Ray Crone is an innocent man that was convicted of a murder that he did not commit. He was sentenced to death row but was luckily after ten years proven not guilty. In 2011 Ray Crone made an appeal towards the Joint Committee on Judiciary in the Connecticut General Assembly. The testimony was in regard to a senate bill that would repeal the death penalty and replace it with a life prison sentence. Hence, Ray Crone shares his story in order to encourage the assembly to go through with this bill. In his testimony, Ray Crone uses all three rhetoric appeals: pathos, logos and ethos. His use of each of these appeals all contributed towards a strong argument. However, he was definitely most effective with his use of pathos. Ray Crone appealed to the audience's emotions to help his argument. He did not just rely on his credibility or facts but instead gave his own personal story. In his testimony towards the CT Judiciary Committee, Ray Crone uses pathos throughout in order to appeal to the emotions of his audience; this is an effective strategy because he is brining up a very controversial issue therefore, by appealing to emotion he is able to humanize the issue thus, having a stronger impact on the people of the committee. However, I think he could have made an even stronger argument, given his audience, if he had incorporated more information that would enhance his logos because those he was addressing rely many times on data to make informed decisions.

Although pathos was most effective in Ray Crone's appeal it was also really important how he used ethos to establish himself as a good person. Because his argument relied on showing his audience that the death penalty should be banned because people like him could wrongly be killed he must show that in now way he deserves that. Therefore before anything Ray Crone establishes himself as an upstanding citizen and a good man. After introducing himself he goes right into saying, "I'm from a small agriculture town in southern Pennsylvania. I was in a church choir, was an acolyte, I played Little League baseball, Pee Wee football, did good in high school, graduated, enlisted for six years in the U.S. Air Force." (Crone) He uses all of these things about him to show that he a good person. All what he mentions are good uses of situated ethos. Particularly by mentioning his time in the Air Force because people who join the U.S. are normally regarded as good people who care about the good of their country and the people in it. Also, by saying he played in Little League baseball and Pee Wee football he is more relatable to the audience because it is typical for boys to participate in those sports. By establishing to his audience that he is a good person Ray Crone significantly enhances his use of pathos. Without using ethos his appeal would not have made as strong of an emotional appeal.  Seeing he was a good citizen the audience must feel even more guilty that he was convicted of a murder he did not convict.

Ray Crone uses pathos to persuade the audience to feel sympathy and hence reflect on the usage of the death penalty. Typically it would be difficult to make an emotional appeal over such a controversial topic. However, Ray Crone's first hand experiences are an exception. Despite what side of the death penalty his audience was on it is near impossible to disagree that what happened to him is unfair and could have been even worse. He demonstrates to the audience that he is a normal innocent man that could have been killed due to the death penalty. This definitely appeals to the audience's emotion because with the use of the death penalty there comes the risk of killing someone who did nothing wrong. For example, Ray Crones talks about himself and others who have also been wrongfully sentenced to death, he says, "We still had a chance at life, a chance to be released, a chance to be reunited with our family." (Crone)  By not just speaking for himself but all of those who have been affected his words a lot more powerful. The listener or reader is led into thinking about those innocent people and their families who could have been wrongly executed. Such a dramatic thought forces the audience to feel emotions such as fear and sympathy and hence reflect on the risks of the death penalty.

Ray Crone also uses pathos when describing his time in prison and on death row. He explains how prison is more difficult because on death row the people have accepted their death. This is important because he trying to convince his audience that it would be better to sentence murderers to prison rather than the death penalty. While in prison they must live with their guilt and their consequences for the rest of their life. This is a good use of the emotional appeal because people want to see murderers have to pay for what they have done. Ray's audience does not know as well what each punishment is like. Ray as someone who was faced with both punishments is able to give a detailed account. He says, "The ultimate punishment is sitting everyday in prison knowing you're never going to get out. It's your fault. You deserved it." (Crone)  His blunt description of the emotions of convicts makes a good emotional appeal. As his goal is to appeal to a committee on reform of the death penalty. His insight on the emotional affects of each punishment shows the committee that life in prison is the worst punishment. This is a good appeal in this situation because it is hard to convey why life in prison is a harsher sentence by statistics or data. 

Although I believe the use of pathos is the strongest for Ray Crone's appeal I also believe if he had enhanced his use of logos he could have been even more effective. His appeal to the audience's emotion got across the risks of having the death penalty. His personal accounts gave an insight on the struggles he faced. By providing more statistics on similar things happening to other people Ray's argument would have been amplified. He does make good use of logos when describing the amount of time and money that went into his wrongful conviction for example, "But eventually, after 10 years, three months, and eight days, I was released to reunite with my family and my friends, start my life all over again at the age of 45 and wondering why did this happen?" (Crone). This specific description of how much time was taken from him puts the problem into perspective. By using pathos to show how rough his time was in prison and then using logos to demonstrate how long he was there make a s strong appeal to the audience. Perhaps though if he had followed up this statement and others with statistics of similar cases he could have made his argument for appealing for the audience. This is important with his audience because they are a group of people that legislate for the entire state. Therefore I would assume they would want to make sure this was a broad issue and not just an isolated case.

All together Ray Crone makes a strong argument in his testimony. He demonstrates pathos, logos and ethos which all help his case. He uses ethos by demonstrating he is an upstanding citizen and never deserved what occurred to him. He also uses logos to give a more detailed account what happened to him and the issues of capital punishment. Lastly, he uses pathos by describing his personal stories in order to appeal to the audience's emotions. I think with all of these together he was definitely able to sway his audience into thinking perhaps the death penalty is not the right punishment. Since his testimony the state of Connecticut has banned the death penalty. Although this cannot be just contributed to Ray Crone's testimony he definitely had an impact. Perhaps, because I don't believe in the death penalty, Ray Crone should speak in more states that have yet to ban the death penalty. Also, if he does he could incorporate more logos to make his argument even stronger.  

