San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Alpha Dog is a 2006 American crime drama film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes. It is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, and Bruce Willis.
Jesse James Hollywood is an American former drug dealer who kidnapped and ordered the murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. He was arrested in 2005 and is serving life at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, California.
Eddie Nash was an American nightclub owner and restaurateur in Los Angeles, as well as a convicted money launderer and drug dealer. Nash was allegedly the mastermind behind the Wonderland murders, but was never convicted, despite multiple arrests and trials.
The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. It is assumed that five people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, three of whom—Ron Launius, William "Billy" Deverell, and Joy Miller—were present. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Nash, his henchman Gregory Diles, and porn actor John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders.
A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogation techniques. When some degree of coercion is involved, studies have found that subjects with highly sophisticated intelligence or manipulated by their so-called "friends" are more likely to make such confessions. Young people are particularly vulnerable to confessing, especially when stressed, tired, or traumatized, and have a significantly higher rate of false confessions than adults. Hundreds of innocent people have been convicted, imprisoned, and sometimes sentenced to death after confessing to crimes they did not commit—but years later, have been exonerated. It was not until several shocking false confession cases were publicized in the late 1980s, combined with the introduction of DNA evidence, that the extent of wrongful convictions began to emerge—and how often false confessions played a role in these.
Richard Jason Ofshe is an American sociologist and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and interrogations.
Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) is a California State Prison for men. It was opened in June 1987, and covers 866 acres (350 ha) located in Ione, California. The prison has a staff of 1,242 and an annual operating budget of $157 million.
Nicholas Samuel Markowitz was an American teenager who was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 15 after a feud over drug money between his half-brother Benjamin Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood.
Joseph H. Burrows was an American man who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of farmer William E. Dulan at his home in Iroquois County, Illinois, in 1988. After his conviction and sentence to death in 1989, Burrows was held for nearly five years on death row.
Catherine Louise "Gypsy" Share is an American criminal who is known as a former member of the Manson Family; she was convicted of witness intimidation in relation to the 1970 trial of the Tate-LaBianca murders. In 1971 she was convicted of armed robbery and served five years. Share was not directly involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders, for which Charles Manson and some of his followers were convicted and originally sentenced to death. She served 90 days for witness intimidation.
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) is a California state prison in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California, near San Diego. It is operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The facility sits on 780 acres (320 ha). It is the only state prison in San Diego County. It is named after Richard J. Donovan.
Full Confession is a 1939 United States proto film-noir, crime drama film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by John Farrow from an adaptation by Jerome Cady of Leo Birinski's story. The film stars Victor McLaglen, Sally Eilers, Barry Fitzgerald and Joseph Calleia.
Rodney James Alcala was an American serial killer, rapist, and convicted sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979. He also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 25 years to life for two further murders committed in New York. He was also indicted for a murder in Wyoming, although the charges filed there were dropped. While Alcala has been conclusively linked to eight murders, the true number of victims remains unknown and could be as high as 130.
Joshua Eric Lynn was the Chief Trial Deputy of Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara, California from 2008 to 2010. He was the lead prosecuting attorney in the trial of Jesse James Hollywood, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on February 5, 2010. He was terminated after his loss in an election in 2010.
The Confession is a 2010 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, the second of two novels published in 2010. The novel is about the murder of a high school cheerleader and an innocent man's arrest for the crime. It was Grisham's first novel to be released simultaneously in digital and hardcover format.
Samuel Little was an American serial killer of women who was convicted of eight murders and confessed to committing 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 murders, the largest number of confirmed victims for any serial killer in American history. Little provided sketches for twenty-six of his victims although not all have been linked to known murders.
Robert Leroy Biehler was an American serial killer who killed four people in various neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California from 1966 to 1974, either to cover up previous crimes or as part of contract murders. Unable to be sentenced to death due to Furman v. Georgia, Biehler was instead given four consecutive life terms, which he served until his death in 1993.
Kevin Bernard Haley is an American murderer, rapist, burglar and suspected serial killer who, together with his older brother Reginald, committed a series of violent crimes in the Los Angeles area from 1982 to 1984, resulting in at least two murders. Suspected in a total of eight murders, Kevin Haley was convicted of two counts of murder in separate trials, receiving death sentences on each count.
