POSC 130g 1st Edition Lecture 7 Current Lecture Requirement that the police gives Miranda warnings negligible effect Even though the police were required to give the warnings they did it half hazardly Incoed crimes conspiracy to be convicted one must have the intent and must commit the crime Some crimes are the intent of just planning it Court System Trial Courts only hear disputes if there is a legal category no right without a remedy Courts want to be fair and protect due process tension between the courts Trial courts don t write any decision don t write reasons for ruling observing or reading transcripts if case is taken on appeal liken to elaborate chess games It is a legal battle and in criminal cases many of them are handled through plea bargaining criminal courts are for prosecution for the poor usually Plea bargaining remains controversial there is pressure on defendants to accept a plea Appellate courts One of the most distinct features of the American legal system is the dual court system state and federal courts It is a consequence of the 1789 Judiciary Act which set up the federal courts to operate alongside the state courts Section 25 of the Judiciary Act gave the US Supreme Court the authority to review State court decisions if they were based on federal law claim based on treaty or federal statue The state courts are bound by US Supreme Court decisions State courts have attained some autonomy they are the final arbitrators of the state law based on own provisions The federal trial courts which are called district courts are more standard Federal courts criminal matters involving violation of federal law Federal judges have tenure will be there for life unless misconduct State court judges have different rules sometimes elected sometimes appointed many different ways state court judges are selected The US Supreme Court used to have to take cases on appeal but now do not do mandatory appeal they only do cases at their digression Dual court systems means at least 51 judicial systems rules can vary in different states Forum shopping lawyer will figure out which place they will be most likely to prevail Cannot summarize what the courts will rule US Supreme Court is the only court that has binding authority the California courts don t have binding authority of Vermont Supreme Court State courts are entirely independent of each other Federal court supposedly judges are better because they are elected shorter time to go to trial Political orientation of judges lawyers take into account when deciding what court to go into Sometimes there are cases that involve state and federal claim if plaintiff files a suit in federal court and the matter is decided recjediceta this prevents a plaintiff from going to another court collateral estapple being stopped from making a claim in one court if facts have already been decided in another court If a federal court hears a case that has a state and federal claim that is called pendent jurisdiction person can t go to state after federal The person can go to state court and be heard both matters of federal and state If the law suit is against the state there cannot be any suits against the federal state or wards of the states state officials sometimes have immunity which prevents them from being sued Advantage of going to state court final arbitral of matters of state law Independent state grounds Federal constitution is the floor the minimum rights that all states must protect State constitution is the ceiling can provide more rights than are available under the Constitution If the state Supreme Court makes a decision based on state and US Constitution since the state is the authority of state law the US Supreme Court cannot take the case even if the Supreme Court thinks it misinterpreted the US Constitution Prunyard vs Robbins 1980 free speech rights Zionism throw out of a market went to court but court wouldn t issue an injunction California Supreme Court held that the shopping center was allowed to have activity rejected that this violated the shopping owners of their 5th Amendment rights right against property taken Case went to US Supreme Court but said the federal law was confusing but probably under federal law the students would lose However sine it was based on California law the students had the free speech right to circulate petition at shopping center The Supreme Court would not review the court recognized independent state grounds and left it to the California Supreme Court Even though the US didn t agree under federal law US Supreme Court can t interfere by how California Supreme Court interprets their constitution What is the function of the jury designed to have a check on government institutions limit political tyranny provided for the public to check unjust decision making by courts fundamental constitutional right juries only hear about 8 of criminal cases because of plea bargaining represent possibility of descent even if the legal system is united juries can never the less disagree In terms of the function of the jury if the jury acquits someone the judge can t do anything about that If the jury convicts the judge can reverse the decision In a civil case sometimes judge will take case away from the jury and sometimes it is done through directed verdict that is before the jury has decided Also something called judgment notwithstanding the verdict jury has decided and judge will set it aside Preference for the second procedure because if the judge reversed decision we know what the jury decided Judge can reduce the size of a damage award or can increase it Juries 1 Function finding the facts versus applying the law Independence of jury doesn t have to give reason just has to say yes or no 1 Trial of William Penn 1670 a took place in the Old Bailey criminal court is London Founder of colony of Pennsylvania William Penn was the defendant being charged with unlawful assembly The jury was instructed that they wouldn t be dismissed until render proper verdict The judge didn t accept the jury s decision wanted a decision that the judge liked Government forced to accept jury verdict not guilty but the defendants had to spend time in prison This is a case that helped decide indepdence of the jury that jury can decide what they want not what the judge wants 2 Compare to Throckmorten case 1554 a Juries were fined and stripped of lands because Jury found the man not guilty 3 John Peter Zenger case 1735 a Alexander Hamilton s