Plea Bargains Andrea Dennis-Hart September 23, 2009 Tony Stroud A plea bargain according to Black’s Law Dictionary is the process whereby the accused and the prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval. It usually involves the defendant’s pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only one or some of the counts of a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter sentence than that possible for the graver charge (Black, 1991, p. 798). Many plea bargains need to get the approval of the court, but some may not be; this is when prosecutors may drop charges in exchange for a guilty plea. There are different forms of plea bargains. All involves some form of sentence reduction.
On top of pleading not guilty, he refused the advice of the attorney presented to him to plead insanity and blame it on black rage. The attorney tried to convince Ferguson that he would be likely to win if he plead not guilty on the basis of insanity and black rage which came from the suppression of African Americans in a white society. He refused to plead insanity and repeatedly told the court that he was sane- although he refused psychiatric analysis as well. He fired his attorney, shortly after he was granted him, and refused his right to be represented in the court of law, his right as an American citizen protected under the fourteenth amendment. This is what made this court case so interesting.
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The one thing both these laws have in common is that they both try to control the behavior by imposing sanctions on those who violate the law. In the case of O.J Simpson, he was charged with the murder of his ex-wife, Nichole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, and found liable for the wrongful deaths of Nichole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Under the criminal law, O.J Simpson pleaded 100 % not guilty for these two counts of first degree murder. During all the criminal proceedings there was plenty of evidence that pointed the finger to Simpson. In the end Simpson was acquitted for the murders of Nichole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
● The exclusionary rule is the main remedy that will be focused on throughout the remainder of this book. It requires that evidence obtained in violation of certain constitutional amendments (notably the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth) be excluded from the criminal trial. Exceptions to the exclusionary rule have been recognized in cases in which (1) the police acted in good faith but nonetheless violated the Constitution and (2) the prosecutor sought to impeach a witness at trial by pointing to contradictions in his or her out-of-court statements, even if such statements were obtained in an
Innocence Project Can you imagine being sentences to 100 years in prison or even death for a crime that you did not commit? When someone innocent is sentenced to prison, they are left with little hope. As a result of the efforts of the innocence project and DNA testing over 280 people have been exonerated. How do innocent people get wrongly convicted in the first place when we have so many checks and balances to protect the innocent? The most common element in wrongful convictions is eyewitness misidentification.
Many jurors will just be focused on the amount of money to award the victim. As no contest plea agreements vary from state to state some stated do not even allow them while there are some states that place restrictions on no contest pleas. Those restrictions might apply to those accused of violent crimes such as murder or rape the no contest pleas that are accepted are such pleas concerning traffic offences like speeding tickets. (No Contest
Some possibilities for convicted felons for sentencing are fines, monetary sanctions, probation, community service, electronic monitoring, incarceration and the death penalty. One main criticism of restorative justice is that it fails to provide adequate protection for individual rights. Also one offender may end up being treated very differently from another who has committed a similar offence but has a more (or less) demanding victim. There are many good things about restorative justice. The offender may experience how it feels to be the victim perhaps preventing similar behavior again.
Whether or not this man was punished and remained in jail was up to the prosecution. Heffernan’s critical decision would be whether or not to remove his thoughts on morality from his professional decision. The defendant had a legal right to a jury trial and a moral right to have it vindicated. Since the judge had refused to instruct the jury concerning the justifiable use of deadly force, the defendant had been denied that right. Heffernan was faced with whether
Tobar explains, “The trial attorney he eventually assigned to the case would likely protest his inability to lift The People v. Araceli N. Ramirez over the low bar of proof required for a successful preliminary hearing” (334). Araceli’s case could not be taken to a higher court level, because of the lack of evidence. Instead the trial attorney would, “simply negotiate the charges down from a felony to a misdemeanor in exchange for a plea, give the defendant credit for time served and hand her ass forthwith to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement representatives at the county jail. She would then be swiftly deported, as were the legions of other foregin nationals without papers who landed there” (334). Even though Araceli was charged with a misdemeanor, she was not completely let off the hook.