9 27 2012 10 11 12 10 43 AM Bifurcated Proceedings two proceedings the first is the trial criminal crux is guilt or innocence If found guilty second proceeding occurs with the same jury deciding whether life in prison without parole or death penalty chemical cocktail material Death law deals with your assignment if you choose to attend death penalty cases then you need to know this background Good illustration of the most serious kind of proceeding that goes before our courts in Florida Page 41 in Target Packet 1 jury has to decide life in prison or death sentence 2 advisory the jury is giving a recommendation to the trial judge If aggravating circumstances is the death sentence Mitigating is leaning towards life in prison o Aggravating to make worse o Mitigating soften the blow sympathy 3 permitting a jury override judge can disagree with what they jury says gives the opposite of their decision In Florida Judges override a jury 25 of the time to death when they recommend life 4 review of judgment and sentence if you are given the death sentence by the judge that decision will automatically go up to the Supreme court even if your lawyer doesn t appeal District courts of appeal does not deal with capital cases 5 aggravating o a you have already been convicted of a serious crime two time loser o b you have already committed a capital felony o c you knowingly committed a crime that endangers a lot of people o d basically very serious crimes that you were engaged in while committing the crime we have no sympathy for you o e when committed the murder you were trying to flee o f pecuniary financial or monetary crime of monetary gain Example kidnapping for ransom then killing the child 6 mitigating o g hindering the government o h heinous hatefully or shockingly evil Murder was evil like Ted Bundy mutilating their bodies o i cold blooded murder without any pretense of any moral justification o j capital felony was a law enforcement agent cop killer o k killing public official doing his or her duties o l killing a child o m killing a person because of age disability o n killing a gang member o o sexual predator o a no history of criminal activity o b under extreme mental or emotional disturbance o c euthanasia mercy killing asking somebody because you are in such horrible pain to end their life and they consent to it it is still murder o d an accomplice his position was relatively minor o e you feel like you cannot say no acted under extreme distress pressure with what they are saying o f diminished capacity your capacity to understand that you are committing a horrible crime is lessened you are not quite 100 so we can cut you some slack o g age of defendant at the time of the crime o h existence of any other factors in the persons background that would mitigate against death including remorse being sorry renders sympathy victim of child abuse military service and community service value people who are put in harms way C C P Cold calculated manner premeditated H A C heinous atrocious and cruel Article Gary Michael Hilton convicted in Murder Case Killed a Georgia Hiker and a Florida women Convicted 60 year old of death penalty He did not take the stand He mutilated and decapitated her Heinous atrocious crime 2 Jury made a 12 0 vote against him Article Judge to weigh cop killer s life death Jury recommended life in prison without parole Killing a cop is aggravated assault although testified that he had brain damage was addicted to coke and learning disabilities Agreed with jury 10 02 12 Civil 1 Wrong against individual group 2 Plaintiff v Defendant 3 Lawsuit name of proceeding 4 Burden of Proof by a preponderance the greater weight of the evidence o The plaintiff must prove his or her case by tipping the scales for example 51 to 49 That s the idea of the greater weight the juror may not be completely sure but if they have tipped the scales for evidence then the plaintiff wins 5 Issue Liability are you responsible for the other persons injuries Criminal 6 Penalty how much do you have to pay 1 Wrong against society 2 State v Defendant state implies the society has been wronged that the whole state has been hurt o If federal case United States of America v John Doe 3 Prosecution name of proceeding 4 Burden of Proof beyond reasonable doubt o Must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt If you are not sure he is guilty than you should not find him guilty because the implications of this decision are that much greater 5 Issue Guilt Innocence you are guilty of a crime or innocent of a crime 6 Penalty fine jail death Page 33 box at the bottom of the page 3 English professors attacked this piece saying that it was a terrible way to describe what jurors were supposed to do in the case of beyond a reasonable doubt Page 34 box at top People were elected to make the instructions better it was much improved Made everything clear and is easier to understand Page 34 bottom Supreme Court said thank you for doing this you did a great job But they declined to adopt the instructions because the current one had been in use for many years If they were to change it you are telling us the old one was bad and the jury was convicting people when it didn t have clear instructions to do so Rather leave it alone than have the courts flooded with appeals Elements of a Crime 1 Mens rea criminal intent o The time the person committed the act they also had the criminal intent to commit that act o If a person commits a criminal act the law assumes that you meant to commit that act o If you pulled the trigger than you obviously meant to kill him why else would you have pulled the trigger o It is shown to be presumed o A presumption can be rebutted just because we presume they committed the crime doesn t mean that they did 2 Actus reus criminal act o Much easier to prove sometimes have eye witnesses or Both must be present at the time of the conviction if not you don t taped evidence have enough proof Lawyers are not judges they are there to represent their clients and they are supposed to present the evidence in the most favorable light When people admit to lawyers their crimes the lawyer must look at it and say the state must prove that you had the criminal intent not only the act Defense lawyer is saying that there is no actus reus 4 Defenses No Mens Rea 1 Insanity how can you form a criminal intent when you are insane They are sick o M Naghten Rule right wrong test if a person due to mental disease or defect is
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