“Hear ye! Hear ye! All rise for the Court is now open and in session.” These are the words I heard before walking into the Michigan Supreme Court as a Justice. My black judge’s robe billowed gallantly behind me as I walked down the center aisle of the court room along with my other fellow justices to the bench. After a week of preparation--visiting a legal library, writing amicus briefs and debating, meeting a circuit court judge, talking with the plaintiff and the defendant attorney, and constructing an opinion to present at the end of the case--the big day for mock trial had arrived. Despite my official and professional appearance comprised of a judge’s robe and a manilla folder, I was ecstatic to roleplay a Michigan Supreme Court Justice for a real civil case that had been before the Supreme Court and was still in the process of receiving a final decision. This experience made me wish that every American could understand and be a part of what the Constitution has created, but then I realized we are already being influenced by the precepts of the Constitution. So, when something is real...why pretend? In 1787, a groundbreaking event was scheduled in Philadelphia disturbing acres of untilled …show more content…
This allows for new interpretations which could affirm or refute the law’s original premise. Interestingly, not coincidentally, you do not have to know or be a judge or lawyer to understand or have the judicial branch impact your life. As a citizen 18 years old or older, you can be a part of a court case without a formal law degree or without taking one legal class or even stepping foot on a law school’s ground by fulfilling your duty as a juror. And as a juror you have as much power as the judge. A jury truly shows that the government is “for the people and by the
The clear distinction between a jury and a judge is among the key specifications of the seventh amendment. This distinction in the law is termed as functions. According to the amendment, the judge is designated to try the law whereas the jury can try according to facts. This distinguishing between the law and fact is important as it gives the legitimacy to the decree of juries. At the same time, the amendment prevents from violation of the justified legal anticipations of the
This is the reason why juries and jury systems were established, so that an ordinary citizen can partake in convictions and the responsibility
The man accused in a deadly shooting outside an Evansville Gentleman’s Club will not go to trial after this month as scheduled. Clarence Miller’s trial was set for October 16th, but it’s been moved to January 22nd in Vanderburgh County. That shooting happened outside the Pony Gentleman’s Club in April of this year. Miller is accused of shooting and killing Aaron Jennings of Sebree and injuring a second
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
With a jury that cares about everything but the trial, how is the defendant suppose to be given a fair trial? He isn’t. The last piece of evidence is cartoon 3, where a dog is being judged by his natural enemies, feline (Document E). These ‘jurors’ all hate the dog and no matter what the evidence is, the dog will be guilty. It applies to our system with the notion that a suspect is hated by jurors because the media accuses them of being guilty before the trial begins.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
Juries are selected at random from the community, ensuring that the trial is not biased towards any particular group or individual. The use of juries in the legal system provides a system of checks and balances. “Of course trial by Jury is one of our sacred cows.” (Document B) The jury acts as a counterbalance to the power of judges and prosecutors, ensuring that no one person or group has too much influence over the outcome of the case.
State vs. Mayfield Trial On December 27th, 1989, State Police Officer Edward Mayfield pulled over Donna Nugent to a shady area where he strangled her and threw her body off of a bridge. We don’t know why he pulled her over. He then proceeded to strangle her with a rope. I believe State Police Officer Edward Mayfield is guilty of murder in the first degree because he had and hid the murder weapon, pulling over specifically blonde women, and he changed the activity log.
Please say, “I do”. Prosecuting Attorney: “I do.” Defence: “I do.” Clerk: “You may be seated.”
Twelve Angry Men is in many ways a love letter to the American legal justice system. We find here eleven men, swayed to conclusions by prejudices, past experience, and short-sightedness, challenged by one man who holds himself and his peers to a higher standard of justice, demanding that this marginalized member of society be given his due process. We see the jurors struggle between the two, seemingly conflicting, purposes of a jury, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent. It proves, however, that the logic of the American trial-by-jury system does work.
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Jefferson, 1776/2014, para. 2). Authority should not reside over individuals, but with them. A heart cannot run a body alone. Likewise, a government does not operate a nation by itself. Individuals help maintain the justice of authority.
Toobin has written Profiles of the Supreme Court Justices and nearly every major legal controversy and trial of the past two decades. He is credible to be the first to disclose the plans of O. J. Simpson’s defense team to accuse Mark Fuhrman of planting evidence and to play “the race card.” Before writing high profiles, he is known to be unbiased for serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn and currently writes for The New Yorker. This is a weekly
In this paragraph, the advantages and disadvantages of trial by jury will be discussed. The main advantages are that juries introduce community values into the legal process and can influence the system (Joyce, 2013); they can achieve a sense of equity and fairness without enforcing unjust laws; in addition, juries are independent and neutral (Davies, 2015). Moreover, they guarantee participation from the public in a democratic institution (Hostettler, 2004), and represent the population thanks to the randomness with which jurors are decided (Davies, 2015). On the other hand, the most important disadvantages are that jurors have no prior contact with the courts, no training (Hostettler, 2004) and therefore they lack knowledge of law, courtroom proceedings (Joyce, 2013), and lack of ability to understand the legal directions (Thomas, 2010). Moreover, they must face evidence which is highly technical (Hostettler, 2004).
At this age, most people have never even stepped foot in a courthouse. I think everyone should visit the courthouse and sit in on a trial, it’s a great learning experience especially for student’s. I think it’s interesting that anyone can sit in a on trial and see how everything works. A defendant or plaintiff will be there for a trial, where they may view the courthouse as a serious situation that could be life-altering. Civilians could be there for jury duty and find it to be tedious and boring.