By now, you should have observed a court proceeding for a criminal case.
In this module, you will submit a paper summarizing the court proceeding you observed and other relevant information. Your Module 03 Course Project should include the following information:
- Date, time, city, state, name of courthouse, of court proceeding
- What kind of court proceeding did you observe?
- Trial, hearing, plea bargain, sentencing hearing?
- If you watched recorded content, you must be sure to explain the source (You Tube, etc.)
- What was the defendant’s name?
- Name of all participants (judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, any witnesses)
- What is the crime/specific criminal law that the defendant allegedly violated? (This will be important for the next part of the assignment.)
- What individuals did you observe in the court proceeding? (prosecutor, judge, etc.)
- What was the role of each individual you observed?
- How were the defendant’s constitutional rights protected during the proceeding?
- Examples:
- Defendant’s right to notice of charges
- Right to counsel (Sixth Amendment)
- Privilege against self-incrimination (Fifth Amendment)
- Right to confront witnesses (Sixth Amendment)
- Right to present evidence (Sixth Amendment)
- Right to a jury trial (Sixth Amendment)
- Exclusion of illegally obtained evidence (Fourth Amendment)
- Examples:
- What was the outcome of the proceeding? (guilty plea, set for trial, conviction, sentence)
- Student’s reflection and overall thoughts about the proceeding.
- Was it more/less formal than you expected?
- What student learned from the experience
- How experience helped student learn more about criminal law and procedure
Be sure your paper includes all information asked for in the assignment.
Answer preview
The ruling found the defendant guilty of theft and intentionally cause injury, he was required to give a three-year bond with conviction. The defendant did not serve a term in imprisonment. In my opinion, the proceedings were more informal than I expected. The magistrate seemed familiar to the legal representatives and may have had prior interaction with them in the courtroom. I learned that the presentation of evidence and compelling arguments is paramount in building and winning criminal cases (Kadish, Schulhofer, & Barkow, 2016). The experience helped me learn more about the criminal law by providing a relatable practical example that is not fictional.
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