...Course Name: Intro to Legal Ethics Instructor: Brent Halbleib Assignment: Unit 3 Confidentiality and Attorney/Client Privilege Name: Donna Marie Brown Date: July 26, 2015 Possible Points: 100 Confidentiality and Attorney- Client Privilege Donna Marie Brown Kaplan University Confidentiality and the Alton Logan Case “Sometimes trying to make wrongful conviction right, creates an ethical tension for civil and criminal attorneys. With any kind of practice, but mostly with criminal defense, a lawyer may learn from a client that they committed a crime ascribed to someone else. When an innocent person is faced with conviction, imprisonment, or in some cases, the death penalty, and the attorney is mindful of the injustice occurring to a third party, the lawyer is still bound by the rules of confidentiality to honor their commitment to their client.” (Strutin, 2015) And this begins the case with Mr. Alton Logan. In 1982, Alton Logan was convicted of killing a security guard at a Chicago-area McDonalds. Even though the testimony that Logan was at home when the murder happened, the jury still found him guilty of first degree murder And to top it off, the two attorneys, Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz, knew Logan was innocent. And how did this knowledge come about? Andrew Wilson, the attorneys’ client, admitted to the murder. The two attorneys who were representing Wilson, for killing two policemen, was told by Wilson that he was also guilty of killing the security guard at...
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...The president releases his speech about the economic improvement, where in fact, our economy is continuously abating. There are fiddles everywhere. As a leader, he should overflow the practice and mentality of a leader. He should be the one starting the engagement and implementation of improvements to aggrandize the economy, rather than being one of the reasons why our economy is encountering a spontaneous decline. The issue about Disaster Awareness Funds (DAF) is on its continuous peak not because of its agonizing and untruthful trend, but because of the fact that there are no evidences shown that it exists and being used by the government for its people. Moreover, the pork barrel scam is still unresolved. It is evident that the government officials involved already made their heads up with regards to the issue, but in conclusion, the case is still unresolved. To analyze the case, according to Republic Act 7080, also known as an Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder, any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination of series of overt or criminal acts, hereof in the aggregate amount or total value of at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000.00), shall be punished by reclusion perpetua to death. (Sec.2, R.A. 7080) For the purposes of establishing the crime of plunder...
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...Wrongful conviction, often referred to as miscarriages of justice, can be defined as those who have been arrested on criminal charges, who have either pleaded guilty to the charges or have been found guilty, and, notwithstanding, their guilty plea or verdict, are actually innocent (Huff & Killias, 2010).While it may say like these situations are very rare, in fact there are many cases where innocent people are incarcerated, or even executed, because of errors in the criminal justice system. For example, as Dr. Michael Naughton, founder of the Innocence Project, which a non-profit advocacy group that works to free the wrongly convicted, said, “People think that miscarriages of justice are rare and exceptional . . . But every single day, people...
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...Print Application Summary - Suman Chowdhury - X12/E/RMOH/L (CHRISTMAS CASUAL - ROMFORD OUTHOUSE - LATES) Personal Details |Email Address |smart07rohan@gmail.com |Mail Type |Email | |Title |Mr. |First Name |Suman | |Surname |Chowdhury | | | |Address1 |198 Campbell Road | | | |Town/City |LONDON | | ...
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...Material Corrections Scenario Ethical Issue: Corrections The husband eventually is convicted of driving while under the influence following a jury trial. It turns out to be his third conviction. A judge orders that a presentence investigation report be prepared. In the course of the investigation, the probation officer discovers that the husband had served in the U.S. military in Somalia. His military records indicate that while there, his duties involved collecting the dead and the injured to be taken to the hospital. In the course of this assignment, he was captured by enemy soldiers and placed into a black metal box the size of a coffin where he remained for the better part of 6 weeks. Medical and psychiatric records confirm that the husband suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has regressed to the level of a 10-year-old because of his imprisonment in Somalia. In the opinion of his treating psychiatrists, any prolonged confinement, even for a few hours, could cause even further regression and could trigger explosive outbursts and traumatic flashbacks. Although the sentencing range for this offense could fall anywhere between zero to 365 days in jail, the standard sentence for a third time offense usually begins at a minimum of 90 days in custody. His prior convictions occurred before his military service in Somalia and he served a total of 60 days custody on those, without incident. What should the probation officer recommend? The probation officer...
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...Numerous people attribute to Damon Thibodeaux's wrongful conviction. To begin with, the police department's interrogation was not very effective. As trained law enforcement officers and detectives, they could have been more tried to focus on other possible suspects and not focus all their time and attention on Thibodeaux. After 35 hours of no sleep, food and feeling physically tired, Mr.Thibodeaux confessed just to get these three things back. His confession was never conclusive with the details of the crime, in fact everything he confessed was details given to him by the police about the crime. At the end the police department's findings were also incorrect. Further investigation showed Ms.Champagne was killed by the result of being hit with...
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...Knowing how wrongful convictions happens research have shown there are quite a lot of ways to fix the problem. A lot of studies have shown that recording interrogations to reduce false confessions which are usually used during the trail of the wrongful convictions. Some other ways to reduce wrongful conviction would be to have a guide in which possible red flags that lead to the officers and prosecutors believing they have the wrong person, better training for the police officers and the prosecutors. For example when it comes to using the “jailhouse snitch” that can be lying just to get a better deal for him self. Another way to reduce wrongful conviction is to after the inmate have been exonerated letting the inmate know that the prosecutor will be getting disciplined and just given “hush money” in sense now that it was proven they were innocent. To avoid wrongful convictions from happen eyewitness testimonies, false DNA evidence, and other obstacles need to be examined by an unbiased eye. When researching ways to prevent wrongful convictions all the articles had the same thing about recording the interrogations, and doing the open file discovery. I thought all...
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...through argument of science can cure diseases or help heal individuals who suffer from debilitating conditions such as spinal cord injuries, strokes, heart conditions, and burns to name a few. (Reaves, 2001) The argument for stem cell research proves to be one of both moral hazard and religious conviction. (G.Fischbach, 2004) On the moral side, the idea to use terminated pregnancies in order for gain or just their cells is unfathomable. The religious conviction is that individuals who terminated their pregnancies because of the assumed small value they placed on human life only made these cells available. However, these cells before they form human life are cells that have not generated into existing diseases or degenerative conditions. (NIH, 2009) Stem Cell research can be looked at in many ways, but it personally should be viewed a progression to better lives ruined by diseases and catastrophe, not regression and immoral in the eyes of deities and those superior. In the U.S. states funding for stem cell research was prominent in early part of the 21st century by both members of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. However, because of religious convictions of George W. Bush, the bill was vetoed after passing both the Senate and the House in both 2001 and in 2007. (Babaington, 2006) In doing so it showed that even higher members of government, had not their own political agendas to uphold, but also those of their own personal religious beliefs. Yet...
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...and interrogating suspects, to reduce the amount of false confessions which lead to wrongful convictions. BACKGOUND: In the last few years there has been a lot of news coverage of convicted people being found innocent after serving years in prison for crimes they did not commit. It can take several years and many appeals for the false confessor to have their case heard in the court system; if at all. Courts seem to have the tendency to accept the confession at face value and are reluctant to question it. I believe this happens because “law enforcement” took the confession and judges tend to believe that all rules were followed by police. I believe that if the prosecution is going to use a confession in their case, and as one of their strongest pieces of “evidence”, a hearing should be set to decide on the validity of the confession. Even when defense attorneys file motions to have them thrown out due to allegations of coercion, the courts deny the motion almost instantly, which leads to a wrongful conviction. This is the very reason new laws, and guidelines need to be implemented in regards to questioning and interrogating a suspect by police, in order to get a confession. OBJECTIVE: My intention is to show that with stricter laws and guidelines for questioning and interrogating suspects, the amount of false confessions would drop considerably, and in turn the wrongful conviction rate would drop as well. Through research of actual cases, law journals, false confession experts’...
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...Wrongful Convictions Benny Maize Pro Seminar in Criminal Justice AIU Whilst the speed of DNA exemptions has developed in the United States lately, unjust convictions have unmasked troubling fractures and tendencies within our criminal justice system. Collectively, these instances display all people and how our criminal justice process is faulty. This system must be fixed immediately. We must focus on the system's failures. In each event wherever DNA has established virtue beyond uncertainty, there’s a covering variety of triggers has surfaced from mishaps to misconduct to facets of nationality and social standing. Individuals absolved by DNA screening are not the only people who have been wrongly sentenced in latest decades. For each situation that requires DNA, you will find thousands of cases in which it was never used. Just a portion of criminal cases require scientific evidence which can be exposed through DNA screening, and even though such proof exists, it's usually missing or damaged after following a conviction. Because they do not have the use of a conclusive check like DNA, several wrongly convicted individuals have a thin possibility of actually showing that they are innocent. There is also the problem of Eyewitness misidentification, which could be the more likely reason behind wrongful convictions nationally, vying a position in more than 70% of convictions invalidated utilizing a DNA test. Whilst eyewitness testimony may be persuasive...
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...Dissent and Altruism Dissent and Altruism are a matter of personal conviction, but situation factors are also involved. Analyze five situation factors that are involved when a person decides to rock the boat and choose conscience over conformity. Dissent and Altruism is the willingness to take selfless or dangerous action on behalf of others, are in part a matter of personal convictions and conscience (Carole Wade & Carol Tavris 2008 page 298). In other words it is somewhat a sense of honesty, intention or character collectively with a sense of responsibility to do what is right. In addition, there are external or situational factors that can influence a person’s decision to state an unpopular opinion, choose conscience over conformity or assist a stranger in trouble. The decision by someone to act courageously can be influenced by multiple situational factors. Situational factors can influence both Altruism and Dissent. Below we will analyze five of those factors. 1. You perceive the need for intervention or help: Before someone can act without relying on something or someone else, they must be fully aware that their action is absolutely needed. My friend Evangelist tess, of Greenville North Carolina, in 2013 acted courageously to save a homeless family (a mother and 2 month of baby) in need on the streets. Evangelist tess without knowing pretty much anything about this family or if this was an attempt to fraud loads the family in her car and takes them home with...
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...Wrongful Convictions in America There have been many people, innocent people, wrongfully convicted for heinous crimes. Many of the people who are innocent unfortunately either have to spend many years behind bars until they are taking to trial again or have to serve a sentence they didn’t deserve. On top of it being utterly wrong for someone to have to go through and serve time for something they didn’t do, a lot of times from spending time incarcerated these innocent people come out and become criminals. This also happened back during the Salem Witch Trails, they would wrongfully convicted and even murdered with no evidence! This happens all the time in the American justice system and unfortunately a lot of the innocent people who convicted never get the justice they deserve....
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...Implications: There are many factors that lead to miscarriages of criminal justice. Few wrongful convictions are caused by eyewitness identification, forensic science errors, and false confessions. Mistaken eyewitness identification is the number one cause of wrongful convictions. Eyewitness “was a factor in 72% of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases in the U.S.” (Innocence Project, 2007). Studies show that the human mind does not record or obtain information like a video recorder; it does not keep the information as a short-term memory, but keeps the information in long-term memory. For this reason, witnesses cannot fully recall facial details, especially when they are under stress by the events of the crime. Also, memory is very flexible...
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...offender is convicted of an offense, but rather than being incarcerated, the offender is released and subject to supervision. Diversion can be in two forms which is stopping the process of the case or through specific programs. Diversion programs are private and confidential meetings that are not conducted in public. A diversion program allows the offender to go through treatment and other conditions to avoid conviction while still holding the offender accountable for their actions. Diversion programs are usually for first-time offenders who do not need to be rehabilitated by incarceration or strict supervision and can be expunged after completion. Probation is being monitored and reporting/checking-in. Probation is usually for offenders who need to be rehabilitated by strict supervision but do not need to be incarcerated. Probation includes additional programming with conviction ordered by a judge that includes halfway house programs and other transitional programs. In other words, diversion programs avoid imprisonment and conviction while probation is the punishment for a conviction of an offense and can be imprisoned if the offender violates the terms of their probation. A diversion program in Texas is the Youth Offender Diversion Alternative or YODA. The YODA is a new program for juvenile offenders that is aimed at youth charged with family violence involving people ages 17-25 and non-intimate relatives. The YODA provides intensive counseling to show participants how to make better...
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...A misdeameanor is punishable by a fine or less than a year in prison ( any theft is a misdeamenor ) - A felony is a crime that is punishable by imprisonment or death Bassis of criminal liability - A mental state is the defendant does not have to know that the act is criminal; it is sufficient that the act was done voluntarily . - Act of omission – an act or omission of a required act must actually take place - Harm may occur but ir is not a required element for an act to be classified as a crime Responsibility for criminal acts - Corporate liability - Officers and agents of corporations may be held responsible for the criminal acts of their employees. Liability may attach when employees fail to act. U.S. v Erickson convictions were upheld; defendents intentionally backdated documents. - penalty for crime: forfeiture is a penalty for a crime - penalties for business and white collar crimes Courts now apply percentage of revenues when calculating corporate fines and penalties Mandatory prison sentences for officers. US senstencing commission. - Sarbances oxley basically was criminal fraud and white collar crime Substantically increases penalties for corporate crimes Mail and wire fraud penaties Indemnification of crime victims - Penalties are paid to the government - Action for damages. Victims can bring civil lawsuit against wrongdoer. - Indemnification of unjustly...
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