Grand jury

Police Brutality There have been many lives taken from the black community. Taken by the authority in uniform that we look to for safety. Taken by the authority who is supposed to protect and serve. Taken by officers who ride in a car that flicks red, white, and blue lights. These are the colors of the United States Flag that symbolizes different meanings. Red is the hardiness and the valor. Blue is of the chief, vigilance, perseverance, and justice, and white symbolizes purity and innocence.…

officer after being hit by an initial string of bullets. With all this evidence a St. Louis grand jury, made up of nine whites and three blacks. Their task was to determine whether there was a probable cause to believe that Wilson should be charged with a crime. It decided in November not to indict Wilson in connection with the shooting of Michael Brown. An indictment required nine of the twelve grand jurors to agree. The county prosecutors released the forensic reports, photographs of…

trespassing in exchange for the prosecution not charging him with murder or assault and battery. However, Wilson was indignant in keeping with his account of the incident and continued to plead not guilty. ARRAIGNMENT After the indictment by the grand jury, Judge Brown recited the formal charges to the courtroom and asked the defendant how he pleaded. Wilson could plead guilty and be immediately sentenced. He could plead nolo contendre, or no contest, where he indirectly pleads guilty, gives…

stated within the amendment that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury…”. Similarly, it is also divided into three separate clauses that enhance the major phases when dealing in a criminal investigation and prosecutions. The first one is the grand jury, secondly right to self-incrimination, and finally double jeopardy. The way it came to be in this order was due to not only history, but by also the…

difference because that the case-in-chief does not exist in a civil proceeding. Once the opening statements are made, the introduction of evidence begins and closing statements are made. Once this is done, the judge gives the instructions to the jury and the deliberation is made. Once they are finished, the verdict is entered and the judgment is…

etc., but they give us a false sense of what an actual courtroom setup looks like. Unlike these shows, there are various steps that must be taken before the defendant is prosecuted. There is the arrest, initial appearance, bail is set, either a grand jury or preliminary hearing is conducted, arraignment occurs, along with all pre-trial motions being heard before trial, a trial is then started, a sentence is given, and sometimes the defendant appeals the charge. In contrast, assembly line justice…

The movie Twelve Angry Men is mainly about members of the jury and their varied reactions towards a murder trial of a young man accused of stabbing his father to death. The movie shows how their decisions are based mainly on their own characteristics and personal life experiences. The testimony of witnesses, evidences provided were taken for granted and without even analyzing the case, were ready to give their verdict as guilty, to get it done and over with so they could go about their own…

Reginald Rose’s, Twelve Angry Men and Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, there were man vs society conflicts that brought many people to their breaking points. Both books had a strong emphasis on discrimination and prejudice. In Twelve Angry Men the jury was against the defendant for racist reasons just like the town was against Tom Robinson in the trial for racist reasons in To Kill A Mockingbird. The conflict is used in both literary pieces to display the theme of an arbitrary society to…

Community Meeting Review For the community meeting review I decided to sit in on court proceedings. I chose the court proceedings because I know they go through a lot of cases every day, therefore I thought it would give me more opportunities to understand how things work. I spent close to four hours in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, Victorville District. More specifically I sat in department V10, which is a criminal court. I am not sure if the courthouse is busy…

The majority influence is the opposite of minority influence, in which social pressure exerted by the larger portion of the group, directed toward individual members and smaller fractions with the group. In the beginning they asked members of the jury how they felt and you could tell they were unsure but as soon as other men started raising their hands it became clear that they were displaying conformity. This situation described in the Twelve Angry Men is most likely to occur when for example…