Common Pleas: Court Case Study

Reading about Ronald Georgie Whetzel Jr., being in jail for next 40 years is a “hard pill to swallow”. Sadly, I agree with the court decision to sentence him to 40 years in jail. Whetzel Jr. commit took part in an armed home invasion and that cannot be excused. I am aware at time this event occurred he was 17 years old and had a difficult family upbringing. His mother is serving a sentence for forgery and related offenses.

Illinois v. Cabelles In 1998 Roy Caballes was pulled over for speeding, the police officers were entirely within the law and their jurisdiction, however, when they hindered the stop and preformed a sniff search they violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The officer Gillette proceeds as he does in all traffic stops and requested Caballes for his license, registration, and insurance and if he had any warrants, Caballes stated he did not, in addition if he had ever been arrested before in which Caballes stated he had not. The officer’s last request to search Caballes vehicle, Caballes kindly stated no. Upon returning to his police cruiser to run a want and warrants check on Caballes, Officer Gillette found out that Caballes had been arrested

MILLERSBURG — For the second time in recent history, a man convicted of making meth has withdrawn a long-ago guilty plea in an attempt to remedy a issue created by a recent Supreme Court decision, which defeated the initial intent of his original sentence. Troy Lastohkein, 49, who has been serving an eight-year sentence at Richland Correctional Institution, sat Thursday in the Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Rinfret's courtroom. There he withdrew his initial guilty plea to felony charges of illegal assembly of chemicals to manufacture methamphetamine, child endangering and drug trafficking. He immediately pleaded guilty to similar charges, which limit the mandatory time he is required to serve before being eligible for early release.

Case Analysis In the court case, Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole v. Scott, 524 US. 357 (1998), the defendant was not allowed to obtain any weapons while on parole. In 1983, Scott pleaded ‘nolo contendere’, which means that he doesn’t wish to contend or agree to the guilty charge, to third degree murder. He was sentenced ten to twenty years to prison.

For over 70 years the homes off of Woodlawn Avenue have been known as Hathorn Court. However, the community came together on Saturday to change the name to Woodlawn Court. "Hathorn Court has always had a stigma about it because of the crime rate that was here. We had a problem bringing it back to where it needs to be," said Property Manager, Don Paul. On Saturday, the community held a block party and clean up day.

I agree with your post Brian. Foss delivered his speech confidently with facts you can't ignore. Usually when someone commits a crime it's easy to label them as "a delinquent" or a bad person in general. What people tend to overlook however, is the reasoning behind those actions. I really appreciate that Foss as a prosecutor, is someone who is adamant about changing lives for individuals before they suffer to the hands of a system that needs help itself.

Typically, prior convictions can enhance the charge and penalties for subsequent convictions; however, his prior convictions are outside the look back period for both, the offense is a first-degree misdemeanor, according to Lt. Stephanie Norman, commander of the Wooster Post

: Petitioner, the State of Arizona, sought review of an order entered by the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona, which granted the defendant Pike’s motion to modify his sentence pursuant to Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32. During the time of the offense, a sentence of one year-life was officially put into place. Pike filed a petition for post-conviction relief to have his sentence altered because he believed that his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. The trial court granted Pike’s petition and gave him only 15 to 30 years and the state of Arizona filed a petition for review. On July 10, 1975, the defendant Pike was convicted of possession of dangerous drugs for sale which violated the A.R.S. §§ 32-1970(C), 32-1996(C), and 32-1901, and Pike was sentenced to serve a term of not less than 40 nor more than 50 years in the Arizona State Prison.

Kirk L. Odom, a convicted Washington D.C. man who served 22 years in prison, for a crime that Odom did not commit. Back in 1981, Kirk L. Odom was found guilty by a Supreme Court Judge, for the rape and robbery of a woman, in her apartment, in Washington D.C.. According to the Washington Post, since 2009 he is one of 5 of rape or murder convicts, that have been vacated based on erroneous forensics and testimony by elite FBI hair experts. Also, The Washington Post gives statistics and years, for rape and murder convictions, and who goes about trying to solve them. When the evidence proves the convicted guilty, like Kirk, the inmate should be exonerated and compensated for his time.

In former articles, it states he had an issue with showing remorse, yet after entering into various prison programs,

The sentence was passed on following a six-day hearing in which Lane County Circuit Court Judge Jack Mattison heard points of interest of Kip 's violations from agents and onlookers, listened to discusses about Kip 's emotional wellness, and heard explanations from the

Adjustments in life are rather harder than expected, especially for convicted prisoners. Having majority of your rights and freedoms being taken away is an enormous punishment in which none us want. Prior to jail, Andy Dufrense was a successful banker, who was able to do anything he truly wanted. Andy was a very wealthy, and successful man who had the rest of his life panned out for him. But due to a wrong conviction, Andy is now facing a two life year sentences in a maximum facility.

There are eight general factors listed below that influence a judge’s decision to sentence the accused in a case. These secondary legal factors are not supposed to influence a judge’s decision, but they do because they are only human (Bohm & Haley, 2012). Under the black robe of authority, judges are human and contain all the prejudices just like regular citizens. Some of the characteristics that have been found to affect the judge 's sentencing decisions are: (1) the socioeconomic background of the judges. (2) Their academic qualifications and the law school that they attended.

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. ”(Martin Luther King, Jr.) Most people were racist but now since the civil rights have been established most have stopped being racist and moved on. Three supreme court case decisions influenced the civil rights movements by letting more and more poeple know what the Supreme Court was doing to African Americans,and of the unfair him crow laws:(Dred Scott v. Sanford,Plessy v. Ferguson,Brown v. Board of Education). Dred Scott v. Sanford Is a case that most people felt that Dred Scott had an unfair charge against him.

In the movie Capote (2005), Truman Capote found himself fascinated and intrigued by a family’s murder in a small Kansas town. He and his research assistant, Nelle Harper Lee, visited the sight of the murders, the school that the witnesses attended, and the home of the detective, Alvin Dewey. Soon after, two suspects are identified and given a trial. The jury of all white men announce their verdict and sentence: guilty and death. By this time, Capote has begun to establish a relationship with one of the suspects, Perry Smith.