1

THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO REVIEW? IT’S AN “A” PAPER IDEAL OR A NO POINTS TAKEN AWAY IDEAL! Simply a care of the layout and content for a nice acamedic paper!

2

3

A Sample Student Paper (Well Written)

CRIMINAL LAW PAPER STUDENT’S NAME CLASS/NUMBER DATE INSTRUCTOR NAME

4 Mallett v. Missouri 494 US 1009 Introduction The case that was chosen was Mallett v. Missouri, 494 US 1009 (1990). “Jerome Mallett, an Afro-American, was arrested for the murder of a white police officer that occurred in Perry County, Missouri. In 1980, over 1,100 Afro-Americans lived in Perry County, out of a total population of 16,784. Mallett was originally brought to trial in that county, but he requested a change of venue because of prejudicial pretrial publicity. Both the defense and prosecution offered suggestions for an appropriate venue; defense counsel specifically expressed concern that some members of Mallett's race reside in whatever county the court chose.” (Justia Us Supreme Court, 1990). Mallett v. Missouri, 494 US 1009 (1990) This case got my attention was, Mr. Mallet asked for a change of venue because of all the publicity that had been generated. The suggestion was made by the defense and the prosecutor for the change, but the defense asked that there be a substantial amount of African American people wherever they moved it to. In the county, Perry County, that the crime was perpetrated there were over 1100 Afro-American people living there. But the county that they moved the trial to, Schuyler County, there were 4964 whites and only 3 Afro-Americans. When the trial was about to begin none were living there. He was then convicted of the crime and was sentenced to death. If this is a high-profile case and a death penalty case, why would he not be judged by his peers? With there being a white police officer that was murdered, why is there no one of the color that was on the jury?

5 Supreme Court Decision In the decision by the Supreme Court, it found in favor of Mr. Mallett. Some of the facts of why the decision was made are: 1. The judge in the case gave no reason on why he picked Schuyler County. Since this was a racial case and capital murder case there should have been an explanation given since the county had almost no Afro-American. 2. Due Process was another factor in the case. Since it may have represented Schuyler County, it was not the makeup of the county that Mr. Mallett was charged in. 3. The final finding was that Mr. Mallett's equal protection rights were violated. The defense attorney informed the trial judge that the venue should be members that have the defendant race. The judge had many counties to decide on but chose that one. Parts of the Case “Defendant Jerome Mallett was convicted of the first degree murder 1986, of Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper James M. Froemsdorf and sentenced to death, the jury finding the following statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind, (2) the murder was committed against a peace officer while engaged in the performance of his official duty, and (3) the murder was committed by a person who had escaped from the lawful custody of a peace officer.” (Justia Us Supreme Court, 1990). Mens Rea and Actus Reus Mens rea means the reason behind the person committing the crime. In Mr. Mallett's case, the reason that he committed the crime was that he had a warrant out for another crime of burglary and did not want to go to jail. The actus reus means the actions that were taken to

6 commit the crime. Mr. Mallett used deadly force to not get caught since the trooper had pulled him over and found out that he had a warrant in Texas for the crime of robbery. Adversarial System The prosecution, in this case, used that Mr. Mallett received a fair trial from the court system. They believed that the judge made the right decision by moving the trial to another count, which both sides had agreed upon due to the publicity of the case. The defense said that everything dealing with the jury selection was unjust. When the case was moved to another county there were only 3 Afro-American people in the county and seeing that Mr. Mallett was Afro-American, he would not get a fair trial. There was also a violation of his rights since the case was a death penalty case, Mr. Mallett should have been given a written explanation for why this county was chosen that didn’t have the same makeup of where the crime was committed. Inchoate “Inchoate crimes, also known as incomplete crimes, are acts taken toward committing a crime or acts that constitute indirect participation in a crime. Although these acts are not themselves crimes, they are illegal because they are conducted in furtherance of a crime, and society wishes to deter individuals from taking such steps. Three primary inchoate crimes are an attempt, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.” (Justia Us Supreme Court, 1990).

7 References Justia. (1990). US Supreme Court. MALLETT v. MISSOURI, 494 U.S. 1009. Retrieved from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/494/1009/