each moment while telling her stories. This can often influence the jury to immediately feel bad for the woman on the stand. In response they often make up their minds based on how they feel emotionally about her tales. I believe that the woman should receive comfort for all that she has endured, however it is not the judge’s or jury’s job to do so. The jury must maintain a strict composure of their emotions and not allow them to inflict the outcome of their final decision. I believe that juries are inclined to this and as a result are not fairly taking into account all the other factors of the case and the seriousness of the murder at hand. In the case Peaople vs. Sheehan (2011), Barbara Sheehan’s testimony spoke about the night of the murder, “I knew he was positively going to kill me eventually. He always carried a gun on him. He would always chase me and catch me and beat me. He would throw scalding pasta sauce at me. So I knew he would catch me soon and do worse things to me. So when he was in the bathroom I went and shot the gun. I don’t know how many times I shot. I just fired. I stopped firing when I didn’t feel threatened anymore. I grabbed his gun from his pocket, closed the door and ran downstairs. I didn’t intend to kill him, I just wanted the pain to stop.” (Colb & Goldman). After hearing her testimony I wish to ask you the reader, how do you feel? Do you empathize with the defendant? Do you feel bad for her and the events that have taken place in her life? Nine times out of ten a jury member will answer yes to one if not all of these questions allowing him/her to be influenced by the woman’s …show more content…
This reason builds upon the last. Battered Women Syndrome can often be called in this case as a “get out of jail free card” (Veinsreideris, 619) because the woman murders her abuser preemptively and in
It fell onto the ground. He got very angry. He stepped out of the shower and lifted me up and body-slammed me … I ran down the hallway ... into the closet. I grabbed the gun [and] ran out ... I just wanted him to stop, so I pointed the gun at him ...
The book Celia, a slave, was written by Melton McLaurin to show the horrors of slavery in America during the slavery periods and thus, provide insight into the dark times of the slavery encouraging America of the time. In the book McLaurin expertly explores the topic of sexual exploitation of slaves by narrating the case of Celia, a slave that was convicted of the murder of her owner. Celia was only fourteen years old when she was bought as a slave for her owner who at the time had five other slaves. At the time owning of slaves was the apex of wealth, and her owner who happened to be rich by the standards of the time could afford to have five slaves. Robert Newsom, who bought Celia, started sexually abusing her on the day she was purchased
I saw some bruises on her, but she said she was fine”. Battered woman syndrome plays a large part in the defense and although one could avoid her releasing her bias to the jury, she seems like her presence would be more hazardous than good for the defence. The only things that she could say that would be
Jurors should not know anything about a specific case and not follow public affairs and read the news (Doc F). When a person is selected to be part of a jury, they have to say an oath stating that they will not use their emotions to determine the verdict of a trial. If a juror is caught using their emotions, they will be fined for a crime called perjury. Since there are twelve people in a jury, there is a variation of opinions when the jury decides a verdict. But, a judge is more professional and knows how to only use the evidence provided and be less biased.
As with any criminal case, there are always a number of issues pertaining the stages of the crime and also the media and the general public’s opinion of the case. Many of the issues and explicit actions of certain individuals that had happened during the Corryn Rayney case had affected the interpretation of the case in someway for both government workers and the general public. By analysing the issues of the case, it allows a much more detailed view on the case and how most of the issues are linked in one way or another. One of the issues regarding this case was where a police officer had been found attempting to pressure forensic pathologists to alter their case reports to align with their best interests.
Innocent until proven guilty is a phrase the United States justice system says we abide by but in many cases this seems to falter from true. Due to various factors such as tunnel vision, faulty forensics, false confessions, improper identification, missing evidence and the list could go on; all of these reasons can lead to a biased trial and ultimately lead to a wrongful conviction. Julie Rea was a single mom convicted of the murder of her ten year old son Joel Kirkpatrick on October 13th, 1997. This twenty-eight year old mom and her son lived in a rural area in Lawrence, Illinois that was referred to as a quaint little town that very rarely saw any crime so when the news of sweet little Joel Kirkpatrick being murdered got out it sent the
Another reason citizens question juries is that they have bias from personal experience or the media. The defendant and the prosecution criticize the jury system because the actual jurors may not understand the situation from any point of view because they come from different lifestyles (Doc E). The American jury system is not a good idea anymore because juries are not experts in law, they have bias, and are not “a jury of peers”. Because jurors are not experts in law, they are subject to be
Not calling 911 and hiding the body was morally and criminally wrong. The lack of remorse bothered me as an utter disregard for her dead daughter and selfishness unparalleled. I believe that the prosecution’s putting the death
The prosecutor started to chip away at her learning that she has a short temper and is easily angered. She got frustrated after being repeatedly told to repeated herself and to speak up. She showed these signs by fidgeting, shifting her weight from side to side and the signs she showed on her face. This could make the jury question her statements if it shows she can’t control herself.
However, this story of Mrs. Stephens being helpless is all the defense has. But how can you, the jury, believe a story from a woman that would lie to doctors, to police,
Ladies and gentlemen, of the jury we are here today to find justice for the deceased, Chris Pavano who was shot and killed by the defendant, Jordan Abrams. Today I and the state of New Jersey ask you to ask yourself, if your child or your friend’s child suddenly never came home would you want their to be justice for their murderer? Would you want their murderer walking free while you or your friend mourned for the person they murdered. If you, the jury allow Jordan Abrams to walk free than that will just show other murderers that they can get away with such a heinous crime. Jordan Abrams stands accused of murder in the 1st degree, aggravated manslaughter in the 2nd degree, reckless manslaughter in the 2nd degree, possession of a weapon for an
When the case involves a battered woman seeing all the violence done to her would be really painful. Just cannot see how someone could do it to someone they love The hardest part of being a jury member in a criminal case would be the sentencing to make the decision to put that criminal in prison. If the verdict is in prison for life or life without parole. This experience is going to stay with you from now on wondering if you did the right thing.
Could they be wrong? “ – Both the statements listed above involve use of the fallacy of “Begging the question” 3) “How come you believe the woman’s story, she is one of them too, isn’t she?” – This fallacy is what we call as Hasty generalization. According to him, since the woman who gave the testimony against the boy lives in the same locality as the boy, her testimony can also be doubted upon. He tries to convince other jurors with this seemingly inappropriate
This is an important element when deciding who the best and worst jurors were. There were no facts as to who was right or wrong because we didn’t see the crime in question. All
In Nothing to Envy written by Barbara Demick, the author describes North Korea as "a country that has fallen out of the developed world" (Demick 4). Through diction, Demick is attempting to demonstrate the notion that North Korea is surviving solely without interruption from the outside world. This is done by ruling the country by a totalitarian dictatorship, such as an absolute monarchy controlled by generations of the same family in pursuit of the same goal. In North Korea, each individual person is denied basic human rights in attempt to control the incoming knowledge about the world around them. They are taught to solemnly worship and abide by the rules of their supreme leader and are denied any uncontrolled access to electronics, such as movies, television, and internet.