...Criminal Defense Case Analysis Paper Nikisha Rayford CJA/354 February 10, 2014 Gary Weil Criminal Defense Case Analysis Criminal Defenses One of the greatest rights afforded to the America people is the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. It is the job of the prosecutor to prove to the people, to the jury, and to the court that the accused is guilty of a crime. If the prosecutor has a valid case, the accused, either on his or her own or accompanied by a skilled attorney, can present various defenses to argue why they acted in the manner they did. According to Criminal Law Today, “A defense consists of evidence and arguments offered by a defendant and his or her attorneys to show why that person should not be held liable for a criminal charge” (Schmalleger 2010, pg. 114). This paper will discuss various forms of criminal defenses and how they are used in court. Justification Defense The courts usually require that the prosecutor prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of a crime, the defense can take an offensive role in their trial by taking an affirmative defense. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the prosecuting attorney to attempt to prove the defendant’s guilt, the defendant can fight back with defenses. The following are types of affirmative defenses: Necessity The defense of necessity claims that the defendant believes it was necessary to commit...
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...Criminal Defenses One of the greatest rights afforded to the America people is the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. It is the job of the prosecutor to prove to the people, to the jury, and to the court that the accused is guilty of a crime. If the prosecutor has a valid case, the accused, either on his or her own or accompanied by a skilled attorney, can present various defenses to argue why they acted in the manner they did. Schmalleger (2010, pg. 114) states, “A defense consists of evidence and arguments offered by a defendant and his or her attorney(s) to show why that person should not be held liable for a criminal charge”. This paper will discuss various forms of criminal defenses and how they are used in court. Justification Defense While the courts usually require the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defense is guilty of a crime, the defense can take an offensive role in their trial by taking an affirmative defense. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the prosecuting attorney to attempt to prove the defendants guilt, the defendant can “fight” back with defenses. The following are types of affirmative defenses: Necessity The defense of necessity claims that the defendant believes it was necessary to commit the criminal act in order to prevent or avoid great harm (Schmallege, 2010 pg 116). An interesting case that was upheld as a good defense of necessity was people vs. lovercamp (1974) where inmate...
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...The Insanity Defense The insanity defense refers to that branch of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which men accused of crimes may be relieved of criminal responsibility by virtue of mental disease. The terms of such a defense are to be found in the instructions presented by the trial judge to the jury at the close of a case. These instructions can be drawn from any of several rules used in the determination of mental illness. The final determination of mental illness rests solely on the jury who uses information drawn from the testimony of "expert" witnesses, usually professionals in the field of psychology. The net result of such a determination places an individual accordingly, be it placement in a mental facility, incarceration, or outright release. Due to these aforementioned factors, there are several problems raised by the existence of the insanity defense. Problems such as the actual possibility of determining mental illness, justifiable placement of judged "mentally ill" offenders, and the overall usefulness of such a defense. In all, I believe that these problems, as well as others which will be mentioned later, lead us to the conclusion that the insanity defense is useless and should be abolished entirely. Insanity is a legal, not a medical definition. Therefore, mental illness and insanity are not synonymous: only some mental illness constitutes insanity. Insanity, however, includes not only mental illness but also mental deficiencies. Due to...
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...Laws of Criminal Evidence Justice CJAD 405 24 January, 2016 Nuts and Bolts Assignment #2 Please answer any 2 of the questions 1-5 and any 3 of questions 6-10. You should have a total of 5 questions answered. Please submit your answers to the correct Dropbox folder by 8:00 pm Sunday. Please number your answers to correspond to the number of the applicable question. 1. Is the jury present when hearings on the admissibility of a confession are conducted? Cite the applicable rule that applies to this situation and explain the reason for the rule. 2. State and explain three ways in which the approach to the use of evidence in civil cases differs from the approach in criminal cases. 3. What is the role of the prosecutor in handling evidence at trial? The role of the judge? The role of the jury? What is meant by the statement, “The burden of proof of guilt in a criminal case is on the prosecution throughout the trial”? 4. Define burden of proof, burden of going forward, and burden of persuasion. The Burden of proof means that the prosecutor must prove the guilt of the accused person and with that; the burden will never shift to throughout the trial. The burden of going forward means that at the beginning of the trial, the party will submit evidence that the court will decide if it’s good enough to use towards the burden of proof and if it will prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of persuasion means, being able to persuade...
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...Insanity Defense Donita Estes, Patrick Fostso, Jennia McCray, Yasmine McGee, Inga Payne CJA/354 October 22, 2012 Samara Belgarde, J.D. Insanity Defense The criminal justice system in America is one of the fair systems in the world where anyone will be innocent until proven of guilt. The whole concept of the court system emphasizes how our laws work regardless where we come from and how we look like or healthy or not anyone is entitles of due process. The idea that our justice and court system are fair to anyone on trial due to an arrest by probable cause and sentencing by a verdict guilty and not guilty of the jury. In the case or State v. Stu Dents, where the defendant was accused of killing his former girlfriend. We are going to elaborate how the charge of insanity can be plead in the defense case and in the other hand give some understanding how this plead play a role in the defendant case during the trial and after the trial in some states and particular California. Does your team feel this defendant is competent to stand trial? Why or why not? We believe that the defendant may not be competent to stand trial, due to the fact that he had has emotionally and mental issues. The defendant has no knowledge of the crime or its consequences, if put on the stand he may revert back to that emotional state of mind and will not be able to give and accurate statement and will not be able to understand charges and sentencing. What is required in your state for an insanity...
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...Paralegals engage in substantive legal work, the kind of work that lawyers do with certain limitations and prohibitions. Based on my own personal skills such as filing of small claims, paralegals are engaged in real legal work, provided as paralegals are appropriately supervised, the lawyers for whom paralegals work are able to engage in other legal work. I like litigation practice because paralegals are of service to the clients. Clients will receive a smaller bill when legal assistants are used effectively because the work of legal assistants is billed at a lesser rate than that of lawyers. The use of paralegals allows more members of society to be able to afford legal services, while at the same time allows employing lawyers at private law firms to increase their earnings. Paralegal is a highly demand profession which makes me reflect that litigation practice is a rewarding career. 2. As a paralegal what documents should you attempt to obtain before a lawsuit is filed during the informal fact-gathering stage? What sources are available to you to locate these documents? The attorney’s work product, now called “trial preparation materials.” Trial preparation materials include any “documents and tangible things” that were “prepared in anticipation of litigation” by another party or that party’s “representative.” It is only a “qualified privilege” and based upon a showing of “substantial need.” Discovery should be carried out in the following order: 1. Interrogatories ...
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...Criminal Liability and the Use of Force Strayer University February 5, 2014 The crime of solicitation takes place when, whoever, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States, and under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent, solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct, shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or (notwithstanding section fined not more than one-half of the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the crime solicited, or both; or if the crime solicited is punishable by life imprisonment or death, shall be imprisoned for not more than twenty years. It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that, under circumstances manifesting a voluntary and complete renunciation of his criminal intent, the defendant prevented the commission of the crime solicited. A renunciation is not “voluntary and complete” if it is motivated in whole or in part by a decision to postpone the commission of the crime until another time or to substitute another victim or another but similar objective. If the defendant raises the affirmative defense at trial, the defendant has the burden of proving the defense by a preponderance of the evidence. It is...
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...any one person can place narcotic drugs into a classification, one must first understand what the word narcotic means. This paper will focus on what the term narcotic means as well as the classifications of narcotic drugs. Furthermore, this paper will also talk about the evidence that is needed in order to obtain a conviction in a criminal case, the chain of custody, and the prevention of evidence which seeks to not only prove the alleged crime (s) but also provides the defendant with the opportunity to cross-examine or challenge the evidence which has been presented in court. Narcotic drugs are derived from the Greek word narkotikos, which implies a state of lethargy or sluggishness and pharmacologist classify narcotic drugs as substances that bring relief from pain or produce sleep (Saferstein, R. 2011). Narcotic drugs are highly addictive and withdrawal from them can be very unpleasant. The intensity of withdrawal symptoms depends on the actual physical condition of the user as well as the type of drug abused and the amount of drug intake and duration of the abuse as well (www.addictionindia.org). When it comes to the terms of criminal law, narcotic drugs classified in the following way. Schedule І drugs are deemed to have a high potential for abuse, have no currently excepted medical use in the United States, and/or lack accepted safety for use in treatment under medical...
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...specific enough. Issue Our issue here is whether or not the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under North Carolina case law. Rules “In reviewing a N.C. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion, a court must determine whether, as a matter of law, the allegations of the complaint, treated as true, are sufficient to state a claim upon which relief may be granted under some legal theory, whether properly labeled or not. The trial court may grant this motion if there is a want of law to support a claim of the sort made, an absence of facts sufficient to make a good claim, or the disclosure of some fact which will necessarily defeat the claim”. Rule 8 of the General Rules of Pleading, also states that there must be a short and clear statement made in the claim that the party is if fact, entitled to relief. Pursuant to affirmative defense, if Brad introduces evidence found to be credible, regardless if he committed the crime or not, he will not be liable for civil or criminal damages. Analysis In our case of Richard and Brad, Richard clearly states his allegations against Brad, but provides no support that he is actually entitled by some legal force, to any compensatory damages for what he alleges Brad inflicted on him. There is no clear law supporting that Richard is entitled to monetary damages. Affirmative defense is also...
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...not specific enough. Issue Our issue here is whether or not the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under North Carolina case law. Rules “In reviewing a N.C. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion, a court must determine whether, as a matter of law, the allegations of the complaint, treated as true, are sufficient to state a claim upon which relief may be granted under some legal theory, whether properly labeled or not. The trial court may grant this motion if there is a want of law to support a claim of the sort made, an absence of facts sufficient to make a good claim, or the disclosure of some fact which will necessarily defeat the claim”. Rule 8 of the General Rules of Pleading, also states that there must be a short and clear statement made in the claim that the party is if fact, entitled to relief. Pursuant to affirmative defense, if Brad introduces evidence found to be credible, regardless if he committed the crime or not, he will not be liable for civil or criminal damages. Analysis In our case of Richard and Brad, Richard clearly states his allegations against Brad, but provides no support that he is actually entitled by some legal force, to any compensatory damages for what he alleges Brad inflicted on him. There is no clear law supporting that Richard is entitled to monetary damages. Affirmative...
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...stages to that process. After the forth stage is when the actor is considered liable for criminal punishment under anglo-american law. 2. In 184 the English court in Rex v. scofield first recognized the crime of attempt. The court found that the completion of a criminal act was not necessary to constitute criminality. 3. Some test are to show that your innocent and the other are to show that your guilty. 4. MPC provides that a person is guilty of attempt if it was his or her purpose to engage in the conduct or to cause the result that would constitute the substantive offense, with two exceptions. 5. I do not know the differences and similarities. 6. Because the actor had a change of heart and truly does not to go further into the crime. 7. Solicitation is designated as a crime because a deliberate inducement of another to commit a crime is sufficiently dangerous behavior to call for the imposition of criminal penalties. An example of criticisms that solicitation gets is that the solicitor personally manifests reluctance to commit the and thus is not “a significant menace.” 8. They can charge the other criminals with the same crime. 9. Reaching an agreement 10. Abandonment can be a defense to conspiracy because if you abandoned the conspiracy at the right moment you cannot be charged with conspiracy. 11. The MPC allows withdrawal to be an affirmative defense to conspiracy...
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...Criminal Law Midterm Part B Crime has been part of the human condition since people began to live in groups. Ancient documents indicate that activities such as murder, theft, and robbery were defined as criminal by civilizations that existed before biblical times. The bible recounts stories of crimes such as Cain killing Abel, and the parable of the Good Samaritan, who came to the assistance of a man who had been assaulted and robbed.[i] Criminal laws regulate human behavior and tell people what they cannot do and in some instances, what they must do under certain circumstances. Throughout history, all societies have had criminal codes regulating conduct .Democracies have always sought to transform their basic principles and ideals into achievable goals through a system of laws that balance the rights of individuals with the compelling needs of society as a whole. These goals include public order, domestic tranquility, and protection of the basic rights of individuals.[ii] Because governments in democracies are the servants and not the masters of the people, laws should be the product of the will of the people. Criminal justice systems in democracies operate most successfully when the majority of people believe that the laws are reasonable and that the system can operate efficiently and effectively. The issue of what laws should be enacted often causes serious public debate. Laws are enacted by elected representatives of the people they are enforced...
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...The Insanity Defense is one of many defenses to criminal liability that falls under the Excuse defense. When a person pleads excuse they admit that what they did was wrong, but under the circumstances they were put in, they aren’t responsible and shouldn’t be held responsible. Excuse defenses are presented after the prosecution has proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and when the defendant has yet to prove that their conduct was justified. When using the insanity defense, the defendant has to carry some of the burden of proof, proving that they have an excuse in order to avoid criminal responsibility. Insanity is a legal term used that refers to a mental disease or defect which would impair a person’s reason or will to control their actions. Much of the public...
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...Introduction Affirmative action is the act of promoting equal opportunities for al ("Diversity & Inclusion", n.d.). This paper will examine the components of Affirmative action as it relates to the public and private sector employers, and the many ways that it interacts with Title VII requirements of Equal Employment Opportunity. This paper will address the following questions: (1) what employers are subject to affirmative action plans and why? (2) What do the plans require employers to do? (3) What happens if employers do not meet the goals of the affirmative action plan? In 1941, the federal government tried to remove any and all forms of discrimination in the hiring process within the defense industry and ultimately within the whole federal employment. After President John F. Kennedy signed the 1961 Executive Order number 10925, it required federal contractors to take affirmative action to certify that applicants are employed and that employees are taken care of, without regard to one’s race, faith, color, or national origins. While Lyndon B. Johnson’s was the president back in 1967, 1965 Executive Order 11246 was lengthened to include women. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not permit discrimination in any way based on color, faith, race, sex, or gender in employment, relocation, or advancement decisions but did not comprise employers compliance with affirmative action plans. Law court may order an employer...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS TO CRIM LAW (Levine) I. Overview of CJS A. Theories of Punishment 1. Utilitarian 2. Retributive B. Who should be punished? 1. Excuse (Because of personal condition X I shouldn’t be punished) 2. Justification (I acted in the right way and don’t deserve to be punished) C. Principles that Limit Punishment 1. Legality, Vagueness Lenity II. Components of a Crime A. Actus Reus 1. Conduct 2. Attendant Circumstances 3. Social Harm 4. Causation a. Actual Causation b. Proximate Cause i. Common law: Intervening Cause? ii. MPC: Built into culpability standards 5. Concurrence of Elements B. Mens Rea 1. Common Law Standard 2. MPC Culpability Standard 3. Specific Intent 4. Transferred Intent 5. Strict Liability Crimes 6. Role of Mistake a. Mistake of Fact b. Mistake of Law C. Concurrence of Elements III. Homicide A. Common Law 1. Murder a. 1st Degree Murder b. 2nd Degree Murder 2. Manslaughter a. Adequate Provocation b. Criminal Negligence c. Misdemeanor-Mansalguther B. MPC 1. Murder 2. Manslaughter 3. Criminal Negligence C. Felony Murder Rule 1. Limitations a. Inherently...
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