Law Commons^™

Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse: A Survey Of Evidentiary Modifications In West Virginia, Kelley L. Brown

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Conviction Irrelevant?, Elizabeth T. Lear

UF Law Faculty Publications

Since 1986, the country has been witness to a revolution in federal sentencing practice: indeterminate sentencing, dominated by discretion and focused on the rehabilitative prospects of the offender, has been replaced by guidelines infused with offense-based considerations. As sweeping as the change in sentencing procedure has been, the system retains troubling aspects of the former regime. The most controversial among these is the Guidelines' reliance on unadjudicated conduct to determine proper punishment levels.

This approach is a variation on “real offense” sentencing, which severs the punishment inquiry from the offense of conviction, focusing instead on an offender's "actual" conduct. Under …

Morgan V. Illinois: The Defense Gets The Reverse- Witherspoon Question, Thomas Joshua R. Archer

Mercer Law Review

In Morgan v. Illinois the United States Supreme Court settled the "reverse- Witherspoon" question. The Court held that a trial court in a capital case must, upon the defendant's request, specifically inquire into a prospective juror's views on capital punishment and that a potential juror who would always vote for a sentence of death, regardless of the facts, must be struck for cause. Further, the Court stated that the presence of even one partial juror on a defendant's panel offends the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury and the sentence may not stand.

Before Morgan …

Sentencing Intimate Femicide: A Comment On R. V. Doyle, Teresa Scassa

Dalhousie Law Journal

In August of 1989, Donald Michael Doyle murdered his wife of fifteen years by firing three shots into her chest while she slept. He was charged with first degree murder, and pleaded guilty to second degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole until after the statutory minimum of ten years. The Crown appealed the sentencing decision of the trial judge, and argued for a greater period of parole ineligibility. The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and raised the period of imprisonment without parole to seventeen years. The differences between the sentencing decisions …

Wise V. Williams 982 F.2d 142 (4th Cir. 1992)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Chronological Outline Of A Capital Murder Trial, Rhonda L. Overstreet

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

From Japan's Death Row To Freedom, Daniel H. Foote

Washington International Law Journal

In 1975, the Japanese Supreme Court relaxed the standards governing the grant of retrials in criminal cases. Since then four death row inmates have obtained new trials and ultimate vindication through acquittals. The facts of the four cases are compelling: all involved highly publicized murders, rather harsh investigations leading to confessions that the defendants subsequently disavowed, and seemingly routine convictions followed by decades-long struggles by the convicted men to forestall their executions and secure retrials. Each of the men spent over 25 years on death row before the final determination that he had been unjustly convicted. In this article, Professor …

Dobbs V. Zant 113 S. Ct. 835 (1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Jenkins V. Commonwealth 244 Va. 445 423 S.E.2d 360 (1992)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Litigating The Death Penalty And Race Discrimination In A Post-Mccleskey World, G. Douglas Kilday

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Anything Someone Else Says Can And Will Be Used Against You In A Court Of Law: The Use Of Unadjudicated Acts In Capital Sentencing, Laura J. Fenn

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

The "Two-Edged" Sword: Mitigation Evidence Used In Aggravation, Charles F. Castner

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Flow Chart Of The Stages Of A Capital Murder Trial

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

The Peremptory Challenge: A Lost Cause?, Robert T. Prior

Mercer Law Review

The recent Supreme Court decision of Georgia v. McCollum marked the culmination of a series of cases dealing with racially discriminatory peremptory challenges in jury selection. In holding that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires a criminal defendant to articulate a racially neutral explanation for peremptory challenges before striking jury members of a different race, the Court has significantly undermined the role of the peremptory challenge in American jurisprudence. Beginning with Batson v. Kentucky six years ago, the Court has progressively ruled that under no circumstance will a party on either side of a criminal trial or …

Resources And Rights: Towards A New Prototype Of Criminal Representation, Laura Gardner Webster

Mercer Law Review

A comprehensive concern in recent criminal procedure decisions in the United States Supreme Court has been the apprehension that certain rights afforded to the accused detract from efficient law enforcement. Efficiency in controlling crime and obtaining accurate verdicts is preferred over the recognition of rights which impede that process. This model of the purposes of the criminal justice system has its origins in the judicial reluctance to apply the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule as a means of excluding otherwise probative evidence simply because "the constable blundered."' The problems in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence are well known. As two commentators have observed, …

Edge V. State: The Modified Merger Rule Comes Up Short, Mark Kenneth Delegal

Mercer Law Review

In Edge v. State, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that a verdict convicting a defendant of voluntary manslaughter and felony murder based in the underlying felony of aggravated assault was improper. The court reasoned that because the jury found Edge guilty of voluntary manslaughter, malice did not exist and therefore, could not be transferred to support a felony murder conviction. Regrettably, the supreme court failed to adopt the merger rule. However, the court adopted a modified merger rule that precludes a conviction for felony murder when a conviction would prevent the jury from an otherwise proper finding of …

Defending The Poor, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Given the harsh reality that the quality of justice that people get in this country often depends on how much money they have , is our society's aspiration toward "equal justice" attainable? Probably not. A criminal defendant's poverty is not necessarily inconsistent with zealous advocacy. But whether lawyers for the poor adequately protect their clients' rights in criminal cases is the subject of ongoing debate.

The Presentence Interview And The Right To Counsel: A Critical Stage Under The Federal Sentencing Structure, Megan E. Burns

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Guideline Developments In The First Circuit: The Two Faces Of Appellate Review, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reviewing Departures: The First Circuit's New Rivera Rule, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Securities Law Enforcement Priorities, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Criminal Justice Reforms In The United States, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Harmless Error In The Penalty Phase Of A Capital Case: A Doctrine Misunderstood And Misapplied, Linda Carter

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Testing The Limits Of Investigating And Prosecuting White Collar Crime: How Far Will The Courts Allow Prosecutors To Go?, Peter J. Henning

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Racial Imagery In Criminal Cases, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Themes Of Injustice: Wrongful Convictions, Racial Prejudice, And Lawyer Incompetence, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The U. S. criminal justice system has undergone radical changes in the past generation. Crime is more complex; prosecutors are more powerful; and courts, corrections agencies, and defense services are burdened with larger case loads and tighter budgets. It is not the best of times to talk about justice. Yet, it is a subject that needs to be constantly addressed, particularly in times of crisis. The following essay focuses on some of the problems that present themselves in the criminal justice system today, including the conviction of innocent defendants, especially in capital cases; racial prejudice; and lawyer incompetence.

Equal Protection

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Right To Be Present

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Right To Be Present

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Telling The Victim's Story, Mary I. Coombs

Articles

No abstract provided.