Assignment 2Suggested Revision

Assignment 2: Courts, Prosecution, and the Defense

Due Week 7 and worth 200 points

The courts have one of the mostimportant roles in the Criminal Justice system. They are responsible for the interpretationand application of law when crimes are committed and they help to bring resolveto disputes between people, companies, and units of government.

In preparation for thisassignment, please carefully review the following cases.You will be assigned ONE of these examples todo your paper on:

Case #1 – Police Officer BettyShelby shooting of Terrence Crutcher

Case #2 – Police Officer RoyOliver shooting of Jordan Edwards

Case #3 -Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez shooting ofPhilando Castile

Case #4 -Baltimore Police Department and the death ofFreddy Gray

Case #5 – Police Officer PeterLiang shooting of Akai Gurley

Case # 1 – Completed if yourlast name starts with A-D

Case # 2 – Completed if yourlast name starts with E-H

Case # 3 -Completed if your last name starts with I-M

Case # 4 -Completed if your last name starts with N-S

Case # 5 – Completed if yourlast name starts with T-Z

Based on your understandingfrom the readings in chapters 7-9, write a three to four (3-4) page courtreport in which you:

1.Summarize the case, including adetailed description of the crime that took place. The summary of the case MUST be done in afactual manner.Do NOT insert yourpersonal opinions. In this exercise, you are an official of the court and youare presenting the facts of the case only!

2.Describe the key characters inthe case and the roles they played.

3.Explain the charge(s) againstthe defendant(s) and the evidence presented to justify the charge(s). Indicatewhether or not the defendant was offered some form of plea deal prior to thecourt date.

4.State whether any witnesseswere called in the case. If so, identify the witness(es) and provide arationale as to why they were called.

5.Highlight the outcome of thecase (verdict) and take a position on whether the verdict was appropriate basedon the charges. Remember to look at legal issue verses training issues.Poor training does NOT always mean the actwas illegal!!

6.Include at least one (1)additional quality reference in addition to the case file presented.

Your assignment must followthese formatting requirements:

·Follow standard court report format, using the sample provided forreference.

·Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, thestudent's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The coverpage and the reference page are not included in the required assignment pagelength.

The specific course learningoutcomes associated with this assignment are:

·Explain the development of American courts and illustrate theconcept of the dual-court system.

·Distinguish between the various courtroom participants, anddescribe the stages in a criminal trial.

·Use technology and information resources to research issues incriminal justice.

·Write clearly and concisely about criminal justice using properwriting mechanics Using Strayer Writing Standards (SWS)