Premium Essay

Circumstantial Evidence In Court Cases

Submitted By
Words 485
Pages 2
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973, 1,386 convicted murderers have been executed in the United States. During the same 43 years, over 150 death row inmates ad their convictions overturned for various reasons. As of January 1, 2016, there are approximately 3,000 convicts on death row. Historical data strongly suggests that a number of these individuals are innocent of capital murder. While many of these people are definitely guilty of terrible crimes and certainly deserve to die, the criminal justice system is not qualified to carry out death sentences.
The workings of the criminal justice system sometimes lead to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of innocent people. Because prosecutors are under tremendous pressure to secure convictions for capital crimes, they have been known to manipulate witnesses and tamper with evidence. A study conducted by Sam Gross and Barbra O’Brian found that inaccurate eyewitness testimony was a factor in 50% of exonerations. While circumstantial evidence can lead to a suspect and motive, without physical evidence the high standard of proof necessary in capital cases is often not met. Also, juries are instructed to make decisions based solely on the evidence and testimony presented in the trial, but since judges have wide discretion to determine what juries see and hear, …show more content…
Even in cases of certain guilt, confessed murderers spend an average of 15 years awaiting execution at exorbitant taxpayer expense as a death row inmate costs roughly twice as much as a prisoner in general population. The guilty deserve to be punished and while society and victims families demand retribution, the realities of death row, the lengthly appeals process, and the possibility of a last minutes reprieve that constitute cruel and unusual punishment should more than satisfy anyones sense of

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

The Zodiac

...Lindbergh Baby Case Suzanne Lopez 4/06/2015 CJ 101 High profile cases can receive a lot of unwanted media attention. As a result of this media attention, this can lead to an unfair advantage for the three components of the criminal justice system especially within police investigations. As high profile cases tend to get more media exposure, the pressure that the state enhances its authority over the police to solve the case tends to get swifter than they would any other investigation. This result can be disastrous because police investigators will try to work through a case quickly and efficiently to satisfy the media, victims, victims’ families as well as the state. Especially with high profile cases where appearances isn’t always what it seems, mistakes are more apt to happen and can lead to a lot of circumstantial evidence which may or may not be enough to prove guilt in a court of law and may or may not be just and fair. It would depend on the individual efficiency and experience as well as the intuition of the police investigators. Police investigators have the most important and more prevalent jobs out of the three components in the criminal justice system. The police has to investigate, analyze, recreate, and actually put together a case enough so that there is enough evidence, whether circumstantial or concrete, to convict a perpetrator beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. That is a tall order for any branch of government to try to accomplish...

Words: 2200 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Business Law Case Study

...Mora v. Jackson Memorial Foundation, Inc., United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, Florida (2010) FACTS - Josephine Mora, who was 62 at the time, worked for the Jackson Memorial Foundation Inc. as a fundraiser. She initially worked in a division where she conducted media relations and solicited donors but her immediate supervisor Mrs. Chea was not pleased with Mora’s work and recommended to the CEO Mr. Rodriguez that Mora be terminated. However, Mr. Rodriguez decided to give Plaintiff a different position in his own office “where he could observe her more closely,.” but did not inform Mora that she had been terminated from her position. After a month of errors and issues Mr. Rodriguez fired Mora explaining that he “needed need someone younger I can pay less ... I need an Elena [Quevedo, a 25 year old employee].” Another co worker confirmed that she heard the conversation as well as Mr. Rodriguez calling Mora “old and inept.” Another employee also stated that Mr. Rodriguez said that Mora was “too old to be working here anyway,” although Rodriguez denies that he made any of those discriminatory-sounding statements. The Supreme Court ruled out the idea of a “mixed motive” ADEA claim, instead requiring Mora to show that age was the only or main cause of termination. The ADEA requires that “age [be] the ‘reason’ that the employer decided to act.” Therefore the ruling was in favor for Jackson Memorial Foundation. Mora appealed the decision ISSUE– Did Jackson Memorial...

Words: 467 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice Appeals Process

...an appeal? An appeal is a process which assists defendants from wrongful incarceration, (What are Appeal Courts for? 2004). An Appeal if successful allows the higher court to over-turn a lower court’s decision. An appeal is also a defendant’s way of challenging the court’s decision. In the Criminal Justice system, an appeal takes place when an offender “tried in court”, is found guilty, later sentenced or someone who is already convicted and incarcerated may be released from incarceration or a sentence vacated if the prison term has not commenced with a successful appeal. A sentence can be vacated via an appeal, or reduced even after the sentence has begun. In Federal court, the attorney or offender files a brief(s) in support of their motion 2255 to vacate the sentence. In Europe, they follow a different standard as follows: But it is as well to remember, for example, that while article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights,agreed in November 1950, guarantees you a fair trial, it does not guarantee you a right to appeal against the outcome of that trial. The right of appeal is to be found in article 2 of the Seventh Protocol to the Convention which was only agreed so 34 years later, in November 1984. So, even in the legal thinking of the modern world, appeals are something of an additional luxury, (What are Appeal Courts for?, 2004). The following are permissible grounds for appeal. (a) The Commission relied on erroneous...

Words: 1401 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Paper

...defendant in a federal investigation. •A 1-page outline on the best way to format and present the federal criminal pretrial process, which includes jury selection, evidence and jury instructions. Please provide examples in your outline of your recommended format for presenting the process. •A 1-page draft of how to present the processing requirements and the mandated pretrial measures required by law While many citizens think the real action in the criminal courts happens during trials, they are wrong in that assessment. Ninety percent of criminal cases are disposed of by guilty pleas rather than trials. Most of those guilty pleas are the result of agreements between prosecutors and defense attorneys. Plea bargaining is a process in which a prosecutor makes a concession to a defendant (for example, reducing charges or recommending a lighter sentence) in exchange for the defendant's pleading guilty. Even cases that go to trial are sometimes decided before the trial begins. Some experts think that the O.J. Simpson case, for example, was won outside the courtroom through early forensic work by experts and through a legal strategy that forced the prosecution to present its evidence at a preliminary hearing rather than a grand jury proceeding. In the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment guarantees access to qualified counsel, which is fundamental to a fair trial. Gideon was entitled to a retrial because Florida failed...

Words: 3297 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Music

...behavior in society. If one breaks the law, he/she should be judged. This is the main task of courts, which are the overseers of the law. They administer the law, resolve disputes under the law and try to apply the la in fair and impartial manner. There are different types of courts e.g. common pleas courts, trial courts, intermediate courts of appeal and a Supreme Court. Common pleas courts provide for the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms by hearing civil, criminal, administrative and other cases. A CIVIL CASE begins when the claimant, or plaintiff, files a written statement of her claim (a complaint) in a court. The complaint must contain: (1) a short and plain statement of the claim which shows that the plaintiff is entitled to relief under the law; and (2) a demand (or "prayer") for the kind of relief to which plaintiff believes she is entitled. A CRIMINAL CASE can begin when a person goes to court and files a complaint that another person has committed an offense. The complaint is followed by an arrest warrant or a summons, which is served on the defendant. A criminal case can also begin with an indictment. Indictments are accusations of felonious conduct against persons who have already been arrested and referred to the grand jury by a municipal or county court through preliminary hearing. When this is done, the indictment begins the case. A criminal case can also begin with an arrest. A person can be arrested without a warrant. If anyone has probable...

Words: 1375 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Criminal Law Felony Case Study

...woman by the name of Sally Dupree who was fighting a criminal law felony case versus the State of Oklahoma with charges of possession and procuring participation of a minor in pornography. Sally was in a disturbing relationship with her ex-boyfriend who is an incarcerated pedophile by the name of Ricky Lewis. Ricky was thirty-two years old and serving time for child pornography as well. Ricky was also dealing with a lady in Vinita, OK known as Brittany Dick who was twenty-two years old and had a two year old daughter. Oddly, they ended up in a tangled relationship with each other. Ricky somehow had a cellular device in his cell and would send Sally intimate...

Words: 548 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Lindbergh Baby Case

...The Lindbergh baby case was a big case for its time, and I’m going to be discussing how the three core components of the criminal justice system played into the case. The three core components are police, courts and corrections. I will also discuss how other things were applied to this case like sentencing and the preliminary hearing. The Lindbergh baby case was a case that was open for 2 years, during that time police and Federal law enforcement were trying their hardest to find the missing Lindbergh baby, and punish the kidnapper. On the initial night of the kidnapping in March of 1932, there was a ransom note found in the baby’s crib, asking for money and indicating the baby was in good hands. With how times were back then, the police did what they could with the resources they had, though it wasn’t enough as the baby’s body was found only 2 months after the investigation started, with evidence pointing to that the baby was murdered the night of the kidnapping. For the next 2 years police used their expertise in narrowing down suspects, when finally they received a bunch of hits on the ransom money. The dedication of the police force finally prevailed in the arresting of Bruno Richard Hauptman. Hauptman was indicted in September 1934, on charges for extortion, and again in October 1934 for murder. The courts took over and his trial began January 3rd, 1935 and lasted five weeks. The case was built on circumstantial evidence such as handwritten ransom notes found, and the...

Words: 869 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Making Man

...COPIED FROM CERTAIN REFERENCES. The elements of estafa with abuse of confidence under this provision are as follows: 1. That money, goods, or other personal property be received by the offender in trust, or on commission, or for administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of, or to return, the same; 2. That there be misappropriation or conversion of such money or property by the offender; or denial on his part of such receipt; 3. That such misappropriation or conversion or denial is to the prejudice of another; and 4. That there is a demand made by the offended party to the offender.15 Article 315, paragraph 1(b) of the Revised Penal Code reads: ART. 315. Swindling (estafa). – Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned herein below shall be punished by: … 1. With unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, namely: … (b) By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice of another, money, goods, or any other personal property received by the offender in trust or on commission, or for administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of or to return the same, even though such obligation be totally or partially guaranteed by a bond; or by denying having received such money, goods, or other property. The elements of estafa with abuse of confidence are as follows: a) that money, goods or other personal property is received by the offender in trust, or on commission, or for administration...

Words: 1978 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Forensic Testimony in Court

...Examine Forensic Testimony Forensic evidence has become more and more important in the court case for proving the guilt or innocence of a criminal defendant. Due to new technology the world of forensics is becoming more and more advanced providing law enforcement with all types of new investigatory tools and ways for the court to prove or disprove guilt. It is essential for law enforcement agencies to have trained forensic personnel with the skills to properly collect the evidence first to ensure the evidence does not become lost, destroyed, or damaged and the forensic evidence is accepted in a court of law. Improper collection of evidence is only one of many potential challenges associated with forensic evidence but it is an important challenge that must be addressed. Forensic evidence is collected at the crime scene. If the evidence is not properly documented and collected it can be found to be unreliable in the court process. In order for forensic evidence to be accepted in a court of law it must be documented through sketches, photographs, and video tapings and it must be collected using accepted standard forensic collection methods. If evidence is not properly documented or collected the chain of evidence is broken and the court will exclude the evidence from the court case. The chain of evidence refers to an important aspect of forensic involving the movement of evidence. In order to show the court the evidence was located and collected at the scene and...

Words: 1538 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Social Studies

...weight and admissibility 18 Classification of evidence 20 Development and current objectives of evidence law 23 Introduction When you begin to study a new legal subject, you soon find that you come across words and expressions that you have not encountered before, or that you suspect are being used in a special way. This is especially so for evidence law. You need to understand the most important of these early on in order to get to grips with the subject. This chapter introduces you to these words and expressions. Besides ‘learning the language’ of evidence, you need to begin to develop a critical attitude towards the law so that you can write good answers to essay questions in the examination. But it’s impossible to adopt a critical attitude if you have no opinion about what the objectives of the law should be, and so this chapter introduces you to that topic too. Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter and the relevant readings you should be able to: explain what is meant by ‘relevance’, ‘weight’ and ‘admissibility’ present arguments defending or attacking the relevance of a given item of evidence explain what is meant by the following major technical terms used in evidence law: the best evidence rule, circumstantial and direct evidence, collateral facts, documentary evidence, facts in issue, original evidence, real evidence, hearsay, the best evidence rule and the voir dire describe two important characteristics of evidence law: its limited application, and its mixture...

Words: 4210 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Criminal Battery In Florida

...occurred; however, if a person does not consent, then a battery has occurred. In the case of State v Clyatt, Clyatt and the victim ordered food from the KFC drive through. While in the drive thru, an altercation occurred. Several witnesses reported observing Clyatt inside the car, beating the victim’s head against the car window; slapping and punching her in the face; grabbing her; and then chocking her. As is often the case in domestic violence cases, the victim declined to cooperate with the State after Clyatt’s arrest. Therefore, the state was left in the position of either dropping the charge or attempting to prove the element of simple battery solely through the testimony of the third-party witness. The state proved that the victim was struck against her will through third party testimony stating the victim was attempting to resist the attack and was visibly upset and crying afterwards. The court held that a battery had occurred; therefore, circumstantial evidence can be used to prove...

Words: 921 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Legal Docs

...TEAM CODE ------------------------------------------------- IN THE HONOURABLE PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT Memorial Filed On Behalf Of the Appellant Criminal Appeal no. : /2015 IN THE MATTER OF STATE OF PUNJAB APPELLANT VERSUS DR. MUKESH & OTHERS RESPONDENT ------------------------------------------------- APPEAL FILED UNDER SECTION 378 OF THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973 ------------------------------------------------- Most Respectfully Submitted to the Hon’ble Judges of the Punjab & Haryana High Court ------------------------------------------------- COUNSELS APPEARING ON BEHALF OF ‘APPELLANT’ Table of Contents Abbreviations III Index of Authorities IV Statement of Jurisdiction VII Statement of Facts VIII Charges Framed XI Summary of Arguments XII Whether the accused is liable under section 302 of IPC to be read with Section 34 of IPC or not XII Whether the accused is liable under section 364 read with section 34 of IPC or not XII Whether the accused is liable under section 18 of Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1944 or not? XII Arguments 1 1. Whether the accused is liable under section 302 of IPC to be read with Section 34 of IPC or not 1 2. Whether the Accused liable under section 302 of IPC or Not. 2 3. Whether the accused is liable under section 18 of Transplantation...

Words: 4615 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Jury Trial

...April 13, 2015 Jonathan Sperling The sixth amendment states that all accused criminals have the right to a trial by impartial jury of the state, in which the person allegedly committed a crime (Right to Jury Trial, n.d). The jury is a group of citizens selected from the state randomly, to decide whether or not the accused criminal is guilty or not guilty. Once the jury has heard and reviewed the evidence, it is their duty to determine the faith of the accused by rendering a verdict of guilty or not guilty. Although, this criminal process ends with the verdict of the jury, it all begins when a person is arrested by law enforcement for committing a crime. Once an arrest, the accused individual is booked. During the booking course the person is advised of the charges, paperwork is completed stating the offense including the person’s name, birth date, social security number and other personal information of that nature. Shortly after, the individual will be fingerprinted and photographed upon booking (Worrall, 2012). From that point forward, the person is detained for the following court procedures that include the initial appearance, the pretrial process, and the preliminary hearing. In addition to those steps, the arraignment and discovery process follows (Worrall, 2012). In the course of the initial process, the defendant stands before a judge and is informed of the former charges, as well as acknowledged of his or her rights not to incriminate his or herself. Moreover, the...

Words: 1747 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Crime and Philosophy

...1. Getting started It is a matter of some interest that logic and the law should share so many of their foundational concepts – concepts such as proof, evidence, truth, inference, probability, plausibility, presumption and reasonableness – and yet should have had very little to say to one another within living memory. It is not especially surprising that logic and the law should have suffered (I use the word in its Latin sense) this alienation. With regard to its foundational concepts – for example, the concept of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the concept of the balance of probabilities, the concept of the reasonable person – the law embeds am implied epistemology of implicity. There exists among practitioners, especially judges, the view that definitions and formalizations of such notions are both unnecessary and is liable to conceptual distortion. But definitions and formalizations are mother’s milk to logicians. Where the law favours approximation and contextually sensitive nuance, logicians thrive on exactitude and rigour. So why wouldn’t the lawyers and logicians go about their business without the regard of the one for the other? It would be wrong to leave the impression that there is no analytical exactitude in the law. It would also be a mistake to suggest that there has been no contact with the formal disciplines. Trials are often complex and judgements often embed exhaustive and detailed analyses of relevant points of law. In recent years probability theorists have...

Words: 14399 - Pages: 58

Premium Essay

Lizzie Borden

...The Lizzie Borden Trial Abstract The 1893 trial of Lizzie Borden has been analyzed by historians throughout the twentieth and now twenty first century. Particular interest has been placed on whether Lizzie Borden was guilty or innocent, given the considerable amount of time that has passed it would be irrational to speculate on the jury’s decision to acquit Lizzie. Focusing on the evidence obtained by the Fall River police department and District Attorney Hosea Knowlton we can obtain a better view of the events which occurred that fateful day in August, 1982. Why did the panel of judges disallow so much key evidence presented by the prosecution and could the actions of key courtroom figures have set free a guilty woman? The late nineteenth century would be a critical time in the evolution of substantive and procedural rights, including the right to remain silent for United States citizens. Today men and women enjoy equal rights in the eyes of the law but late in the nineteenth century things were much different, could the way men viewed women have set free a murderer? On a scorching 1892 August day in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew and Abby Borden were violently murdered in their home on Second Street. The Lizzie Borden trial held in 1893 attracted attention from nearly the entire United States with newspapers in New York City, Providence, and Boston publishing articles at a frenzied pace. The subsequent police investigation and trial of Lizzie Borden gained national...

Words: 3018 - Pages: 13