Introduction: For me, attending criminal court week at the Dauphin County Courthouse has been an amazing learning experience. I've learned a lot, but what have you learned?
Task: Locate your legal pad that you took notes on during our observations during criminal court week. Review your notes. Then:
Blog post - 10 pts - Your reaction to any of the cases we watched. You can write about the courtroom, the lawyers, the witness, the judge, or anything that stood out to you. Review the notes you took in the case to help guide you with this.(5 sentence paragraph or more).
Reaction
to others blog posts - 10 pts - React thoughtfully to others posts.
What did you think of what they saw? (Questions, wonderings,
connections) Write 2-3 sentences or more reacting to what they said.
Related
website - list a website that will help us all dig deeper. This could
be about any connected topic you want including anything. It can be
about anything that relates (a similar story, a site about one of the
charges, another case about the courthouse, etc...(5 pts)
Finally, explain your website. What's it about and how does it relate? (1-2 sentences or more) (5 pts)
Finally, explain your website. What's it about and how does it relate? (1-2 sentences or more) (5 pts)
10 pts - paragraph or more blog post
10 pts - reacting to others blog posts (2 or more)
5 pts - a website (see above)
5 pts - explanation of your website - how it relates
=30 pts
Far and away, the most interesting case included a defendant who was defending himself. There was a pubic defender present who played an advisory role for the defendant. What I found most interesting about this case were the characters involved. The defendant was a very thin and energetic man who was desperately doing his best to defend himself. Everything else was proceeding normally until a witness was called.
ReplyDeleteThis man was a shy Asian man. He was a scientist (or student?) up at Penn state.
According to what our class witnessed, it was this man who contacted the defendant on a dating website. And while the facts of the case are disputed, there was basically a back and forth in which money and a cell phone was taken from the victim and then the victim attempted to get the items back.
Of course, there a lot more details, but the most interesting part was about how this victim had to face his alleged attacker. It was a fascinating back and forth which included a lot of emotions being expressed including fear and anger by both the victim and the defendant.
I also agree that this case was one of the most interesting case we ever attended. I bet it was very awkward for the victim to have to face the defendant like that. Wish we could've have stayed to see the closing arguments for that cases. This case also left me with on question and that is, how do people prepare themselves to represent themselves when they have no idea what they're doing?
Delete^^-Aaliyah Warden
DeleteI think this case was the one that stood out to everyone! When in the courtroom I kept hearing Mr.Uyou I thought that was the defendants name. I was surprised as well as at everyone who was involved in this case. I felt upset at how I felt that the defendant was guilty and she was trying his best to word questions as if he didn't already know the answer.The only thing I wonder know is what was his punishment.
Delete-Brea
We also saw an interesting aggravated assault case as well in which a woman threw an item towards a man who was trying to enter her house; striking him in the face. The defense tried to make the man out as someone who was trying to break and enter the house. A lot of people were in the way on the porch. To make a long story short, we learned that the judge found this person not guilty. She has been praying before the verdict to get this result.
ReplyDeleteAnother really interesting part of this case was how the jury acted. I noticed jurist reacting to the lawyers. I looked closely and noticed things like a smile when the defense attorney was speaking but a more stern look on the face of the same jurist when the prosecuting attorney was presenting their closing argument.
DeleteI still don't really fully understand this case. I don't understand as to why he was allowed to press charges against him but she not press charges against him because he entered the home and he was not suppose to. Also is it not legal to arrested a female without another female officer present?
Delete-Brea
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DeleteThis case was obliviously going to end with a not guilty verdict. Its hard to argue that a women trying to protect her children from a unwanted man entering her home as the one wrong in the situation.
Delete-TyRique Lewis
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ReplyDeleteI think a big theme of this week was the closing arguments. If I were to be a jury member at the trials we watched, I would be asked for some personal things including being asked to remember my first heart break, family, demeanor, video games, movies, the park and breaking the cycle of abuse. The prosecution has the first and last word. Therefore, the prosecution wants a powerful, compelling story to help the jury connect with the case and believe their side. Of course, the defendant wants the jury to believe the exact opposite of this and prove his or her guilt. It a real part of the case in which the attorney wants to make the facts and evidence of the case come alive to the members of the jury.
ReplyDeleteIt really puts the attorney in the drivers seat and showcases their skills of persuasion.
DeleteThe case that i was most interested in was the robbery case in court room 3. The robbery happened back in january 15 of 2017, between the defendant and the victim Cheng You. This case was really interesting to me because the defendant defended himself. I don't believe he did a great job at it because he was not experienced, which i feel is one of the reasons why he was also found guilty. This case showed me it's all about the questions you ask the witness that determines if the defended will be found guilty or not. The prosecutors had great witnesses that had evidence to find the defendant guilty of the crime. The defendant asked questions where he put himself at the scene of the crime, he asked the witness, Cheng You, if they were together in a bathroom stall, and if they met on a dating app, which put him in a position where he would of course be found guilty. The defendant was better off pleading guilty.
ReplyDeleteWebsite:http://swordandscale.com/killers-who-represented-themselves-at-trial/.
This website is about 4 men who were convicted for murder and represented themselves. All of these men were still found guilty of their crimes. But i do find it interested that they would rather represent themselves in a murder case rather than having a real lawyer who knows what their doing represent them. I find this website very relatable to this case.
-Aaliyah W
DeleteI think you're hitting on an important point here Aaliyah. The questions you ask are so critical to the case and you could do damage to your case by asking the wrong questions.
DeleteI agree. I felt so bad for Uyou having to sit up on that stand and answer all of the questions that man asked him. Then yes like you said him defending himself did not help. He didn't really say anything that help his case.
Delete-Brea
I'm posting this website about aggravated assault.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=18&div=0&chpt=27&sctn=2&subsctn=0
I thought this would be a relevant site to post as this charge (aggravated assault) since it seemed like a close call whether or not the woman would be found guilty of this charge.
DeleteBrea Neal
ReplyDeleteCriminal Court Week for me was very fun and eventful. Every day was a new experience. On April 23rd, we heard about a robbery cases. In this case the defendant decided to defend himself. I have heard of this happening in shows better never in real life so if very interesting for me to see. I felt really bad for the victim having to stand in front of the man who assaulted him and have to answer all of his questions. I was glad that Drommen “the defendant” was found guilty because with all of the evidence I saw I honestly though he was guilty. The next day we saw a case about a man coming into a place where he was asked not to. The mother who was Whitney Wright was trying to protect her family, so he began throwing stuff at him. He got hit in the face and decided to press charges against the home owner that threw the item. That was some kind of case. Next, on the 25th we heard a case against Kenney Wade. He was accused of beating his girlfriends. With that case we only heard the closing arguments so I couldn’t tell what really happened. Overall, I really enjoyed this round of criminal court week.
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/robbery-overview.html
This website talks about robbery charges. This website relates to what was talked about during the case on the 23rd with the Penn State student. This website is good a breaking down everything and really explaining the charges in a way that all could understand.
I agree with you as well, this criminal court week was overall very eventful. Seems like you took a lot from these cases and that's very good. Did you finishing see the case about the woman trying to protect he family?I hope they didn't find her guilty because she just wanted to keep her family safe, so she did all she could as parent to keep her kids safe.-Aaliyah Warden
DeleteThose cases really stood out to me too Brea. It was crazy how the victim in the robbery case was so embarrassed and sad at what had happened. All he could do was keep his head down and avoid eye contact with everyone.
DeleteI agree with your statement about how eventful this criminal court week was. The case about the mother and the guy walking in her house was crazy to me, I mean she just wanted to protect her family from what she believed to be a threat.
Delete-TyRique Lewis
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ReplyDeleteThis past criminal court week was probably our most interesting week so far. The robbery case was the takeaway from the week as the defendant elected to defend himself. This reminded me of the Gideon case a little with how the defendant defended his self in the trial without much knowledge of the legal system. The best moment from this case was when the victim came face to face to the defendant, who alleged held him at gunpoint, and emotions ran high.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/26/dont-defend-yourself-in-court-tips-legal-system
This website tells tips of how to defend yourself in court.I found this website to be quite helpful as it details some tips to better represent yourself if you do elect to do so. I found this website to be cool and interesting as it does relate to the case we saw in courtroom #3.
- TyRique Lewis