fairness of morality. Does our criminal justice system serve the people and produce justice every time? This paper shows that justice is not always served. Robert Marshall, a salesperson from Toms River, NJ, witnessed this first hand. .
Robert Marshall was living the American dream as a prominent insurance salesperson in Toms River, NJ when his life was turned upside down. After a pleasant evening together at the Harrah's Meadows Restaurant in Atlantic City where they played blackjack, Rob and his wife Maria started home with over $6,000 in winnings. Robert felt a vibration from one of the tires so he pulled over at a picnic area off of the Garden State Parkway to check the tires. Robert saw that the back right tire was partially flat. He was knocked unconscious while checking the tire from a blow to the head from behind. Upon awakening, he noticed that he was bleeding and that his casino winnings were missing. He then found his wife lying on the front seat of the car bleeding. After the police arrived, he learned she had died from two gunshot wounds, one to the back and one to the side.
Marshall and his wife Maria were having difficulty in their marriage. Marshall was having an extramarital affair with a woman named Sarann Kraushaar and was considering divorce. Marshall hired a former deputy sheriff from Louisiana named Billy Wayne McKinnon to investigate his wife in hopes of getting information on whether she knew of his affair and if she was having an affair as well. McKinnon states that he was hired to kill Maria and that he had hired Larry Thompson as an accomplice.
At the trial, the prosecutor stated that the robbery was a sham and that Marshall, Thompson, and McKinnon had staged the robbery so that Thompson would have an opportunity to kill Maria.