Evidence vs Eyewitness

Eyewitness vs. Physical Evidence

Instructions:
Read the brief vignette of a ficticious crime below and then write a 600 word paper (about 2 pages double spaced) that addresses the “steps” below.

Vignette:
A robbery of a liquor store occurs at 11:00 on a Friday night. Two men enter with shotguns and steal the contents of the register and some lottery tickets. An employee working at the store, is the only witness and there is no recording of the crime. The student was drinking a beer at the time of the robbery but has a BAC far below the legal limit for intoxication at the time of the crime and the police notes and body camera recordings show no signs of intoxication. The employee recognizes one of the men from a pick-up basketball game he plays in every couple of weeks but he says the man was disguised with sunglasses and a wig during the robbery. In a line-up he identifies the man and says he is highly certain that it is the robber.
As the robbers left the store, one of them grabs a bottle with his barehands and throws it on the floor. It breaks into several pieces. The crime scene investigators reassemble the bottle in a lab and pull two partial finger prints off of it. A finger print analyst matches the print to the one taken from the suspect at booking.
There are a lot of potential details left out of the vignette. That is to give you room to ask pointed questions in court to try to reinforce the efivence/testimony or to undermine it.
Steps for the paper:
1. Imagine that you are working for a prosecutor or a defense attorney (pick only one)…PROSECUTOR

2. If you had the choice between the eyewitness identifying the defendant or the physical evidence that links the defendant to the crime, which would you prefer to present to the jury as evidence of the suspects guilt OR to have to argue against before the jury (depending on the role you chose)? PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
3. Using what you learned in class and other resources, why did you pick the witness or the physical evidence?
4. What is the point that you would reinforce the most or attack the most to make your case to the jury?

Papers should be DOUBLE SPACED and proofread for grammar and spelling.
References should be cited in a professional format (e.g., APA or MLA

Answer preview

Any society’s success depends on its capacity to create a system of rules and regulations that govern people’s behaviors. Criminal law serves this purpose by publicly distinguishing acceptable conduct from reprehensible behaviors (Ristroph, 2020). The criminal justice system provides the framework for adjudicating legal disputes and holding offenders responsible for their actions. Considering the massive implications that charges of criminal activity may attract on a person’s freedom or finances depending on the sanctions courts deem appropriate for given conduct, prosecutors’ cases must meet a high burden of proof. The canon rule in criminal litigation is that a person who alleges must prove, and the standard of proof in criminal cases is beyond a reasonable doubt. The high threshold means that a prosecutor must choose the strongest evidence possible to increase the chances of conviction. This paper indicates why I would choose physical evidence rather than eye witness statements in the case vignette as a prosecutor.

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