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Topic:

Trials and Verdicts

Essay Instructions:

Due Week 8 and worth 200 points
In preparation for this assignment, please view the Jurisville scenarios and resulting simulations from Weeks 5 through 7 in Unit 2: Courts.
In the scenarios and resulting simulations, Tim Smith, senior criminal lawyer, discusses select cases and asks a paralegal to indicate which courts would have exclusive jurisdiction of the cases in question. He also discusses various pretrial procedures and illustrates them with select cases. Finally, Tim Smith introduces the case of Roland Gary, who served twenty-three (23) years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The case brought to light several key issues, along with the manner in which they were resolved.
Use the Internet to research three real-life cases from the past five (5) years that fit the following criteria:
Cases that depict the unique processes related to different courts
The defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial
The defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated
Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:
Discuss one (1) real-life criminal case, taken from current events, and identify the court that took jurisdiction. Explain why the court that took the case was the appropriate one for the particular circumstances.
Discuss the real-life case that you have selected, in which the defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial. Give your opinion on whether or not justice was served in the case in question. Provide a rationale for the response.
Discuss the real-life case that you selected, in which, like Roland Gary, the defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated. Explore one (1) key aspect of the case and examine its relation to the case at large. Describe the resolution to the selected case.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Trials and verdicts
Name
Course
Instructor
Date
TRIALS AND VERDICTS
Processes related to courts
The case of Desiree Childers, who was accused of murdering her infant child in Madison, Alabama, and her husband found the child floating in a bath tub in 2013. In this case, the Madison County District Judge had to determine whether this was a negligent murder or capital murder (Lawson, 2013). Even though, subsequent hearing was adjourned in 2015, the defendant is to be evaluated to assess her mental condition. In the state of Alabama, those convicted of capital murder stay behind bars with no opportunity for parole (Lawson, 2013). Questions surrounding the mental status of the defendant and previous drug history, did not affect the case jurisdiction that was to be decided by a Madison County grand jury.
Jurisdiction is based on the circumstances power of a court and the territory where the court exercises its power. Furthermore, courts hear cases over a person, subject matter and to give a specific judgment being sought. The Madison County District Court is appropriate since this is a matter to be heard in the state of Alabama, with the subject matter of capital murder within the scope of the court. In any case, criminal crimes are heard at the state level, but in interstate crimes they are handled at the federal level.
Plea bargain as an alternative to trial
Defendants may choose the plea bargain option when it results in a lighter sentence compared to the case going to trial. Even though, the outcome in a plea bargain is unpredictable, the prosecution and defense exert some form of control on the results of the case. This is especially when in need to get out of jail, having records with less serious offenses and when there is a need to resolve a murder quickly. To the defendants the prospect of reduced sentence that does not attract publicity in a court trial is a better option.
The case of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, ‘West Memphis Three’ who had earlier been convicted of murdering three boys while they were teenagers In 1993 (Blume & Helm, 2014). The three boys died of multiple injuries and two of them had also been drowned. Misskelley had been grilled for 12 hours and implicated the other two defendants, but then recanted his confession. The defendants were released after eighteen years, as they pled guilty after being offered a deal after DNA evidence and juror misconduct was found to have compromised the case (Blume & Helm, 2014). The case was peculiar since the defendants were to be retried in the Arkansas Supreme Court based on the new evidence. However, a plea bargain to the West Memphis gave them the opportunity to get out of jail while not being free completely, as they pled guilty but also claimed innocence under the Alford plea (Blume & Helm, 2014).
The guilty plea offered to the defenda...
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