On December 15, 2005, Minnie Smith was found dead in the home she shared with her husband, Marvin Smith. Smith was charged with first-degree murder for the death of his wife. At the end of the trial, the prosecution asked for and received an aiding-and-abetting instruction, which would allow the jury to convict Smith even if they found that he had not delivered the fatal blow. The jury convicted Smith but did not specify which theory of guilt they adopted. The California Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction and rejected Smith’s argument that he had not been given adequate notice of the possibility of the aiding-and-abetting instruction. The California Supreme Court denied Smith’s petition for review. Smith filed a petition for habeas
The evidence presented to myself and the other juror’s proves that Tyrone Washburn is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murder of his wife, Elena Washburn. On March 12, 1979 Elena Washburn was strangled in the living room of her family’s home. Her body was then dragged to the garage, leaving a trail of blood from the living room to the place it was found. Her husband, Tyrone Washburn, found her in the family’s garage on March 13, 1979 at 1:45 A.M. When officer Dale Chambers arrived at the scene he found her lying face down in a pool of blood. The solid evidence in this case proves only one person, Tyrone Washburn, is guilty of murder.
The steps in the legal system as they pertain to the drew Peterson case is first recognizing there was a murder of the soon to be ex wife of Peterson’s, Kathleen Savio. What also had to be recognized, was who had a vested interest in the murder of Kathleen Savio and motive. After the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, it became clear there was a common denominator, Peterson who was the husband of both victims. Having some suspicion on whether Kathleen’s death was a murder of accidental her body was exhumed and given two additional autopsies. Once the results came back from the two autopsies that Kathleen’s death was a homicide instead of accidental death,
On the evening of Ms. Heggar¡¦s death she was alone in her house. Eddie Ray Branch, her grandson, testified that he visited his grandmother on the day that she was killed. He was there till at least 6:30 p.m. Lester Busby, her grandnephew, and David Hicks arrived while her grandson was still there and they saw him leave. They then went in to visit with Ms. Heggar. While they were there, Lester repaid Ms. Heggar 80 dollars, which he owed her. They left around 7:15 p.m. and went next door to a neighboring friend¡¦s house. David Hick¡¦s went home alone from there to get something but returned within ten minutes of leaving. Because he was only gone for 5-10 minutes, prosecution theorized TWO attacks on Ms. Heggar because he could not have killed his grandmother during this 5-10 minute period alone. At 7:30 p.m., 15 minutes after the two had left, an insurance salesman called to see Ms. Heggar. He knocked for about 2 or 3 minutes and got no reply. Her door was open but the screen door was closed. Her TV was on. He claimed to have left after about 5 minutes and then he returned the next morning. The circumstances were exactly the same. With concern, he went to the neighbor¡¦s house and called the police. His reasoning for being there was because the grandmother¡¦s family had taken out burial insurance three days before she had died.
Two aggravating factors in the state of California that may have been met for the death penalty imposition in the Scott Peterson trial could be (1) The defendant, in this proceeding, has been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree, and/or (2) The defendant intentionally killed the victim by means of lying in wait. Mitigating factors that could be used to convince the jury to convict Scott Peterson of a lesser charge might be (1) the absence of prior felony convictions, (2) the absence of a history of violence by the
In the Washington v Texas case, Jackie Washington the petitioner and another defendant were charged with murder. They were convicted of murder with malice and was sentenced by jury to a 50 year jail sentence. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend jean carter at her residence on Aug 29, 1964. It wasn’t clear whether the petitioner or Charles fuller fired the shot that fatally wounded the deceased. When Washington attempted to call Fuller as a defense witness, the prosecution objected on the ground that state law barred codefendants from testifying in each other’s behalf. Prevented from calling Fuller, who would have testified that he was the one who fired the shot that fatally killed the decease. Because Washington had fled the scene
Krystal Connor is a graduate of Colorado Technical University with a degree in criminal justice. Krystal has over 6 years of experience working with teens and athletics. She is a former correctional officer and high school basketball coach. She will be a great addition to the Campus Hills and Edison
Judge Kaufman made a big point when Ethel used her Fifth Amendment right and declined to answer questions on the basis that she might incriminate herself. The judge said, "it is something that the jury may weigh and consider on the questioning of the truthfulness of the witness and on credibility." Not only that, but the judge allegedly would lead prosecuting witnesses to say things against defense. Defense lawyer Alexander Block tried to get a mistrial based on the judge's behavior, but was denied. Judge's bias continued throughout the trial and was expressed most clearly in his sentencing speech. The issue of punishment in this case is presented in a unique framework of history.
Life. Life is what gives you the ability to think, to speak, to breath and to be a part of this world. It is worth more than any amount of money, your life is priceless. Without it, we would seize to exist; our world would be utter darkness. Honourable Judge, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, today Mary Maloney stands on trial before you. A woman who took the away the life of not just an innocent citizen, but her very own husband. She was thought to be an ordinary women, a typical housewife and a soon to be loving mother. However, the facts presented before you today conclude that Mary Maloney was not just an unordinary detective’s wife, but also a murder. On April 13th 1953, the life of Patrick Maloney came to a tragic end because of leg of lamb in the hands of Mary Maloney. For the following reasons, Mary Maloney, wife of the deceased, is guilty of 1st degree murder.
At the closing of "A Jury of Her Peers," Minnie Foster Wright is exonerated. Although Minnie Foster does indeed cause her husband's death, she was not responsible for it, rather than being innocent, she was justified. Whereas the men thought that slipping a rope around her husband neck was a funn...
Juvenile delinquency is an issue that affects every society, some of the issues of juvenile crime are homicide, robbery, assault and vandalism among others. There are many factors that affect juveniles to commit those crimes and those factors can be poor schooling, poor housing or poor parenting, mental diseases, and physical and emotional abuse. All factors combine create an environment with full opportunities to commit drug abuse, join gangs and all kind of crimes. As consequence, very few opportunities are available for those minors to succeed in their lives, instead they will choose to commit crime to get their anger out, to get attention or just for the sake to do it. Later paying with time in prison.
The sex offender topic has always been a really huge problem throughout the years to the point that it has gotten worst. The main problem is that young kids are getting affected by it as to engaging in sexual behavior with younger kids and committing sexual acts they should not be doing. It is a very difficult topic to talk about they are just kids that have probably gotten abused or seen sexual behavior that they should have not seen in person and now are doing it to others. The article, “How can you distinguish a budding pedophile from a kid with real boundaries problems” by Maggie Jones talks about young children engaging in sexual behavior with other kids who are younger than them. The article also discusses that once children engage in
The U.S sentencing guidelines provide a great framework and incentives for companies to go far and beyond the expectations, and to create regulations and rules to minimize and penalize criminal activities. If a company is found to be incurring in some illicit activity, the company will be penalized monetarily by the application of fines that are calculated based on the degree of liability. The financial impact to an organization could be substantial, however by complying with the status of the guidelines and setting up ethical classes and courses fines may be minimized, and penalization reduce.
Female juvenile delinquency is an aspect of the juvenile justice system which has been left untouched for decades; in fact the majority of the research done on juvenile delinquency was solely dedicated towards male delinquency. But just recently, researchers began studying female juvenile delinquency and the causes behind their behavior. In 2003 “the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded a grant to the North Carolina Research Triangle Institute to study female delinquency and its consequences” (Bartollas 71). Based on the institutes research it is clear that female delinquent behavior directly correlates with various biological, physiological, and sociological factors; knowing this information will be helpful in developing
In 2011, a total of 61,423 youths in the United States were considered juvenile and of that statistic 14% were females (Child Trends, 2013, p.1). The topic of Female Delinquency is important to discuss these days because it wasn’t until recent years that researchers even looked at females and the reasons behind their crime rates. Society normally looks upon males as being the normal criminal; however, with recent studies, females can be just as delinquent as males. Most people look at females as being feminine and not participating in criminal behavior, which is why not until recent years we have stepped out of this incorrect view and saw that not all females are the same. Therefore, we need to understand these female delinquents and gain
“I here found Minnie Wright guilty for the murder of her husband Mr. John Wright.” There was not one doubt in my mind that I had made the wright decision in finding her guilty. All the evidence was there to support my decision in this case. Mrs. Peter’s testimony played a major role as she confessed that she had hidden some of the evidence right along with Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Peter confessed everything after they got home later that night from Minnie Wrights house. Mrs. Peters stated she felt guilty for lying but she did it because the felt sympathy for Mrs. Wright.