CJ
Chapter 10
The Criminal
Trial
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcomes
LO1: Identify the basic protections enjoyed by
criminal defendants in the United States.
LO2: Explain what “taking the fifth” really
means.
LO3: Contrast challenges for cause and
peremptory challenges during voir dire.
LO4: List the standard steps in a criminal jury
trial.
LO5: List the six basic steps of an appeal.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
LO 1
Identify the basic protections
enjoyed by criminal
defendants in the United
States.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 1
Speedy Trial:
• Required by the Sixth amendment
• Barker v. Wingo (1972)
• All 50 states have their own speedytrial statutes
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 1
Statutes of Limitations
• Legislative time limits that require
prosecutors to charge a defendant
within a certain amount of time.
• Prosecutions that carry death
penalty do not have a statute of
limitations.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 1
The Role of the Jury
• Duncan v. Louisiana (1968)
– Defendant is entitled to jury trial in all
felony cases
• In most criminal cases, jury verdict
must be unanimous.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
LO 2
Explain what “taking the Fifth”
really means.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 2
The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination:
• Provided for in the Fifth amendment
• No person “shall be compelled in any criminal
case to be a witness against himself”
• Witnesses are often granted immunity
• Adamson v. California (1947)
– The decision to “take the fifth” should not prejudice
the jury
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 2
• Defendants are
• The standard of
presumed innocent
proof in criminal
until proven guilty
court is beyond a
reasonable doubt.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
LO 3
Contrast challenges for cause
and peremptory challenges
during voir dire.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 3
Jurors must be:
• A United States citizen
• Over 18 years of age
• Free of felony convictions
• Of the necessary good health to serve
• Sufficiently intelligent to understand the
issues in the trial
• Able to read, write and comprehend
English
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 3
• Jurors are selected from a master jury list
• venire
– All the people who are notified that they have
been selected for jury duty.
• voir dire
– Process in which attorneys can question
prospective jurors
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 3
There are two ways jurors are excluded:
• Challenges for Cause
– The attorney must provide a sound,
legally justifiable reason why a juror
cannot serve
• Peremptory Challenges
– Based solely on an attorney’s
subjective reasoning
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 3
Race in jury selection
– For many years, attorneys used
peremptory challenges to segregate
– The Batson Reversal (Batson v.
Kentucky)
• Prohibited prosecutors from using race as
basis to exclude jurors
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 3
Women on the Jury
– J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B. (1994)
• Extended Batson ruling to cover gender bias
© 2011 Cengage Learning
LO 4
List the standard steps in a
criminal jury trial.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
Opening Statements:
• The first step of the trial process.
• A “road map” that describes what the
attorney will try to show
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
Evidence
• Testimonial Evidence
–
–
–
–
–
Statements by competent witnesses
Lay vs. expert witness
Direct vs. circumstantial evidence
Relevance
Prejudicial evidence
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
• Real Evidence
– Presented to the court in the form of
exhibits, includes any physical items.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
The Prosecution’s Case:
• The burden of proof is on the state.
• Attempts to establish corpus delicti.
• Direct examination of witnesses
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
Cross-Examination
• Questioning of an opposing witness
• Sixth Amendment and the Confrontation
Clause
• Allows attorneys to test truthfulness of
opposing witnesses, and create doubt in
jury.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
The Defendant’s Case
• Defendant is not required to present a
case at all
• Most defenses try to expose weaknesses
in prosecutor’s case to create
reasonable doubt.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
The Defendant’s Case
• Other defense strategies
– Alibi defense
– Affirmative defense
•
•
•
•
Self-defense
Insanity
Duress
Entrapment
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
•
•
•
•
Rebuttal and Surrebuttal
Closing arguments
Jury instructions (charging the jury)
Deliberation
– Sequestering
• The Verdict
– Hung juries
– The Allen Charge
– Jury nullification
© 2011 Cengage Learning
CAREERPREP
Jury Consultant
Job Description:
• Pretrial: Research jurors’ backgrounds, assist with juror selection, create
favorable potential juror profiles, develop voir dire questions, and organize
mock trials to aid trial attorneys.
• During trial: Carefully watch jurors’ body language and behavior to
determine if the client trial lawyer is communicating her or his arguments
successfully, coach witnesses, and help trial lawyers develop strategies.
What Kind of Training Is Required?
• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree (although a master’s degree or a Ph.D. is
ideal) in sociology, political science, criminology, psychology, or
behavioral science. Research and data analysis skills are also crucial for
this profession.
• A strongly developed intuition. Jury consultants are not hired for their
expertise in criminal law, but for their insight into human behavior,
decision making, and motivational patterns.
Annual Salary Range?
$40,000–$100,000
For additional information, visit: www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-juryconsultant.htm.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 4
Appeals:
• The defendant can appeal only if they show the
trial court acted improperly on a question of
law.
• Only the defense can appeal. The prosecution
is limited by double jeopardy.
• Double jeopardy does not preclude the victim
from bringing a civil suit, or prevent the
defendant from being charged in federal court.
• A hung jury does not preclude a retrial.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
LO 5
List the six basic steps of an
appeal.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 5
Appeals:
• The two basic reasons for an appeal are
to:
– Correct an error made in the trial
– Review policy
• During the appeals process the defendant
is no longer presumed innocent
© 2011 Cengage Learning
Learning Outcome 5
Habeas Corpus
• A judicial order that commands a
corrections official to bring a prisoner
before a federal court so that the court can
hear the convict’s claim that he or she is
being held illegally.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
The Steps of an Appeal
• Within a specific period of time—usually between thirty and
ninety days—the defendant must file a notice of appeal. This
is a short written statement outlining the basis of the appeal.
• The appellant, or losing party in the lower court, must then
transfer the trial court record to the appellate court. This record
contains items of the case file, including exhibits, and a
transcript of the testimony.
• Next, the briefs must be filed by both parties. A brief is a
written argument that presents the party’s legal arguments and
precedents to support these arguments.
© 2011 Cengage Learning
The Steps of an Appeal
• The briefs are followed by oral arguments, in which attorneys
from both sides appear before the appellate court panel to state
their positions.
• After the oral arguments, the judges retire to deliberate the
case. After a decision has been made, one or more of the
judges prepare the written opinion.(This process was described
in Chapter 8 in more detail.)
• Finally, the court holds a disposition in which it announces the
next step for the case. The court can uphold the decision of the
lower court, or it can modify the lower court decision by
changing a part of it but not the whole. The lower court’s
decision may be reversed, or set aside, or the appellate court
can reverse and remand the case, meaning that the lower
court’s decision is overturned and the matter is sent back for
further proceedings.
© 2011 Cengage Learning