I went to to the Fredericksburg General District Court, which is the 15th judicial district of Virginia on April 10th, 2014. I choose to attend on a Thursday when the Court is scheduled to hear cases on criminal and Traffic Misdemeanors. I opted to observe theses proceedings because they sounded more interesting than arraignments and bond hearings that were scheduled at an earlier time. I arrived during a recess and Judge Stevens was introduced shortly. The court clerk then called role of all the people who were supposed to be attending that day.
Over the course of the day I witnessed about 14 cases, only a few are worth discussing. The first case was also the quickest. The Virginia state trooper who had pulled the defendant over had not show up to court that day. Judge Stevens promptly dismissed the case, making the young man very happy. In the second case the defendant was pulled over for reckless driving and found not to have a driver’s license. Because the defendant could not speak english the court brought in translator who relayed information between the Judge and the defendant. The defendant did not have lawyer to argue for him but the Judge lessened the charge of reckless driving to improper driving which carried a fine of 50 dollars as opposed to the 100 dollars for reckless driving. He was also fined an additional 100 dollars for driving without a license and ordered to pay costs of the court. I was impressed with Judge Stevens’s judgment and that he would go out of his way to lessen a charge for someone who had not asked for it, perhaps taking into account the defendant's language barriers.
The next case was about a woman who was driving with a suspended license. Her defense was that she had not known it was suspend...
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...o “typical” bag of marijuana. The judge agreed with the defense and cited some precedents and then dismissed the case.
From watching these court cases it is apparent that the most important thing one can do, apart from showing up up, is to hire a lawyer. Even if it is a court appointed one. I was surprised to see so many people waive their right especially after the court appointed lawyer got many people off. I was also impressed by the reasoning of the judge and his willingness to see that people were punished appropriately such as when he offered the underage driver community service instead of a fine and lessened the reckless driving charge in case number 2 so that the defendant would not have to pay as much in fines. Judge Stevens was very kind and invited Mary Washington Students to ask questions and instructed the defense to brief the court for their benefit.
In this case, the Supreme Court decision in reversing the decision of the trail court. Although the suspects were conducting an illegal crime, the officers were reckless in the procedures in collecting the evidence. In this case, if there was a report or call concerning the drug activities in the apartment, being that the Police Department was conducting a the drug sting, it would have justified the reasoning behind the officers kicking the door in and securing suspects and evidence.
Facts: On November 2006 the Miami-Dade police department received an anonymous tip that the home of Joelis Jardines was been used to grow marihuana. On December 2006 two detectives along with a trained drug sniffing dog approached Jardines home. At the front door the dog signaled for drugs, as well as the detective who smelled the marihuana coming from inside. Detectives then wrote an affidavit and obtained a search warrant that confirmed the growth of marihuana in Jardine’s home. Jardines was then charged for drug trafficking. Jardines then tried to suppress all evidence and say that in theory during the drug sniffing dog was an illegal search under the 4th amendment. The trial courts then ruled to suppress all evidence, the state appellate courts then appealed and reversed, the standing concluding that there was no illegal search and the dog’s presence did not require a warrant. The Florida supreme court then reverse the appellate court’s decision and concluded that a dog sniffing a home for investigativ...
This case is about Scott Randolph, who’s home was searched without a warrant. Due to this “corrupted” search, police ended up finding cocaine in his home. As a matter of fact both Randolph and his wife Janet Randolph were present during the search, it’s stated that Randolph’s wife gave permission to search the house. However Randolph denied to give that consistent, but police believed that the wife’s permission was all they needed. After the encounter with the drugs, Randolph was arrested for drug possession. This case was taken to trail and both the appellate court and Georgie Supreme court believed that the search of Randolph's home was unconstitutional.
Also another fact one of the justices, Justice O’Connor disagreed with the outcome of the case. She said it was called a, “Cursory Inspection” she went on saying the officers could do the search based on reasonable suspicion that the object was evidence of a criminal activity.
I. Facts: 15-year-old delinquent, Gerald Gault and a friend were arrested after being accused of making a lewd phone call to a neighbor. Gerald’s parents were not notified of the situation. After a hearing, the juvenile court judge ordered Gerald to surrender to the State Industrial School until he reached the age of minority (21). Gerald's attorney petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the state of Arizona for violating the juvenile’s 14th Amendment due process rights. The Superior Court of Arizona and the Arizona State Supreme Court both dismissed the writ affirmatively deciding that the juvenile’s due process rights were not violated.
Trial transcripts showed Thelma mentioned certain incidents happened in her court statement vs. The statement she mentioned. Thelma first stated she didn’t know the license
People are represented in court by two kinds of lawyers, court-appointed lawyers and public defenders, which mean "hired lawyers" (Green, 2001). People that have higher income can hire their own lawyers. The lower and middle-income people are mainly the ones who rely on court appointed lawyers. These people don't have the money to hire a lawyer. Court appointed lawyers are not working in your best interest for many reasons.
Ofc. Lazic noticed a clear plastic baggie in the plain view sitting in the cup holder. This officer asked Smith to exit the vehicle and she grabbed the baggie and placed it in her pocket. Officers escorted Smith from the vehicle and located the baggie in her right hand. The baggie contained marijuana shake. Officers placed Smith in handcuffs and advised her she was being detained.
Being a citizen of the United States comes with advantages that no other country can match. We are granted rights and privileges just for being born within our borders. Others can also gain these rights by adopting our way of life and swearing to uphold its values. Being a citizen or not, we are expected to obey laws that the U.S. Government has put in place to maintain order and balance. When we don’t obey these laws the government has the right to punish us. Luckily for us, our Bill of Rights has even granted us rights until proven guilty. It gives us rights to a fair and speedy trial as well as the right to representation during trial. So many rights and procedures have come about since the birth of our nation. We are constantly making new rules to help uphold the old rules and deciding if the old rules still apply. One practice that has been used during trial has no mention in the Bill of Rights, but has been held as constitutional is plea-bargaining.
Throughout the years there has been limitless legal cases presented to the court systems. All cases are not the same. Some cases vary from decisions that are made by a single judge, while other cases decisions are made by a jury. As cases are presented they typically start off as disputes, misunderstandings, or failure to comply among other things. It is possible to settle some cases outside of the courts, but that does require understanding and cooperation by all parties involved. However, for those that are not so willing to settle out of court, they eventually visit the court system. The court system is not in existence to cause humiliation for anyone, but more so to offer a helping hand from a legal prospective. At the same time, the legal system is not to be abuse. or misused either.
This is a good case to show how it isn’t always the poor, black, or Hispanic groups getting tried for something they haven’t done. It shows that a white doctor could get his life destroyed by an unfair Judge and prosecutors.
The case of the State of Florida vs. Chad Heins happened in 1994 in Mayport, Florida. It was on April 17, 1994 that Tina Heins, who was pregnant at the time, was found stabbed to death in her apartment. She shared an apartment with her husband Jeremy Heins and Jeremy’s brother Chad Heins. At the time of the incident Jeremy Heins was on a ship because he worked in the navy but Chad Heins was at the apartment. Before the incident happened Chad Heins, the defendant, who was nineteen at the time, used his brothers license to buy alcohol at a strip club near the apartment. After that Chad Heins had went to another bar where his brothers license got confiscated. He left the bar around 12:45 a.m. and went back to the apartment. He then washed his
...n order to win his/her case or the res gestae which in some cases may require scientific proof. Another area of grave concern in our criminal justice as pertains to bails is the fact that our judges routinely impose excessive and harsh bail terms, which forces the suspect to remain in custody even after being admitted to bail. This tends to suggest that even the judges see the bail stage as the most important part of their work. Also, it tends to show that the judges do not really care about the issues of the constitutional presumptions of innocence and fair hearing. The issue of fair hearing needs to be emphasized at this point because if the suspect is unduly held in detention pending his trial, he may effectively be denied the opportunity to defend himself. Also, an abusive law enforcement agency and prosecutor would see the pre-trial detention due to a denial of
Smith, C. E. (2004). Public defenders. In T. Hall, U.S. Legal System (pp. 567-572-). [Ebscohost]. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook
The case I sat in on was the District of Columbia vs. Thomas. The trial started when the judge walked into the room. I was somewhat surprised by the lack of punctuality, the trial started almost fifteen minutes late. While I was waiting for the judge to appear and the trial to begin I had some time to observe my surroundings.