...Criminal Defense Case Analysis Melissa Bowman CJA/305 January 30, 2016 Jerri Green Introduction This paper will go over two cases that explain the nature and types of defense used and the evidence used to demonstrate the defense. The first case explained will discuss Andrea Yates, a mom who killed her five children on grounds of insanity. The next case Jean Harris also claimed to be insane and by accident killed someone by accident as she tried to commit suicide. It will also address how justification and excuse play a role in the cases. Lastly, the outcomes of each case will be given. Explain the nature and types of defenses used in the cases and what evidence was used to demonstrate the defense. There are multiple types of defense, justification and excuse are affirmative defenses. This is when it must be raised or asserted by the defendant independently of any claims made by the prosecutor. The first case to be explained is about Andrea Yates, the type of defense she chooses was innocence by reason of insanity Andrea Yates Biography. (2016). She had cited postpartum psychosis. Yates was treated for postpartum depression and psychosis; they showed that the illness ran in her family. The birth of her fifth child and death of her father was shown as a reason she fell into a severe depression. She had been admitted to Devereux-Texas Treatment Network and was put on psychotropic drug treatments Andrea Yates Biography. (2016). She was accused of drowning all five...
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...When an individual is charged with a criminal act they need to appear in court and this individual is considered the defendant. The defendant and their attorney will attempt to prove that the prosecution is wrong and that the defendant is in fact not guilty. With this there are various types of defenses available. These types of defenses are described below. Insanity Defense – One of the most argumentative types of defenses available is the insanity defense. In this type of defense, the defendant’s attorney attempts to show that the defendant is insane and is unable to be held responsible for the crime that they have committed. In this type of defense, there are two different plea options that are available to the defendant, not guilty due to mental illness and psychologically ill. One needs to be sure they understand the difference between the medical and legal position of psychological insanity and illness. In medical terminology, psychological illness can be any type of disaster that shocks an individual’s mind. Any individual can be affected by an illness during any given period of time and there is not any real categorization as to what could decide whether an individual is insane or not (“Addington v. Texas”, n.d.). For example, an individual might be suffering due to a psychological illness and could still be capable of holding down a job as well as carry out everyday activities needed to live. As far as the medical field goes there is no such thing as insanity, and psychological...
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...spirit of protecting human rights, criminal defense effectiveness is a practice to solve and important problem in theory have to consider. The current study are "cookie-cutter" to defend the effectiveness of implementation in the hope of improvement of the system of criminal procedural law on defense. Although the effects of related program design is an important factor in achieving effectiveness to defend, in today's defense system is increasingly perfect, defense effectiveness problem especially criminal entity effectiveness is cured, the most fundamental problem actually lies not in the program system is imperfect,...
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...Course Syllabus College of Criminal Justice and Security CJA/354 Version 4 Criminal Law Copyright © 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This is an introductory course in the study of criminal law, general legal principles, and how the criminal law functions in and affects modern society. This course highlights a variety of key topics, including the concept of crime and the development of criminal law, defenses to criminal charges, and a number of specific types of crimes, including personal crimes, property crimes, public order crimes, and offenses against public morality. Legal issues affecting punishment will also be discussed, as will ways the criminal law impacts victims of crime. Policies Faculty and students will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Champion, D. J. (2009). Leading U.S. Supreme Court cases in criminal justice: Briefs and key terms. Upper...
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...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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...Analysis of the Homicide Trial of Jodi Arias By Robert Davis Professor Lauren Burke CCJS 100 6382 University of Maryland University College March 8, 2013 Robert Davis Professor Burke CCJS 100 March 8, 2013 Analysis of the Homicide Trial of Jodi Arias The criminal justice system ensures the safety and protection of society from criminal offenders. The process of the criminal justice system begins when a criminal offense is reported to law enforcement officials. If required, an investigation begins, leading to a warrant and arrest. Following the arrest, bail is set and a preliminary hearing is scheduled. If the defendant is indicted, a trial date is set. Providing the defendant does not waive the right to a jury trial, a jury is selected and the trial begins. If the defendant is found guilty, a sentence is imposed, usually within a few days of the jury’s verdict. If the defendant wishes, he or she can then appeal the guilty verdict and sentencing, thus beginning the trial process again. Police officers, detectives, prosecutors, and defense attorneys make great efforts to ensure justice is served swiftly and fairly, thus creating a strong and effective criminal justice system. Description of the Crime Jodi Arias was arrested in July 2008 for the brutal murder of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Travis was stabbed twenty-seven times; his throat was cut, and he was shot in the head in his Mesa, Arizona home. Jodi and Travis met at a Prepaid Legal conference and...
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...Criminal Defense Analysis CJA/354 July 18, 2011 Criminal Defense Analysis To define what criminal defense is there should be a clear understanding of what criminal law is before analyzing the various levels of defense. According to Worldwide Legal Directories (Criminal, n.d.) the term criminal law or penal law is defined as the prosecution from high levels toward an individual for an act that has been categorized as an offense. As a group of laws that consists of common and statutory laws, they are distributed according to the crime and sentences involving the illegal offense. When crimes are committed they will be classified by either misdemeanor or felonies based upon the degree of the crime that had been committed and what form of punishment may be granted will differ. After a crime has been committed and the individual who is responsible has been caught, they will begin the process involving “criminal defense.” When an individual breaks the law, there are various forms of defense that he or she may be eligible in using in regard to the charges that are being brought up against them. During the process, there maybe one or more defenses’ that will be used during the defendants criminal trial. Types of Defense’s When a person has been accused of a crime, he or she are given a chance to plead his or her fate during the trial process. This process is done during the arguments of the trial and submission of evidence proving their innocents. A defendant and his or her...
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...Criminal Defense Attorney A criminal defense attorney is responsible for defending individuals who are charged with crimes and felonies. They represent their clients in the court of law and speak on their behalf. A criminal lawyer must hold a juris doctorate and an attorney’s license in order to practice criminal law. Experience in criminal law is advisable before obtaining a position as a criminal lawyer. Throughout their careers, criminal lawyers often seek out additional training and continuing education programs to sharpen and expand their legal skills. However, significant clinical experience may be equated with some criminal law experience for a recent graduate. Or, participation in internships, volunteer positions or part-time jobs with public defenders and prosecutor offices can be the necessary work experience required. They can either be directly approached by a client or designated by the court of law to do so. Once the attorney has contacted the client, it is his responsibility to extract all the details of the charges filed against the client; collect the information related to the case and then prepare a strong defense that will help acquit the defendant in the court of law. This may sound simpler than it actually is as criminal law itself is quite intricate and difficult to grasp. To build a strong case for his client, a criminal defense attorney has to collect information from a number of sources such as the police, the investigators involved in the case as...
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...The Criminal Justice System 2 Abstract This analysis explores the different types of tactics used by the police to control drug problems in different types of drug markets. Overall, the police appear to informally categorize drug-dealing places and to use these cursory site assessments to tailor their drug control tactics. By contrast, the police combine traditional investigation, and prosecution with interactive sources such as the District Attorney, Defense counsel, Judges; both Federal, state and Local. Statistically significant differences in their involvement are found in the investigation in the original stages, as measured by the number of calls services, pre arrest and post arrest. A defense attorney must act as an officer of the court, respecting the need for truth and truth-seeking within the confines of the adversary system and as an active participant of a system that places justice as a core value. Many criminal cases - and almost all civil ones - are heard by a judge sitting without a jury. The judge is the "trier of fact," deciding whether the evidence is credible and which witnesses are telling the truth. Keywords: Police Officer, involvement, investigation, criminal cases, pre/post arrest Criminal Justice System 3 Criminal justice is defined as the system of practices and institutions of governments...
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...Jury Trial Analysis Jaynice Harden March 16, 2015 CJA/364 Criminal Procedure Shane Krauser Jury Trial Analysis In today’s society, there are many people who know what a jury trial is and what is expected in the process of a jury trial. They may also know why the process is important and very necessary as it protects the citizens of the United States. The part that some people may not know about is the process that is taken during the pre-trial phase. Any and every individual that has been accused of wrong doing have the right to a fair trial. In addition, everyone has the right to an attorney to help then fight and understand the legal side of the defense. A jury trial can consists of 12 adjudicators which as selected at random that will take all information into consideration and decide upon the facts of the civil or criminal case. Criminal cases are more serious than civil cases. “In this case, serious offense refers to offense carrying a punishment of over six months (Gaines & Miller,2011). A jury trial consists of six steps that must be followed in order to ensure a fair trial. The prosecution as well as the defense is very needing of these steps in the criminal justice system. If it should happen to be a violent crime then a fair and impartial jury would have to be the ones to give the prosecution the verdict. However, if it turns out that the accused is not guilty then the accused have the right to due process and a fair trial. A jury trial is very important...
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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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...1791, guarantees the accused the right to council in federal cases (Adams, 2012). The Fourteenth Amendment extends the right to council in all state and federal cases. The role of an attorney is to represent to the best of their ability and defend the rights of their client. Defense attorneys are sworn to defend the accused regardless of their presumed guilt or innocence (Mathewson, 2009). Prosecuting attorneys must bring forth the evidence and present it to a jury of their peers (Mathewson, 2009). A prosecuting attorney must prove their case; the defense attorney must try to dis-prove what the evidence and the prosecuting attorney bring out in court. The majority of cases get pled out because the courts in America are bogged down with too many cases. Additionally, a defense attorney’s case load is usually quite full and especially if they work for the state they reside in, which would make them public defenders. Public defenders are paid by each state as well as district attorneys and prosecutors, but their functions, and responsibilities are much different. The district attorney and the public defender may seem as though they are in ‘cahoots’, but they are not; in fact that are adversaries. They may have a good work relationship and especially if they are in the same courtroom working together for months at a time, but public defenders commit to their work and their clients just as much as a private criminal defense attorney (LexisNexis, 2012). When a person gets arrested they...
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...Casey Anthony Case Dixit and Gothwal (2015) define criminal law as a rule that control the social conduct and prohibits the acts that are harmful to the people and as such, threatening the safety and the welfare of societal members. Morse (2015) contends that criminal laws define the punishment levelled on the people who break the prescribed societal conduct while Holland (2015) asserts that criminal laws refer to the state laws, which make certain actions illegal and punishable by fines or imprisonment. Accordingly, the case of Casey Anthony falls under the criminal and as such, the forensic evidence gathered from the trunk of her car makes her criminally reliable, as the said evidence is admissible in the court of law. The forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) examined a band of hair recovered from her vehicle, which exposed evidence of apparent decomposition. Forensic analysis of the recovered band of hair showed consistence with the band of hair of the deceased. The FBI experts who conducted forensic analysis on the band of hair told the court that the sample had many consistencies in relation to the post-mortem banding. Moreover, microscopic hair examination specialist told the jurors that the root portion of the air was dark and, therefore, consistent with the evidence presented by the FBI. The analyzed evidence showed that the hair was evicted forcibly from the deceased. Further, an investigator of the crime scene testified that that there...
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...Forensic Pathology and Miscarriages of Justice: a Journal Article Analysis Merlyn Arostegui Prof. Sigal CRJU 443 | Forensic Pathology and Miscarriages of Justice: a Journal Article Analysis The article chosen for analysis is titled “Forensic Pathology and the Miscarriage of Justice” written by Michael S. Pollanen of the Centre of Forensic Science and Medicine, University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. The article was published in Forensic, Science, Medicine, and Pathology in 2012. The main purpose of the article was to present the fact that in order for the criminal justice system to operate in a safe and fair manner, any evidence presented in the duration of a prosecution must be accurate and objective—especially medical evidence. If either the accuracy or objectivity of evidence presented is compromised, there lies the possibility of unsafe prosecution which can lead to wrongful convictions or other forms of miscarriages of justice. Main Purpose There has been an increased awareness in the number of cases that have experienced a miscarriage of justice due to compromised medical evidence being presented during trial. Although there are legal tools available to regulate the types of evidence admissible in court as well as the “experts” allowed to present said evidence [such as Daubert hearings], these tools are only partially effective because forensic pathology is a discipline that grows and develops over time. The accepted view in pathology [or any field of science...
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...Individual Jury Trial Analysis Brad Phillips October 16, 2013 In the United States criminal justice system, there is a process that must be followed in order to not only charge a person with an offense or crime but also in order to submit that person to a criminal court trial. When an individual is charged with a crime there are steps that a law enforcement officer must take in order to make a legal arrest but the process does not end at that point as there is also significant steps that must be taken before a jury trial begins. Each of these steps is significant and vital to the criminal justice system as they each protect against corruption, abuse and violation of individual rights. After examining each step on its own merit it is much easier to observe how each of these steps plays its role apart and in relation to the other steps in the process. The first step in the jury trial process is the act of initiating a trial. This is the step in the process wherein a hearing is held to determine the specifics of the trial. The judge will determine if the defendant is competent to stand trial and also rule on any pretrial motions that have been made. In addition, if the trial is taking place in a state that has Grand Jury requirements, it is during this phase that the Grand Jury meets to decide on evidence and if there is sufficient justification for the trial to continue. The second step in a jury trial is the selection of the jurors. This is not always the next...
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