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Importance of eyewitness testimony
Legal aspects of criminal justice
Importance of eyewitness testimony
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Attorney Vinny was trying to get information from the district attorney by coming up with as many ideas as he can. He didn’t know that the prosecution requires to share the information with attorney until his fiancée points out to him. This shows the lack of his knowledge in criminal justice. However, Vinny does pretty well getting legal points right, with some notable exceptions. He is the lawyer for both of the defendants. I thought that was pretty impressive and interesting. It was pretty conflict to defend two defendants. When Vinny cross-examining the witnesses, he applied his own knowledge to question the witnesses, and the questions he asked the witnesses became more advance every time, it was really effective, which has helped the defendants gained respect and confidence in him. The points that he made had surprised the entire people in trial, even the judge, because he had proved that the witnesses …show more content…
The sheriff had identified two new suspects, both were gentlemen, who were recently arrested with a gun that were the same as the gun used in the murder, and who were driving the same model of car as the defendants that could have left the tire tracks outside the convenience store. The sheriff investigated and later was on the stand discussed his discovery were both occurred during a trial, which is improbable in reality. You can’t investigate new evidence during a trial, it all has to be prepared before the trial. The attorney can’t call on police to help them investigate and respond to evidence they find out about for the first time at trial. If the lawyers surprised the court with undisclosed evidence, the judge will most likely stop the proceeding to find out what the lawyer is trying to pull. Immediate evidence that has appeared at the last minute really needs to be presented to the judge before presenting it in
Other witnesses said they saw Vanzetti selling fish in Boston, and some even bought some. The last piece of evidence is that the prosecutors tried to convicted them using consciousness of guilt. It is when you are guilty of a crime because you are lying about your actions because you are guilty. They lied and said they didn’t know Mike Boda. They did this because they wanted a car to transport their anarchist pamphlets to a safe place.
In this case, Vinny had to learn as he goes because he had never been in a real trial hearing before. Vinny was a personal injury lawyer in New York. During this case there were three eye witness saying that Bill and Stan were the criminals, who murdered
Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your attention today. [Slide #2] I would like to assert that separation is not the end of a relationship. Divorce is not the end of a relationship. Even an arrest is not the end of a relationship. Only death is the end of a relationship. In the case of defendant Donna Osborn, her insistence that ‘“one way or another I’ll be free,”’ as told in the testimony of her friend Jack Mathews and repeated in many others’, indicates that despite the lack of planning, the defendant had the full intent to kill her husband, Clinton Osborn.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys attempted to argue Salvi was suffering from psychological disorders that would make him incompetent for trial. Ultimately, however Salvi was found competent to stand trial. After reading Salvi’s full psychiatric interview, the official court transcript of the four-day competency hearing, and the day-to-day summary; I have come to agree that the defendant, John Salvi was competent to stand trial.
The Judge had a second chance of making the defendants aware that Vinny may not be the best qualified at preliminary hearing. When once again Vinny was not ready to go through the process of trial. There is an unwritten requirement of a certain dress code as well as behavior in a court room. Which, Vinny is unprepared to deal with at this point of the movie. Vinny did not take the time to cross examine any of the witnesses or question any of the perceived facts
What the Grand Jury does is rather simple, but a very necessary feature of the American court process. The purpose of the Grand Jury is “to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial” (Miller, 2015). It makes perfect sense as to why the director of the film did not include this process, due to the fact that during the Grand Jury process, all of the evidence against the defendants gets presented to the judge (Miller, 2015). If the director were to present this as a scene in the movie, there would be no surprise as to what the prosecutor would produce as evidence, which for the film, would make it less suspenseful. This leads us into the next step, and that is the Discovery Process. In the movie, Vinny believes that he seduced Jim Trotter to give him his files on the case. Vinny was surprised at how easily he received the documents,until his fiancé (Mona Lisa Vito) tells him that the prosecutor had to share them with him, and this is part of the discovery process. The prosecution is legally bound to share its information with the defense.
Police found Katie Eastburn and two out of three of her daughters stabbed repeatedly with their throats slit. Mr. Cone, a janitor the night the Eastburn woman was murdered, positively identified Timothy Hennis as the suspect. Hennis is a United States army sergeant who recently bought the Eastburn’s dog the night the girls were murdered. An eye wittiness identified Hennis as the man leaving the Eastburn’s home the night in question. Upon receiving a warrant, law enforcement searched Hennis’ home in search for any evidence. From chapter ten, it is discussed further that it is crucial to be as detailed and specific as possible in a warrant. They took Hennis into custody on the charges of three murders and a rape. Unlike the defendant in the film My Cousin Vinny who was not informed of the charges until after they received a confession, Hennis was well informed of all the facts of the Eastburn case. The crime Hennis was sentenced for is categorized as a felony crime because it will result in a punishment of a year or longer. Before the case went to trial, Hennis was offered an opportunity to admit to the charges against him, but he refused. The chance Hennis was offered is known as a plea negotiated where the defendant admits to the crime without going to trial. The first trial occurred in 1986. The evidence presented against the defendant was strong where the jury came to the conclusion that he was guilty and should receive the death penalty. Shortly after the trial ended, Hennis and the sheriff received an anonymous letter declaring that Mr. X murdered the Eastburn girls.
To get ears on Rudy’s case, in terms of his discussions, Great Benefit’s lawyer planted a hidden live feed mic in Rudy’s office. That was an illegal, unfair, and unprofessional violation by them listening in. Rudy eventually found out about the mic and instead of reporting the evidence of them listening in or using the evidence against Great Benefit in court, he used the evidence to make it seem like one of the members of the jury had to do with it (jury tampering). Yet, he used it against the lawyer in court to get back at the lawyer and humiliate him. Though that was kind of clever and hysterical, it wasn’t very professional and responsible for Rudy to do. Henceforth, it was also a violation by Rudy. One other violation Rudy made was the approachment towards the victim, in which he accidently did in the court
He takes his probably guilty client and gets them acquitted through the tiny of pinholes. This poses a questions. If Murray Richman can do it, what holding back other lawyers from doing what he does. The answer to that is in one simple word, and that word is solely, morals. Morals is what drives people on what to do in a certain situation. However, for Murray, he doesn’t have any morals to direct his life. Murray said, “My parents are dead. God isn’t real, and this country is full of crap.” This just shows Murray doesn’t have any morals. This just goes to show that all Murray is focused on is getting his clients off. Since morals don’t direct his life, when defending his client, he may know his client did the crime, but he is paid to defend the client. That is solely what he does. Most people have morals, because they simply they drive their lives. However, for Murray Richman, his morals lay outside his
My next claim is in regards to the “old man” juror. If it were not for him voting not guilty the second time, the boy would have been found guilty. He said the reason he voted that way was because of that one juror standing up to the other 11 jurors. He felt that everyone needed to hear all of the arguments because they were dealing with a man’s life. Thanks to that man, the boy was saved.
Reasoning: The responsibility of the prosecutor is to disclose information and evidence. If there is a promise being made by an attorney, then the information should be must be attributed to the government. The Supreme court had found that the prosecutor’s lacked to disclose evidence that was relevant to the defense. The prosecutor had also failed to correct the false evidence that had been presented at the
The jurors had several conflicts in disagreeing with each other and it didn't help that they would shout over one another. The very first conflict is when juror 8 voted not guilty against the 11 guilty votes. The other 11 jurors don't seem to want to hear this man out; they don't want to hear why he has voted not guilty. Some of these men, jurors 3 and 7, just want to get this case over with so they can get on with their lives. They don't think it is imperative enough to look over the evidence and put themselves in the place of the defendant. They get upset with this man and try to get him to vote guilty.
Throughout the movie Vinny is able to fool the judge Chamberlain Haller, convincing his he's experienced enough for the case. Unfortunately, Vinnys dress code, attitude, and court procedures make the judge constantly hold him in contempt. In the probable cause hearing Vinny does no cross-examination of the witnesses. Throughout the trial the district attorney, Trotter has a strong case with many witnesses. With Vinnys mistakes this causes the boys to hire a public defender named, John Gibbons. Although, Vinny finally convinces the boys that his questioning style make up for his inexperiences. After the public defender proves to be unprepared and have a stammer and gets fired by the boys. On the third day of the trial Trotter produces a witness, FBI analyst George Wilbur. He testifies that the tire marks match the marks on Billy's Buick. While on lunch break Vinny and his fiance Lisa have an argument. Later, Vinny realizes one of Lisa's photos can be used in the case. Vinny requests the local sheriff to complete a records search. Vinny drags Lisa into court to testify as a witness against the tire marks. With Lisa's testimony of previous mechanic experience she explains, that the tire marks could have been mistaken for a 1963 Pontiac
(a) Prosecutors have nearly limitless discretion in the most critical matters they must consider, yet they are held to very high ethical standards.
She explained that his involvement in the crime was not excessive and that it was his brother who was the leader. She went on to describe his eight previous arrests for crimes like robbery and cocaine possession. Given his long history she said she was not surprised to see him involved in this kind of case. Because of his other charges I thought the prosecutor was going to suggest the higher end of the sentencing guidelines. However, as she continued I realized I was incorrect. Instead of focusing on his previous crimes she talked about how he needed rehabilitation. She emphasized recovery from his current lifestyle more than sending him to prison again. She brought up his involvement in his church and his successful marriage and questioned why he would throw all of that away. She also suggested that he turn to his church and his wife for support and to aid him in his battle with addiction. Throughout the case, the prosecutor was compassionate and seemed more like a disappointed parent to the defendant rather than angry. The one time the prosecutor did act somewhat harsh was towards the middle of her statement. She brought up the fact that the defendant had previous medical conditions such as a stab and shot wounds. She suggested that the defense had asked for these injuries to be taken into account when the sentence was decided on. She was adamant that the court should not take