BP023 : Criminal Justice : Control Crimes And impose Penalties to the
In preparation for this assignment, please carefully review the case of Michael T. Slager below. Also, please review the court report samples below for reference in preparing a standard court report.
Michael T. Slager Case
Court Report Sample 1
Court Report Sample 2
Summarize the case, including a detailed description of the crime that took place.
Outline the level of court that was assigned to the case (e.g. local/state, municipal, or federal) and the reason why that level was appropriate.
Describe the key characters in the case and the roles they played.
Explain the charge(s) against the defendant(s) and the evidence presented to justify the charge(s). Indicate whether or not the defendant was offered some form of plea deal prior to the court date.
State whether any witnesses were called in the case. If so, identify the witness(es) and provide a rationale as to why they were called.
Highlight the outcome of the case (verdict) and take a position on whether the verdict was appropriate based on the charges.
Include at least one (1) additional quality reference in addition to the case file presented.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Follow standard court report format, using the examples provided in your course shell for reference.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page l
Answer:
Criminal Justice
In the criminal justice systems, the courts are able to control crimes and impose penalties to the individuals who violate the law. The systems work differently depending on the jurisdiction that is in charge; whether the federal, state, county or city. All the jurisdictions, however, vary in how they manage the criminal justice processes. They also have different agencies and laws. What follows in this paper is a review of Michael T. Slager case.
Statement of the Case
Case Summary
The case of Michael T. Slager involved a white former South Carolina police officer, Michael Slager, and a black motorist, Walter Scott. On April 4, 2015, Slager stopped Scott on the road alleging Scott had broken car brake lights (Osunsami 2017, p.1). Scott tried running away but Slager followed him and shot him five times on his back. It was clear, however, that Scott was unarmed. After the shooting, Slager took his taser and planted it next to Scott claiming that the shooting happened as a result of the struggle for his taser, which was actually a lie. Unfortunately, an eyewitness released a video recording from a phone which proved how the incident happened. According to the video, Slager shot Scott when Scott was trying to escape. The video also captured another police officer who put on gloves and tried examining Scott as Slager watched Scott die. In June 2015, Slager was charged with murder by a South Carolina grand jury. After that in January 2016, it happened that he was lucky and got released on bond. In the same year, he got indicted on federal charges for violation of civil rights and obstruction of justice. In 2017, he was found guilty of the charges. In turn, he was returned to jail but the charges were still dropped. However, he was finally sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in December 2017.
Level of Court
There are two main systems of the criminal justice systems – the state and the federal systems. The state criminal justice system handles the criminal cases that happen within the specific state boundaries (Rakoff 2017, p.430). On the other hand, the federal criminal justice system deals with the criminal cases that happen on federal property or in more than a single state. The case of Michael T. Slager was held in the federal court. It was assigned to the federal court because this judicial system has powers to defend most basic rights such as the right to speech and the equal protection. Besides, in the Michael Slager case, there was a question of diversity of citizenship where a white police officer shot a black motorist.
Primary Characters and their Roles
Michael Slager – The individual accused of violating the civil right of Scott.
Feidin Santana – The bystander who witnessed what happened during the crime. She took a video of the crime and provided it as evidence to the family and the media.
Clarence W. Habersham Jr. – A police officer who was with Slager at the crime scene. He was seen in the video with gloves on, trying to assess the victim after being fatally shot by Slager.
David C. Norton – The District Judge who had the responsibility of deciding Slager’s case.
David Aylor – The original lawyer of the defendant
Charges
Michael Slager was charged with murder, illegal use of weapon, violation of civil rights and obstruction of justice (Osunsami 2017, p.1). The federal charges for murder, however, ended in a mistrial as a result of a deadlock jury. The charges were, thus, dismissed and Justice David Norton sentenced him to a 20 years’ imprisonment for second-degree murder.
Evidence Presented
Three days after the day of the shooting, a video was released showing the events of the crime. According to the evidence, Scott was 17 feet away from Slager. He was unarmed and running away from the officer. Slager shot him on the back five times.
Witnesses
Clarence Habersham – The police officer who was present in the crime scene. He was called to testify about what exactly happened during the shooting of Scott.
Feidin Santana – He was called to court as a result of the video he provided as evidence.
Argument
The outcome of the case was that Judge David Norton sentenced Slager to 20 years imprisonment as a result of committing second-degree murder (Sanburn, 2015). However, the judgment was not appropriate because according to the evidence provided in court, the law under UMCJ Article 118 Clause (1) or (4) shows that Slager was guilty of first-degree murder and should have been sentenced to a life imprisonment or a death penalty.
References:
Osunsami, S 2017, ‘Officer sentenced for killing', World News With Diane Sawyer, p. 1.
Rakoff, JS 2017, 'Why Prosecutors Rule the Criminal Justice System--And What Can Be Done About It', Northwestern University Law Review, 111, 6, pp. 1429-1436.
Sanburn, J 2015, 'What to Know About the South Carolina Cop Accused of Murdering Walter Scott', Time.Com, p. N.PAG,
UCMJ Article 118 Clause (1) or (4)
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