2003. p. 114). The prosecutor’s main roles are to establishing that those guilty are prosecuted, and to determine which cases are weak and weed them out. Meyer & Grant (2003) state that, “ the tasks that prosecutors perform fall into three broad categories: planning and supervising the investigation phase of criminal and civil cases, case preparations, and responding to the issues related to appeals. The defense attorney’s role is to protect an individuals right when he or she has been accused of committing a crime, and to ensure that the individual is not prosecuted unjustly or falsely tried. A prosecutor presents evidence to prove that the defendant is guilty of the crime and the defense attorney tries to prove that the defendant is not guilty.
The Lawyers-The lawyers for each party will either be sitting at the counsel tables facing the bench or be speaking to the judge, a witness, or the jury. Each lawyer's task is to bring out the facts that put his or her client's case in the most favorable light, but do so using approved legal procedures. In criminal cases, one of the lawyers works for the executive branch of the government, which is the branch that
Prosecutorial Discretion Prosecutors play very important roles in the courtroom. Prosecutors are granted the right by the courts to have discretion upon a case. Although, prosecutors are obligated to execute the law at both federal and state levels, they still hold the discretion of what charges to try and convict the defendant on. Prosecutors have a wide range of authority in the courts; therefore, the active prosecutor(s) must efficiently analyze any evidence being presented in a case in order to determine if the case will be strong enough to withhold a trial or even if the accused defendant is chargeable. In the case of Bordenkircher v. Hayes (1978), the court stated, “so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion.” Although there are many factors that come into play when a prosecutor is considering dismissing a case, the most prominent issues are state and federal resources, time, and investigative teams.
Many decisions pertaining to a case going to trial and how actively they pursue the case are left up to prosecutors and how they view the evidence and what the evidence means to them. This can be described as prosecutorial discretion. How does this affect the prosecutor and overall case flow in the criminal court system? Prosecutorial discretion puts an abundance of pressure on the prosecutors and their roles in the courts. The prosecution must without a reasonable doubt prove the defendant is responsible for committing the crime.
The Bill of Rights Introduction to Criminal Justice March 3, 2013 There are many legal rights that we have during a trial. This Bill of Rights provides certain rights to criminal defendants during trial. There are two aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system and they are the defendant is innocent until the prosecution can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (NOLO: Law for All, 2013). Defendants have many other rights and here they will be discussed. The right to confront witnesses is stated that in the sixth amendment “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witness against him.” They are allowed to participate in the accused’s trial process.
Courtroom Standards Analysis July 30th, 2012 CJA/484 Criminal Justice Administration Capstone David Mailloux Courtroom Standards The courtroom is made up of individuals that are aware of the law to a point and that can make decisions on putting an accused offender away for a criminal act he or she has committed. These individuals consist of judges, attorneys, victims, the accused, and other courtroom personnel. This paper will go over each type of individual involved in a courtroom setting and his or her role. Judges and Witnesses Judges have many responsibilities such as interpreting the law, taking in evidence throughout the case; judges also determine how the hearing and trials unfold while in the courtroom. A judge has five basic tasks, first making sure that order is maintained throughout the courtroom and throughout the trial.
The prosecutor also has the task of protecting the state in consumer related matters. Some prosecutors are called District Attorneys and others are called States Attorneys but they are the same thing ("Role of the Prosecutor", 2013). These types of attorneys are the ones that the state selects to represent them in court. These attorneys also have what is called prosecutorial discretion. This means that they basically have absolute power of what happens in the case such as whether or not to pursue charges, what sentence the state wants, deciding how severe the charges are, and whether or not to plea bargain ("Prosecutorial Discretion", 2001-2013).
Brawling With the Heavyweights According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary online, to brawl is to quarrel or fight noisily. (Merriam-Webster Online n.d.) Now according to Jerome Frank in his essay titled The “Fight” Theory Versus the “Truth” Theory, brawling is being handled by the court systems, although the same shameful tactics that are performed in brawling still exist in modern day trials. Lawyers who practice good morals and have a reputation for winning a majority of his or her cases seem to be scarce. It may seem to a reader that, in A Civil Action the right thing to do, on an emotional level, would be to give Anne Anderson not only her apology, but the money that the courts believe that the victims deserve. If only emotional response had a larger impact on a trial like the trial played out in A Civil Action, maybe we would not have the classic stereotype of an immoral or “snaky” lawyer.
The lawyer should fully represent the suspect fairly without discrimination or any nature as religious beliefs, nationality, and color among other aspects. The attorney should be fully aware of the rights of the suspect while defending him or her. In regard to right to counsel, the attorney representing the accused should always ensure confidential information stay between the two and not released to other parties. This necessary to ensure that attorney hired by a court or state, he or she would not release confidential information to
With the information it is formal, written accusation submitted to a court by a prosecutor, alleging that a specified person has committed a specified offense. The indictment it is a formal, written accusation submitted to the court by a grand jury, alleging that a specified person has committed a specified offense, usually a felony. After you have the indictment sometimes you go in front of the grand jury. Then you go for your arraignment it is the first appearance of the defendant before the court that has the authority to conduct a trial. A trial is a criminal proceeding that examines in the court of the issues of fact and relevant law in a case for the purpose of convicting or acquitting the defendant.