Trials and Verdicts

In preparation for this assignment, please view the Jurisville scenarios.

In the scenarios and resulting simulations, Tim Smith, senior criminal lawyer, discusses select cases and asks a paralegal to indicate which courts would have exclusive jurisdiction of the cases in question. He also discusses various pretrial procedures and illustrates them with select cases. Finally, Tim Smith introduces the case of Roland Gary, who served twenty-three (23) years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The case brought to light several key issues, along with the manner in which they were resolved.

Use the Internet to research three real-life cases from the past five (5) years that fit the following criteria:

• Cases that depict the unique processes related to different courts
• The defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial
• The defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated

Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:

1. Discuss one (1) real-life criminal case, taken from current events, and identify the court that took jurisdiction. Explain why the court that took the case was the appropriate one for the particular circumstances.

2. Discuss the real-life case that you have selected, in which the defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial. Give your opinion on whether or not justice was served in the case in question. Provide a rationale for the response.

3. Discuss the real-life case that you selected, in which, like Roland Gary, the defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated. Explore one (1) key aspect of the case and examine its relation to the case at large. Describe the resolution to the selected case.

4. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.