...On September 15th, 2015, I attended the General District Court of Williamsburg and observed an hour of the Court’s proceedings. The only background knowledge I have, of what Court proceedings may look like, all comes from watching hours of Law and Order: SVU. While sitting and observing the Court interactions, I focused on the criminal procedures being discussed during each case and the overall “culture” of the Court in regards to the judge and the two attorneys present for each case. In total I saw seven court cases presented before Judge Killilea. In television shows criminal procedures are long and rigorous. There is a lot that takes place between the arrest of the criminal and the court debates that last for hours or even days to determine...
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...In civil law court cases, the court in which the case is first heard is known as the court of first instance. Depending on how much money the claimant is holding the defendant liable for will determine the track the case will be put in to. The tracking system was introduced by Lord Woolf in order to make the court process more efficient. There are three main tracks used in the civil law procedure. The first track is known as the small claims track in which the claimant is asking for an amount of money below the cost of £5000, and for an amount below £1000 if it is a personal injury or housing claim. Although small claims have been given a track, cases involving these claims aren’t conducted as full trials in the court of law. The second tracking system is known as the Fast-track. Fast track claims are worth £5000 - £25,000 and to be held over a period of 30 weeks, and the actual court date to be done within one day due to the long procedure building up to court date. The introduction of a protocol by Lord Woolf allowed both parties to communicate before the trial and obtain information to see if a settlement could be reached outside of the courts in order to help the courts. The final tracking system is known as the multi track for cases above the value of £25,000. These are similar to fast track cases, although they are not given a trial deadline as they deal with more serious matters. The High Court is the civil court of first instance for cases involving more than...
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...CRM-260 Mrs. Patterson 1/5/13 Courtroom observation The purpose of this paper is to show what I observed throughout the three hours that I spent in the Green County judicial courtroom number V. This was the first time that I had ever been in any courthouse and I felt like I was entering an airport terminal when I had to go through security in order to enter the building. When I first arrived the judge was not in the courtroom and we had to wait around twenty minutes for him to enter, when he finally arrived we all stood as he entered and the sentencing for the case of State vs. Raymond was under way. In this case the prosecutor was seeking a twelve year prison sentence for the defendant. the defendant, Raymond was being brought up on charges for meth use and violating parole ten times. The defense attorney wanted a 100 to 120 day in-patient treatment sentence. His defense was that he had been conviction free for the last three years, in last few months he had paid quote “ several thousands of dollars in child support,” and lastly he has lately been focusing on his family more. I thought the reasons that the defense stated were not adequate enough to receive a 100 to 120 day in-patient treatment, and neither did the state. When it was the states turn to prove that his actions were in fact worthy of a twelve year prison sentence, it was a much more convincing argument. The main points that the prosecutor hit on where: he failed to find employment, failed to meet...
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...BOUMEDIENE V. BUSH 2 One particular case that has changed the Constitutionality of law would be the the case of Boumediene v. Bush. The questions that stand would be. How do you justify any rights? Who has protection under the Bill of Rights? This modern day challenge first, would be a concept of Separations of Powers. Lakhdar Boumediene originally a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but born and raised as Algerian native. Boumediene had many commitments as an adult such as having many humanitarian causes. He worked for “Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates”(Boumediene and the Meanings of Separations of Powers in Emergency Law). Lakhdar Boumediene also served as an director humanitarian, providing assistance to children who lost family members during Balkan attacks and conflicts, and this is when he became a citizen of Bosnia in 1998. “In early October 2001, less than a month after the al Qaedas attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States”(My Guantanamo Nightmare). Intelligence Analysts officers of the United States Embassy had concerns about a plot on another al Qaeda attack on the embassy in Sarajevo. As the Intelligence Analysts Officers request Bosnia arrested Boumediene and five other Algerian born, but Bosnian citizen acquaintances. In January of 2002 Supreme courts of Bosnia explained the there was no evidence to incarcerated the six men and ordered that the charges are dropped and the six men released. Once Boumediene and the five...
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...SECTION TWO: A. The name and citation of the case (5 points); McMahon v. Bunn-O-Matic Corp., (7th Cir. Ind. 1998) 150 F. 3d 651, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 14926, CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P15298 150 F. 3d 651 p.654 B. The name of the court which decided the case (3 points); United States Court of Appeals C. The year of the decision (2 points); Decided on July 2, 1998 D. The facts of the case (5 points); McMahon (plaintiff) bought a cup of hot coffee from a gas station and spilled it on herself, causing second- and third-degree burns. McMahon sued Bunn-O-Matic Corp. (Bunn) (defendant), claiming that Bunn failed to warn consumers about the severity of hot coffee burns and that Bunn’s machine produced coffee that was defective because it was too hot for humans to drink. McMahon claimed that she knew hot coffee could burn, but that she was unaware of the potential severity of such burns. The district court awarded summary judgment to Bunn. McMahon appealed. E. The issue of the case (5 points); The issue is does the failure of a manufacturer of a coffeemaker to inform consumer that the maker brews coffee which is extremely hot constitute a failure to warn or make the coffee a defective product unfit for human consumption? F. The “decision” of the case (5 points); The decision of the case according to Easterbrook, J. no failure of a manufacturer of a coffeemaker to inform consumers that the maker brews coffee that is extremely hot does not constitute a failure to...
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...Courtroom Observation Written Assignment Part I – First Draft – 15 points This assignment requires that you provide details of a court case, e.g. crime, victims, environmental circumstances (who, what, where, when, why), potential issues with trial, etc. You may choose from the list of defendants or cases below or choose your own. Casey Anthony Phillip Garrido George Zimmerman OJ Simpson Debra LaFave Timothy McVeigh James Holmes Scott Peterson Dennis Rader Drew Peterson Brown v. Board of Education Miranda v. Arizona Gideon v. Wainwright Roe v. Wade A 5-7 page paper (typed, double-spaced) descriptive paper will be completed. This must include at least 2 academic sources and citations must be included throughout the paper either in MLA or APA format with a reference page at the end of the paper. There should be both an introduction at the beginning of the paper as well as a conclusion at the end of the paper. The first draft of this paper is due on Wednesday, March 12. Bring a printed copy to class on this date. Part II – Student Editing – 10 points Each student will exchange papers with another student in the class to student edit each other’s work. This will be done in class and therefore cannot be made up. Please be aware of giving both positive feedback and ideas/areas where improvements can be made. This will be a benefit to both the student receiving your feedback and to your own paper. Focus on content, but do not ignore spelling and grammar. For this to...
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...SUPREME COURT CASES Kris Jons Supreme Court Cases In 1890, Homer A. Plessy purchased a ticket on the Louisiana railroad. He then proceeded to sit in the train car reserved for whites. Homer considers himself white by the reasoning. He was seven-eighths white and just one-eighths black. However, in the state of Louisiana, he was considered black (state classified him as “Octoroon” having one black parent or grandparent). Mr. Plessy was asked to move out of the white car and sit within the car reserved for blacks only, he refused. He felt as though the segregation of two cars violated blacks’ fourteenth amendment rights. He would take this case to court to fight the segregation and fines more than once he lost repeatedly. Sixty years later another segregation case brought to light in Topeka, Kansas. This case examined the segregation of black-and-white children in schools. As a result of the Plessy case, states were able to legalized segregation within its school. It did not matter if someone lived down the street from a white school; black children were not allowed to attend. Black parents wanted to change this; they aspired for better teachers, schools and education for their children. With this began the fight for desegregation of schools. Furthermore, both of the cases are extremely relevant today in many ways. Despite the facts that accompanied these court battles, splitting up the races still exists on some...
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...McCulloch vs. Maryland [1819] is a landmark Supreme Court case because of its impact on the future court cases, passing of laws, and social conscience. The case is one of the most influential cases in Supreme Court history. Chief Justice John Marshall established the doctrine of National Supremacy. National government is supreme over state governments. McCulloch vs. Maryland created the doctrine of “Implied Powers” that has become the cornerstone of American constitutional law. “This decision became the legal safeguard not only for the Second Bank of the United States and its notes, but also for paper money later issued by Congress”. This case was the first test of the constitutionality of federally chartered banks and nationally issued paper currency. The Supreme Court case of McCulloch vs. Maryland set forth important principles in American government. The case itself dealt with whether or not the Congress had power from the Constitution to establish a National Bank; also, it dealt with whether or not a state could tax or interfere with the National Bank. “In 1818, the Maryland legislature imposed a tax on the operations of the Second National Bank in Maryland. This federal bank was not very popular because it competed with the state banks for customers and it set limits on state and private loans”. “The State of Maryland pushed by the state banks, imposed heavy taxes on the federal bank. The aim of these taxes was to shut down the federal bank”. James McCulloch, the...
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...In the latest court session in Pickens Superior Court, only one trial went to a jury last week, where a man was found not-guilty of DUI with injuries for an accident that occurred between two off-roaders on private property. A second trial for child molestation ended as it was set to start with a plea deal, sentencing Dale Robert Kalak, 48, of Jasper to 30 years for attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery and also 20 years with six to be served in prison for child molestation. Kalak will have to register as a sex offender and meet numerous probation conditions. The plea deal was reached as a problem arose with empanelling a jury, but the outcome satisfied the victim’s family. District Attorney Alison Sosebee said they were prepared...
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...has departed from the rulings of Circuit Courts as it did in 2014 in In the Matter of Flannery and Hopkins, the answer is that the SEC has a history of non-acquiescence with the rulings of the Circuit Courts. In 1963, in response to a decision by the Second Circuit, Grayson-Robinson Stores, Inc. v. SEC, 320 F.2d 940 (2nd Cir. 1963), the Commission released a “Statement of Nonacquiescence,” stating its hostility toward the Second Circuit’s ruling and began re-litigating the issues underlying the case both in and outside the Second Circuit refusing to treat the Second Circuit’s decision as dispositive. The SEC continued to refuse to follow the Second Circuit’s ruling in Grayson until the Supreme...
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...Roper v. Simmons was a United States Supreme Court case that was first argued on October 13th, 2004 and finally decided on March 1st, 2005. In the case, a 17 year old boy named Christopher Simmons thought out, planned, and acted upon his desire to murder. He discussed his plan to two of his friends, Charles Benjamin (15) and John Tessmer (16) shortly before the murder. Simmons tried to convince his friends that they could get away with the unspeakable crime simply because they were minors. In Simmons plan, he stated that he would first commit burglary by breaking and entering the victims home before tying them up and throwing them off a bridge to kill them. The three of them met up the night of the murder, but John Tessmer decided to back out of the plan and go home. This didn’t...
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...was charged in Florida State Court with breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor- a felony under Florida law. The destitute petitioner ask the court to provide counsel to represent him in court because he cannot afford a lawyer. The court denied the petitioner stating Florida law does not have to appoint counsel to defendants unless a person is charged with a capital offense. Petitioner protest that he had a right to counsel, but was force to put on his case and lost. Petitioner filed a habeas corpus petition to the Florida Supreme Court and challenge his conviction claiming the refusal to appoint counsel in his trial encroached on his 6th Amendment right of the U.S. Constitution. The Florida Supreme Court denied the petitioner relief citing case law from the Betts v. Brady case which held the...
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...There are countless cases involving juveniles and the Constitution. Three of the most notable of these cases are Kent v. United States, In re Gault, and In re Winship. The decisions of the aforementioned cases all played an imperative role in juvenile cases. The case of Kent v. United States involved a sixteen-year-old juvenile by the name of Morris Kent. Kent was arrested for several charges, which included breaking into a woman’s home, robbery, and rape. Kent was on juvenile probation, so the state requested to send his trial to an adult court where he was sentenced a thirty to ninety year prison term. However, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence ruling that juveniles have a right to counsel and a hearing in any case where the juvenile judge considers transferring the case to adult court. This landmark...
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...There are many influential supreme court cases like Miranda v. Arizona. The most influential one are ones that put a shift into history. One of the most influential supreme court case are Brown V. Board. In this case segregation was ended. Another Court case is Gideon V. Wainwright. This allows a person how can not afford an attorney or lawyer to be given a lawyer or attorney. The next case TLO V. New Jersey. This allows a student to be searched on school grounds. Although there are many influential court cases there are only a few that stand out the most, Brown V. Board, Gideon V. Wainwright, and TLO V. NEW Jersey. One of the most influential court cases is Brown v. Board. In this case Linda Brown wanted to go to the white school that was...
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...Clara County Superior Court of California website, small claim courts are courts in which plaintiffs can resolve their disputes in the quickest, easiest, and cheapest ways. Small claim courts also have procedures which are straight-forward as well as an informal hearing as part of their process. The form which the plaintiff obtains to file a small claims court against another person, also known as the defendant, is on the website for the California Judicial Branch. When you go to that website, you go to the “Forms and Rules” tab and click on the link for the “Browse All Forms” page. There, you go to the...
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