The case I observed was a case of minor-assault brought against one Mr. S Mohammed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Both the defence and the plaintiff (prosecuting) lawyers were solicitors. The case was a non-jury trial as it was held in a magistrates' court. There were three presiding Magistrates, known as a bench in the case, consisting of two women and a man. The chairman of the bench was a black female (name not given). There was also the court clerk, the court usher and an Iranian interpreter for Mr. Mohammed in the court.
The excitement of visiting a court for observation report was overwhelming, as I have never visited a court before. The thought of what to expect and how to behave accordingly was the most daunting.
The court
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The court clerk are legally qualified and gives advises to the bench on law relating to the case and make sure they follow the normal procedure. On the other hand, the Magistrates, also known as Justice of Peace, volunteer their services and are not required to have legal qualifications. They are however require to undertake certain training in other to serve as a Magistrate.
After the defendant was called to the witness box, the court clerk read out to him the offence (assault) he was charged with through his interpreter. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the one count charge of assault. It was the prosecuting lawyer that addressed the bench first, in his submission of evidence of assault he asked for the Camera Circuit Television (CCTV) at the crime scene to be played on the court computer system.
However, the courtroom computer system was not working and the prosecutor requested for the evidence to be played in another courtroom. The defence lawyer objected to the request of the prosecutor, arguing that the CCTV evidence presented by the prosecuting lawyer was not complete and there was not audio. The defence lawyer also argued that the witness was not in court, thereby making the trial a difficult
The prosecution introduced the evidence to show obstruction of justice against the past investigation, leading to the assumption that there would be obstruction of justice on the current case. The evidence was found probative in the defendant’s intent to obstruct justice. Due to the type of conduct at issue being the same as the evidence it showed intent to obstruct justice in the current case as well, because of this the evidence was found
Once the magistrate was satisfied that the evidence was capable of satisfying the jury, the accused was committed for trial or sentence to the Supreme Court. Cases committed to a higher court would then be determined by a judge as well as a jury. However, after Mr Lopez pleaded not guilty, he elected to be tried without a jury: section 132 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 The
The prosecution represents the state/the victims in criminal trials. A prosecutor’s responsibilities are to be professional, seek justice, and strive for the truth. Prosecutors live up to their responsibilities by gathering evidence, collecting witness testimonies, and obtaining other information to present a case against the defendant. Throughout the movie My Cousin Vinny, Jim Trotter is the prosecuting attorney. In the entire movie he is using evidence and witness testimonies to try to get the jury to find Billy Gambini and Stan Rothenstein guilty of killing the clerk in the store.
The two attorneys will present their case before a judge. During the trial the CA will introduce Blanco-Garcia’s confession in which he admits killing Vanessa Pham as she drove him to the hospital. The DA will offer a counter argument that his client attacked Pham because he believed that she posed a danger to him. Furthermore, that the PCP his client took earlier that day decreased his mental capability. The CA will reason that the amount of times the defendant stabbed the victim indicates an intent to kill.
On the 14th of October 2011, Mr Rayney had submitted an application for a trial which only involved a judge without a jury present. This was due Mr. Rayney assuming that a strong bias had been manifested pre-trial as a result of the subjective publicity revolving around the death of his wife, Corryn(The Conversation, 2012). Therefore, the jury and any member of the public would already have preconceived views in favour of Mr Rayney being guilty of murdering his wife. The trial was successful for Mr Rayney where he was acquitted of murdering his wife. Similarly, this issue is somewhat common as it had also occurred in the case Evans v The State of Western Australia [2011] WASCA 182, in which both appellants had made appeals after being convicted for murder.
There are many racist caucasian people that serve in juries. They believe that African Americans should be in a position under them so they would do whatever they could to keep them down. During the Scottsboro Trials nine African American men were arrested for something that they did not do. They were accused of raping two white girls
This court deals with cases connected with the care and protection of children and with criminal matters concerning children and young people who are under the age of 18 or who were under 18 at the time of an alleged offence. The key difference between the Children’s Court and any other court is that it is a closed court. This means that the identity of the offender is protected from the media and the public. This is to ensure that they are not identified and labelled as a criminal. The Children’s Court is presided over by a magistrate, who plays an active role in the trial and questioning, rather than hearing cases from the prosecutor and defence.
The Judge read over her notes as the crowd took their seats. "It's the people of Tukistan vs Allison Cameron, Shelly Crane, Michael McCarthy, Emily Moody, Steve Moody, Sarah Rivers, and Melody Song of planet Earth," Judge Justice said. "The prosecutor is Samael Vallard. The defence attorney is Athena Eorum."
As you are shown in the film, after the identification of Brenton Butler and his so-called testimony to investigators, the police and prosecutors just stopped working on the case. Thus, evidence that would have supported Butler’s innocence and help find the actual killer weren’t discovered until Brenton’s defense attorney, Pat McGuinness did some investigation and research of his own. Thus, flowing from film from the trial to McGuinness’s investigation scenes shows the how he attained the information that he and his partner could present in the courtroom. While the prosecutors only had the one eyewitness, who claimed to have only caught a glimpse of the shooter and gave description that did not even match Butler. The film presents the conclusion that the police did not actually do the work to find the actual killer and if it wasn’t for Pat McGuinness and his partner wanting to find the culprit, it would never actually be solved.
Referee- The referee assists the judge in the case and are sometimes called “primary hearing officers”. Defense attorney- The defense attorney helps to defend the juvenile and aids the court with finding the proper solution to the
The layout of the courtroom was simple. Judge was in front center, the jury box to the right hand of the judge. To the left of the judge was the defendant and his counsel. The prosecutors were located center in between the jurors and the defendant. In the back of the courtroom was seating for the public.
Just inside the railing that divided the spectators from the court were the witnesses sitting on ‘cowhide-bottomed chairs’. The witness stand was to the right of Judge Taylor. The Ewell’s were placed near the front. ‘
In this paragraph, the advantages and disadvantages of trial by jury will be discussed. The main advantages are that juries introduce community values into the legal process and can influence the system (Joyce, 2013); they can achieve a sense of equity and fairness without enforcing unjust laws; in addition, juries are independent and neutral (Davies, 2015). Moreover, they guarantee participation from the public in a democratic institution (Hostettler, 2004), and represent the population thanks to the randomness with which jurors are decided (Davies, 2015). On the other hand, the most important disadvantages are that jurors have no prior contact with the courts, no training (Hostettler, 2004) and therefore they lack knowledge of law, courtroom proceedings (Joyce, 2013), and lack of ability to understand the legal directions (Thomas, 2010). Moreover, they must face evidence which is highly technical (Hostettler, 2004).