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Verdict & Trial

In: Social Issues

Submitted By krisw351
Words 1194
Pages 5
References
Hawkins, K. (2011, May). The backyard prisoner: the story of Jaycee Dugard. Crjime library. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/jaycee_dugard/1.html
Martinez, M. (2011, April 28). Garridos plead guilty in Jaycee Dugard kidnapping. CNN Justice. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/28/california.garridos.guilty.pleas/
Rattley, D. (2008). Administrative office of the courts. Retrieved from http://www.georgiacourts.org/
Siegel, L., & Worrall, J. (2013). Essentials of criminal justice. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
The national registry of exoneration: A joint project of Michigan law and Northwestern law. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx

In the United States the judicial system consists of the federal level and the state level. Each court has different jurisdictions over different cases. The court system has the roles of interpreting the law, ensuring due process and regulating disputes. Every state has its own court system and can have as many courts as they desire. The majority of criminal cases are heard in courts of general jurisdiction; both state and federal courts have jurisdiction over felony offenses and more serious civil cases. (Siegel & Worrall, 2013)
In the case of the State of George v De'Marquise Elkins the Glynn County Superior Court heard the case. Seventeen year old De’Marquise Elkins was charged with shooting a toddler sitting in his stroller to death on a city street. Sherry West pushed her 13 month old home from a post office in Brunswick, Georgia when she was robbed at gunpoint. When the defendant found out that Sherry didn’t have any money he shot baby Antonio in the head and shot Sherry in the leg. Elkins was found guilty but spared the death penalty because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that 17 was too young to face capital punishment. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 105 years in prison. The Glynn County Superior Court was the appropriate court for this case. In the state of Georgia there are several trial courts with different jurisdictions. Superior Court in Georgia is a court of general jurisdiction and hears felony murder cases like this case. The 159 Superior Courts in Georgia hear felony cases, divorce proceedings, title to land equity cases, juveniles who commit serious felonies and correct errors from county courts. (Rattley, 2008)
The plea bargaining process is a common pre-trial practice between the prosecutor office and the defense attorney in the criminal justice system. Approximately 95% of all criminal convictions resulted from this over used process. This process saves the tax payer money and the courts a lot of time; however, in some cases dangerous defendants receive lighter sentences and prosecutors sidestep the law to obtain a guilty plea. Some states do not allow plea bargaining on certain cases like drunk driving or with repeat offenders. The judge in the case is not obligated to accept a recommended plea deal from prosecutors. (Siegel & Worrall, 2013)
One case where a plea bargain was reached and accepted by the judge is the case where a California couple, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, in 1991 kidnapped an 11 year old girl, Jaycee Dugard, near her school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe and held her captive for 18 years. While in captivity Jaycee gave birth to two daughters fathered by the Phillip. The defendants managed to keep her hidden on their property in a maze of underground sound proof structures and tents. Nancy helped her husband abduct Jaycee and helped deliver both of the children. The defendant, Phillip, was on supervised parole for another rape case while Jaycee was being wrongfully held captive; as a result she was awarded a $20-million settlement from the state of California because he was not properly supervised. (Hawkins, 2011) On Thursday, April 28, 2011 Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy accepted a plea deal and entered guilty pleas in the El Dorado County court. Phillip faced 440 years in prison and Nancy could get 241 years in prison if convicted of the crimes committed. Under the plea deal Phillip received 431 years to life in prison sentence and his wife received 25 years to life plus 11 more years. Her plea left open the possibility of parole. Accepting this plea spared Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters all of the drama and the aggravation of testifying in open court at a long drawn out trial. In a written statement Prosecutor Vern Pierson declared, "The enormity of the defendants' actions has caused tremendous pain and suffering to Jaycee, her mother, Terry Probyn, and their family. With a guilty plea by both defendants, Terry, Jaycee and her children can now be spared the grief and trauma of having to be dragged into the court process to testify at a jury trial.” (Martinez, 2011)
Our criminal justice system is designed to ensure that there are very few false convictions. The idea of “beyond a reasonable doubt” is ensured to protect innocent people from being falsely convicted but does not ensure that they are not wrongfully accused. As previously noted, the majority of criminal cases don’t make it to the trial stage and many innocent people plea bargain because they don’t trust the system that was setup to protect them. Hundreds of defendants were wrongly convicted of crimes and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. ("The national registry," 2012)
In 2008 Michael Marshall pled guilty to a crime that he didn’t commit. A family in Hapeville, Georgia was forcibly robbed of their truck outside their home. The victim saw the perpetrator and her son saw the man from behind. Police spotted the truck fleeing the crime scene and followed the truck but the perpetrator got away after jumping from the vehicle and fleeing on foot. The police were able to recover a cell phone, cell phone case and a t-shirt that that was left behind. Michael, a homeless man from Alabama, was identified as the man identified in a police sketch. The victim’s son identified Michael as the perpetrator; whereas, the victim was not able to positively identify him. Michael accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to four years in jail. The Georgia Innocence Project obtained a court order to test Michael’s DNA against evidence after receiving a letter from Marshall claiming his innocence. DNA testing excluded Michael as the DNA source and matched it to the actual perpetrator. A Superior Court Judge ordered Marshall to be released from prison and dismissed all charges against him on December 14, 2009. ("The national registry," 2012)
Around 25% of all eyewitness identifications are wrong and caused by suggestive police lineups. (Siegel & Worrall, 2013) Of the hundreds of wrongful convictions in the United States that were overturned 73% were a result of mistaken eyewitness identifications. In both the Michael Marshall case and the scenario of the Roland Gary case a witness misidentified the defendants for crimes they did not commit. Eyewitness procedures have to be reformed along with the plea bargaining process. The introduction of DNA evidence has exonerated several cases that eyewitness’ misidentified.

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