April Villegas 2/28/2015 Viewing Guide: CJL 3510 - Indictment - The McMartin Trial Prosecutors. 1. The text discusses the prosecutor’s office at work. From the tape, cite some examples of work issues related in the text. In the courtroom is the trial of the infamous McMartin case of child abuse is the District Attorney’s (DA) office. The McMartin family and employees, witnesses, evidence are all processed in the courtroom. The courtroom is backed by many courthouse workers behind the scenes to ensure the process is smooth. The center of the defense case is lawyer Danny Davis, who takes advantage of every opportunity and seen agreeing to defend the McMartin trial in court. The DA failed to give supporting evidence to defense attorney Davis. …show more content…
Heger, he testified that after the medical examination of the children. There was an indication of sexual molestation with most children. The defense disagreed with the results from Dr. Heger’s testimony; the assessment was not from a physical assessment, but from past medical histories and a medical device. In addition, the defense argued that the children were in fact not photographed naked playing games such as, cowboy and Indian, movie star and doing cartwheels because there was no evidence of nude pictures of the children found at the pre-school, or in the homes of the McMartins or employees. In addition, other pre-schools were raided and no evidence was …show more content…
Paul, the evidence from the DA’s office, the doctors, members of the Children's Institute International (CII) and clients. He had to work together with them to defend his case. This was shown when a plea bargain was offered to Ms. MaMartin. 2. How significant was discretion with respect to the defense attorney? The discretion of the case was significant in the regard of the defense, which countered some contradicted evidences. The evidences from the trial and the hearing preliminaries have revealed that the children were coached. The testimony showed lack of credibility on the issues and showing the significance of the discretion on the defense. McMartin told his attorney that he did not do it and his attorney used his discretion and believed him. 3. How did the defense attorney's attitude change as the trial process progressed (cite specific examples)? The defense becomes more confident as evidence that is more bogus was presented from the DA. For example, when he said that the children had not been abused and their thoughts on abuse and the satanic acts had been coached by the therapists. This was a turning point and the charges were
Across California and beyond, normal standards of fairness and reasoned skepticism were routinely thrown to the wind, with news gatherers scrambling to outdo one another in finding purported examples of monstrous behavior” (Haberman 7). With this pack mentality taking effect after the McMartin case it led to mass hysteria taking set in the minds of Americans. This is much like what was seen during the Salem Witch Trials simply because how easily this pack mentality took effect on people’s minds. Parents feared for their children even when they were not involved in the case simply because the parent's who were involved were fearful. This led to a mass child care scare which in the end led to many child care workers losing their customers and even their jobs.
Manitowoc County did not abide by the law on the Brendan Dassey murder trial. Investigators pulled Brendan Dassey out of class to question him without his parent 's consent. Investigators coerced Brendan´s statements to make Steven Avery look guilty. Manitowoc County District Attorney Ken Kratz did everything in his power to make Manitowoc County seem like they were abiding by the law when they really did not. “He said I declined to go in with Brendan
In a retributive justice system, the state is tasked with bringing Blanco-Garcia to justice. The state will accuse Blanco-Garcia of murdering Vanessa Pham and hold an adversarial trial to determine whether he is guilty of the crime or not. An appointed defense attorney (DA) will represent Blanco-Garcia at trial. Due process demands that the defendant is afforded legal representation to argue matters of law on his behalf as well as to protect the defendant’s other due process rights. Likewise, the state will also be represented by a legal agent, the commonwealth attorney (CA).
Daniel James White, who was the defendant voluntarily resigned from his job, as a supervisor in San Francisco County on November 10, 1978. The defendant was trying to relieve some stress in his life. Although, seven days later he asked to be reinstated in his position. Due to being unable to financially support his family without a job. The defendant later found out, that his former supervisor did not agree with the defendant being reinstated.
Piette had been presented critical evidence in the case that clearly declared his client to be guilty, however, instead of debating he sat quietly and observed. Every time the judge would question the defense comments on the presented evidence, Piette would simply say that his client took no side. Despite what Lieutenant Piette was thinking, he knew that it would be extremely dangerous to the case if he began to debate. Piette’s strategy cause yet again more controversy in the legal field. An Air Force major that was in the court believed that Piette’s strategy was immodest.
Williamson could not gain assistance from his parents as they passed away. Williamson’s sisters however did acknowledge he needed assistance and their support before and during his trial. Unfortunately, they were left with very limited ways to help him such as convincing police to grant him limited permission to attend the family funeral before the trial. Describe District Attorney Bill Peterson’s legal tactics and motivation in convicting Williamson and
The Scottsboro Trials were a set of trials where nine black boys named Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, Andrew Wright and Leroy Wright were accused of on March 25th, of raping two white women Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. These women were pressured to accuse the nine men. The white men that pressured the women told the conductor to stop at the next town so they could get the police. The police arrested the Scottsboro Boys and they were brought to trial. Eight out of nine of them were sentenced to death.
First she declared that the burden of proof was on the defendant. With a lack of solid evidence, the prosecutor attempted to then try and get the defendant to prove his defense since it was all based on accusations at that point. The defense was stating that it was all staged by the mother, who was suspected to be mentally ill. The prosecution denied that claim and said that the defense was arguing matters outside and unrelated to the case, when in fact it could have been related to the case as a solid defense. When the time came for the witnesses to be brought forward and testify, the prosecutor vouched for the witnesses.
Although, the picture the public failed to see at first ultimately led to a harsh and difficult lifestyle for these kids. Both judges were very demanding, for example in cash for kids, judge Ciavarella didn’t put up with any kid. Whether it was a small behavioral offense or a larger criminal offense, he treated it the same. Ciavarella
It was a dark and windy night in the town of Rowlett, Texas. On June 6th, 1996, Darlie Routier and her sons Devon and Damon Routier were awaken by the tip of a knife. Although it may sound insane, this was all due to a mother who did not have the patience for the children and valued her appearance more. in the opinion of her friends (Montaldo,2015,1). In reality this woman was sentenced to death row because her whole case was faulty.
However, the boy’s parents were not contacted, and he was not told of his rights, although the Miranda case decision authorizes authorities to tell alleged suspects of their rights, such as the right to remain silent or to have access to a lawyer. Although the young boy confessed to the crime, when he was given a lawyer, they sought to suppress the confession because J.D.B wasn’t aware of his
As we mentioned earlier, the freshman’s mother mentioned to coach McElroy the fact that the upperclassman was calling her son those insulting names. This incident could have been foreseeable by the coaches, and possibly the administration, if the coach reported anything to the principal and athletic director. The Mepham High School football season was eventually cancelled and the three upperclassman were charged with “involuntary deviate sexual intercourse,” “aggravated assault,” “kidnapping,” “unlawful restraint,” “false imprisonment,” “terroristic threats,” “criminal coercion,” “simple assault,” “reckless endangering of another person,” “ethnic intimidation,” and “criminal conspiracy.” Judge Robert J. Conway chose to try the accused as juveniles.
For those people that were alive and glued to their television set in the 1990’s, they know the person, the drama, and the famous trial that is the OJ Simpson murder case of 1995. However, if this event occurred before you were born or if you did not pay attention to the news, this murder trial was the subject of conversation for years on end. This trial included the plaintiff, also known as the state, accusing a former NFL running back, Orenthal James “the juice” Simpson or known as OJ, of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and an innocent bystander, Ronald Goldman. Although he was found not guilty in the LA County Superior Court, the opposite ruling was reached in civil courts. Despite all of this controversy, he remains one of the
Essentially, the case against Wayne Williams hinged on the expert testimony given at the trial. Without the testimony of the expert witnesses, this trial may have had a different verdict. Personally, I think that Larry Peterson did a fabulous job presenting this case. He put together an impressive presentation of the fiber evidence (Nickell, 2011). Therefore, I would have prepared in a similar fashion the expert witnesses for the trial.
Innocent people who are incriminated under improper evidence are hanged. Parallel in the McMartin day care abuse case, the McMartin family, who administrate the establishment, and other members are accused illegally of having abused sexually numerously of the children under their vigilance. The accusations used against the McMartin