-PennLive (https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/07/harrisburg_police_charge_suspe.html)
-July 18, 2016
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
The one I chose is the criminal homicide case with the two men named Kurt Tasker and Vernon King. During the parts that I seen the lawyer defending the young men was very unorganized and he was making points that did not support his argument nor relate to the case. The other female lawyer had everything together I could tell she was very confident. While these lawyers were making there arguments the audience was whispering things to one another I could tell some of them were angry, irritated, or fed up. Before all of this when the jury came out majority of the people were white there was only one black lady that didn't seem fair to me.
ReplyDelete-Richise
DeleteI like how you pointed out the jury and see the different backgrounds that were represented. I can tell by the jury that is wasn't going to be a fair trial but it actually happen to be a fair trial.
DeleteThough I wasn't there for the case, I'm intrigued with what I'm hearing. I too find it not fair that a case revolving around 2 black men only have one black person on jury. I fear that in that situation, the results would be similar to that of the OJ trial. In other words, I feel as though the jury's decision may be more fueled off of prejudice,biases, and/or emotional attachment, rather than solid facts.
Deletehttps://gulfnews.com/opinion/letters/facebook-debate-are-celebrities-above-the-law-1.1507748
This website in particular I feel should be looked over because after the OJ documentary, I really want to know the truth of whether or not being famous shields a person from consequences by law.
Ernest Frazier
One thing I took away from the court case was the man chained up next to the sheriff. He apparently been in jail for 9 months because of his possession and usage of an illegal drug. During the trial, he made it clear to the judge that he's not returning back there, and is ready to go home. I also found it strange that phones weren't allowed to be visible when the judge is here. However, seeing as how technology has proven to accomplish more than we expected, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry if someone try to disrupt the trial in any manner.
ReplyDeleteErnest Frazier
I agree with you about the cell phones being out during the case. Personally I think it wouldn't make an impact on anything involved with the case.
Delete-Richise
I agree with you and the phone situations because technology has and still is being used in a courtroom by many of lawyers, judges, and others there. I feel as though that as long as our phones were on silent and we were not being a distraction to the trial then we should be allowed to have our phone out.
DeleteI think the prisoner did very good at handling his legal matters. Nine months is a very long time to be sitting in jail waiting for a court date. Then, he sat in jail all that time just to be sent home. I think that as long as no one is being a distraction or disruptive, then cell phones shouldn't really be an issue. But the precautionary measures are understandable.
DeleteOne thing that stood out to me throughout criminal court week was the lawyers in the courtroom. Vernon King's lawyer happened to be the one that stood out to the most because of the fact that he didn't really know what he was doing. From his actions to his words, nothing he said really made sense to me and I had a hard time trying to comprehend what he was saying. After multiple times of the judge trying to get him back on the particular subject, he just kept going off topic during cross examination. After this whole experience, I can tell that he wasn't a good lawyer and that is someone I should not shadow if I want to become an lawyer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the lawyers standing out in the courtroom because I could tell which one knew what they were doing and I knew which one didn't. The lawyer that was defending the two men was getting off of topic a lot and was saying things that didn't relate to the case.
Delete-Richise
Now I really wish I'd came to the case. I find it rather hilarious in my opinion that someone would honestly hire a lawyer who couldn't even do their job properly.
DeleteErnest Frazier
I agree that Vernon king's lawyer did not know what he was doing. I believe he was jus stalling but I wouldn't know
Deletehttps://statelaws.findlaw.com/pennsylvania-law/pennsylvania-criminal-laws.html
ReplyDeleteThis website can be use if we would like to know more about Pennsylvania criminal laws. We can also use these laws to help understand criminal cases better and the crimes they are charged with.
in the courtroom it was very quiet, yet you can hear the lawyers argue over and over. the prosecutor had reasonable evidence and used multiple witnesses to back her story. the defendant was able to redirect the argument into things that did not matter. I found it intriguing how he was able to connect irrelevant facts to the case at hand. both of the lawyers weren't allowing the other to speak because they wanted to get their statement out but the judge was not having any of it.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Scott
I agree that the prosecution lawyer had all of her evidence backed up and made sense while the defense lawyer for Vernon king kept getting off topic. If he would have did his research a little more carefully then he probably would have made sense.
DeleteI have to say that what stood out to me was how frustrated the prosecuting attorney was with the defense attorney. Also, it was interesting how frustrated the judge was with the defense attorney. I giggled when the judge said he had more enjoyment during his last root canal.
ReplyDeleteWhat also stood out to me was the defense attorney's discussion about the 'theory' of a case. The theory of a case is a straightforward statement from each side and includes an explanation off what happened and how the law was broken (prosecution) or not (defense).
http://defensewiki.ibj.org/index.php/Theory_of_the_Case
DeleteThis website explains story, theory and theme. I already explained theory earlier, but I didn't explain story or theme. Theme is a quick phrase or sentence that captures the main idea of the case such as, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit."
The story is a more in depth account of the theory. It's prejudicial meaning that there is a lot of opinion in here. Of course different sides have different stories, theory, and theme.
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/homicide.html
ReplyDeleteI chose this website because it gives me more information about criminal homicide.It lets me know about the first, second, and third degree murders which is very interesting.
-Richise
Criminal court week was very interested because we got to see first hand how things how in homicide cases. One thing that stood out to me was the defense attorney. He seemed to be a bit overwhelmed and all over the place with his information and arguments. When he asked the detective or whoever he was questions, he had a hard time located some documents and his technique was just disorganized. He had some good points he was trying to make but he build up was weak. I was unsure about a lot of the things he was saying.
ReplyDeleteAt first i'm thinking the court case was going to be an explosion of words that i'd never heard before. i also thought that the seats will be separated between the believers and non believers. turns out it was very quiet and i couldn't even hear the lawyers and the prosecutors exchange words.
ReplyDeleteEvidence website
ReplyDeletehttps://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_901
The lawyer looked as if he was trying to get the judge off hand by changing the situation, but the prosecutor wasn't having it. i was hoping that someone would be hold in contempt like they do in those tv shows. Though we did not see a verdict I now understand what these guys are going through and the tv representation are over exaggerating.
ReplyDeletehttps://pitchfork.com/news/ynw-melly-is-charged-with-the-murder-of-two-friends-what-happened/
DeleteI chose that website because evidence plays a major role in majority of cases. In a lot of murder cases, evidence is crucial because that is literally how you build your case. The website breaks down the definitions and how to's of evidence in court
ReplyDeletefrom joe
Delete