Essay about Court and Court Visitation Sister

Submitted By mdornoff
Words: 1098
Pages: 5
Open Document
Court Visitation
Sister Georgia
American Political Systems
29 April 2013

Going into this project I had an idealistic view of the court system. I thought of it as this place where justice was served as fairly and equally as possible; the courts to me seemed to be the one branch of government that was the least susceptible to corruption. The judge – being limited by the laws of his/her court – is able to fairly assess each individual case and deliver a justified punishment. Going through this project I learned a great deal about the courts that significantly changed the way I thought about how they function. For the first case I visited a murder trial in the Hamilton County court of appeals on Friday April 26 – unfortunately this was around the fifth trial out of ten and I had a really hard time following what was going on in the case. I originally went by myself but, once I got in the courtroom, I realized that there were a significant amount of students from my class visiting the exact same case, which was a pleasant surprise. This court case actually ended up filling the time requirement in that it started around nine in the morning and went significantly past ten thirty in the morning; I stopped keeping track after that. It was a criminal trial of a murder case that was originally presented on the 12th of April in 2010 for a shooting in Harvey Park. The judge presiding was Robert C. Winkler and the officer’s name was David; the defending lawyer was Dan Burke, his client being Robert Davenport.
Mr. Burke was questioning the only eyewitness about what happened at the scene. During this questioning the witness continued to fall asleep on stand, and gave off the impression that he was under the influence of illegal substances – so much to the point where the defendant even addressed this asking the witness if he shot up before going on stand. As for my evaluation of the case I decided it was hard to tell. I am someone who tries to receive all of the facts before making a judgment, but the fact that an eye witness was available made it seem likely that the conviction was true. However the, seemingly, unstable state of the eyewitness was reason enough for me to not trust what he had to say on stand. This also disappointed me because of what the lawyer, who had to talk to the seniors earlier in the week, had said. He said that it isn’t innocence until proven guilty but rather guilty until proven innocent, and this witness was playing with Mr. Davenport’s life by shooting up before being on stand. This is especially saddening due to the lack of physical evidence that would indicate Mr. Davenport’s guilt. With this lack of evidential support the eyewitness account was all the defendant had in order to help get the truth out and the witness decides his drug usage is more important than the integrity of the justice system. To me this is a very disheartening aspect of the justice system and really gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
Even with the case really diminishing my mind of the court system the lawyers and the judge successfully lived up o expectations. The judge served as a mediator to the trial rather than getting involved and didn’t appear to have a bias towards one side or the other; the defending lawyer was doing his job perfectly, even with the cards being stacked against him with the rather detrimental witness. Both of these people would receive ratings in my book for their conduct throughout the trial. Especially getting a chance to meet one of the lawyers after the court case was cool even though I was only able to be at the part where he gave us the docket for the day.
Since this trial fulfilled my time requirement – and another trial wasn’t going to occur for another couple of hours I decided that getting in a couple of traffic court cases would be easier than waiting around for another big trial. At this court the judge presiding was magistrate Jay G. Littner. The first case involved a man
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about Court and Court Visitation Sister

Essay on Re: Week 8 - Discussion 1

SHELBY COUNTY DIVISION OF CORRECTIONS INMATE VISITATION APPLICATION Inmate Name: _____________________________________ R&I #: ______________________ Read Carefully: All questions must be answered. Any omissions or falsifications will be considered sufficient reason for disapproval for visitation. Return this form to the Operations Department at Shelby County Division of Corrections, 1045 Mullins Station Road, Memphis, Tennessee – 38134. The application will become apart of the inmate’s institutional…

Words 412 - Pages 2

Love Me Essay

each other as if they were the only ones walking in the hallway or not communicate with one another; my sisters and I just knew everything was building up to that one argument that would blow the roof off the house. The totem pole had filled up and my Mommy and Daddy both finally decided to cease the marriage. As a child it was hard to cope with the divorce considering that all of my sisters and my friends had both parents living with them, and now we would be the oddballs. Now that I am older…

Words 562 - Pages 3

Sacred Places Research Paper

appreciate what it has to offer. To these people a landscape is simply a landscape, a building is simply a building. If the sacredness is revealed, a person leaves a profane experience, and will almost experience something magical. Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy was a sacred place that not everyone was called to experience. No longer will they be called to be shown the sacredness of the chapel and school.…

Words 1545 - Pages 7

Substance Abuse Case Study

worked in a youth correctional facility, my mother was a flight attendant for Trans World Airlines (TWA), and my brother was a few months shy of turning seven. Shortly after my first year, my parents separated. Due to the court ruling, I lived with my mother and had visitation throughout the week with my father. I do not remember much of my early childhood but I ’m told I was a cheerful, inquisitive, and gave my parents gray hair from being such a fearless toddler. One of my first and favorite memories…

Words 1909 - Pages 8

Essay on VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Chances are, someone close to you has been, is or will be a victim. This is not something that only happens to “other people” or in “those families.” Whether aware of it or not, a woman close to you is experiencing violence: be this your daughter, sister, friend, cousin or co- worker. The consequences of violence against women- in terms of metal, physical and social health are severe and often chronic. Women and girls in violent relationships are at heightened risk of experiencing psychological and…

Words 7929 - Pages 32

Essay about Con Law Notes

Constitutional Law Where does FED or STATE legislature get its power? 1. Congress i. – if abused their powers. It is up to the court to interpret it (Marbury v. Madison) 1. They don’t have the power, because it is not enumerated. Our govt is a govt of enumerated powers, or 2. Power was exceeded 14th Amend. § 5 Kimmel Test to see if the Congress esceeded ii. If breached its limits. There are immunities and privileges of the people and if they pass a law that breaches it Amend 14th §1 then…

Words 8515 - Pages 35

Essay on San Diego Mesa Art History Final

1629 Claus Sluter - Well of Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France, ca. 1400 Cloister of Saint-Pierre - Moissac, France, 1100-1115 Colosseum - Rome, Italy, ca. 70 AD Coronation Gospel - Saint Matthew, Aachen, Germany, ca. 800 AD Court of the Lions - Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, Spain, 1354-1391 Cover - Lindau Gospels, Saint Gall, Switzerland, 870 AD Cross and carpet page of the Lindisfarne Gospel - Northumbria, England, 721 AD Death Mask of Tutankhamen - Thebes…

Words 1967 - Pages 8

LITERATURE REVISION BOOKLET 1 Essay

English Literature Revision Booklet on the Texts Contents Pg 3 – 20 Of Mice and Men (Unit 1 Section A) Pg 21 – 29 A Christmas Carol (Unit 2b Section B) Pg 30 – 40 Blood Brothers (Unit 2b Section A) Pg 41 – Final Revision Tips *IMPORTANT NOTE!* This revision booklet has been designed to help you learn as much about the books you’ve read as possible. You should use it: complete the tasks and do the extensions tasks because that is revision – not just reading a booklet! **IMPORTANTERER NOTE**…

Words 6597 - Pages 27