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Unfortunately, due to less than desirable life choices or circumstances, most of our under-culture has to deal with these situations on a day to day basis. Mr.. Aaron Hill falls into this category. On that morning Aaron started his day like any other. He attempted to get dry, and stay as such in any way possible. He then proceeded to find any source of food he possibly could. At 6′ 1′ and a hundred and fifty pounds, it was critical for him to gain some type of sustenance by any means conceivable. This meant begging on the streets, digging through commercial and residential trash receptacles and even steeling at times.
On this day, Aaron was not successful on his hunt for food. Aaron was starving. As night slowly started to shroud the light from the sky, children started to emerge from their homes in costumes ranging from goblins to princesses. As many do in Aaron’s position, he had forgotten what day it was and was over Joked at the site of kids running around with candy. In his mind, he thought he could pick candy from the ground that children had dropped or ask kids to share the fruits of their Halloween labors. His plan, in practice, was less than successful.
After giving up on attaining some candy to settle the hunger pains hat had been pulling at him for days, Aaron decided to rummage through one of the local Trader Joey’s grocery store garbage containers that had provided him food when needed. As he delve into the trash in search of anything that was close to edible, Aaron stared to realize he might be kept up another night fighting the urges of his body. While walking to a place he felt most safe to rest his eyes for the night without getting kicked out or bothered, he happened upon something that, at first, he though was trash.
As he approached closer he realized that the article on the sidewalk was actually a bag. He bent down to grab this said bag and was over Joked to find that it was full of an assortment of candy. At this point Mr.. Hill found the closest place and sat down to eat the sweets he had found. With a full stomach, he rummaged through some newspaper to use a an insulating tool to keep him warm and laid under the awning of a building and fell asleep. For the next two days he went about his normal daily routine and on the morning of the second day he awoke to red and blue lights, cops with weapons drawn and a couple of police canines barking at him.
In a startle e rose to his feet and immediately was commanded to get on his knees. With complete compliance of the officers wishes Mr.. Hill was handcuffed and read his Miranda rights as a police officer articulated to him the gruesome crime he allege committed. After the initial arrest the investigators fervently started to collect evidence fro the crime scene, talked to neighboring houses and businesses within blocks of who the alleged murder took place and started building a case against Mr.. Hill. After many weeks of solid police work nothing substantial was availed.
There was very little, if any, evidence to convict Aaron. Sandy wasn’t raped or molested in any way that could be found by the coroner. In fact, there was no physical evidence of the perpetrator on or around the body. The only quasi evidence that was found was a bag with Sandy name on it that Mr.. Hill had stuffed into his pocket. I believe any in Mr.. Hill’s situation would have picked up a bag of candy and indulge their hung And the final piece of evidence was the foot prints found at the scene of the crime which indeed matched my client’s exact size and type of shoe.
This piece of vide is curious for a couple of reason. It is already known that my client was homeless he time of the crime and walked all over University Place in search of food and shelter. It is also already known that on the night of the murder Aaron was walking fanatically around town in an attempt to find food. It isn’t farfetched to think that walked near the crime scene while on his search for nourishment. The most interesting part of this specific piece of evidence is that the footsteps where found fifty feet away from the shallow grave where Sandy was carelessly disposed of.
It should be addressed that this time and the facts will show this wasn’t a premeditative murder. It was a quick incident. My question lays here, why where there no footprints coming to or from the crime scene? Given the conditions of HTH evening, being Halloween and the streets crawling with people; would my client h time to commit a murder, dig a grave and dispose of any and all evidence on or around Sandy in the dark of the night before being seen by anyone? The fact is the would take countless minutes or even an hours to sweep the area for footprints a anything that could be used to incriminate him-?and in the dark no less.
With little evidence to work with the prosecution will take another route in attempting to invoice you of my client’s incrimination, his character. As human beings we are capable of sympathy and empathy, but we gift our greatest understanding to people that are in situations similar to the ones we have found ourselves in, or the sufferers of great tragedy and unfairness. Aaron has suffered many tragedies and found himself in unfortunate circumstances, but because these were self-inflicted and a direct result of his own actions, most peep would find it difficult to empathic with this man.
Most of you are not alcoholics. Of you are not drug addicts. Most of you are not common. Thus, most of the ladies gentlemen of the Jury, and even the people of the court room, will find it difficult t show this man any type of understanding. Yet, we aren’t here today to Judge a ma for his shortcomings and inhumanity, we are here to establish if there is enough evidence, without a shadow of a doubt, to convict Aaron Riley Hill of the gruesome murder of Sandy Jenkins. I would like to bring the Jury’s attention to something w aren’t here to argue today. We aren’t here to argue Aaron’s life choices.
We aren’t to discuss the fact that he would steal, manipulate and fornicate to get ahead. We aren’t here to contend the fact that he has never been a positive outstanding citizen. We aren’t here to debate that his shoe prints where, indeed, found at the scene of the crime. We aren’t here to dispute the fact that he certainly had Sandy Halloween bag in his pocket when detained. We are here on behalf of a beautiful young woman who’s life was cut entirely too short. We are here to make sure Justice has been served on the behalf of this little girl. We are here to make sure the right person goes to prison for the crime committed.
The prosecuting attorney will try and paint a richly picture of Mr.. Hill and will try and play you. Attempting to steer you from the evidence and point you to his character flaws-?the fact still remains that this man isn’t on trial for his life choice, he is on trial for murder. Pay close attention to the time line that has been provided to you. Pay close attention to the doctors that will take the stand and tell you that no proof of sexual assault of any kind could be found. Pay close attention to the police officers that will approach the stand and confirm Mr..
Hills complete and total compliance from the time he entered the squad car till now. With the evidence slowly laid before you over the next couple of days think about a single question. The most important question in the entire trial. A question that could rob a man of his freedoms for the remainder of his life. A question that will, ultimately, determine your verdict. Where is the motive? The Prosecuting attorney will try and persuade you into thinking this man is a monster and killing is only the natural progression of the path he was on. They will base their entire case on defamation of character.
They will bring forth evidence that is circumstantial at best and holds no weight in the form of a firm conviction. As you will see, Aaron Riley Hill may not be a good person, but he is no murderer. Look for a motive, and when you find none, only then let your decision be made. Annotative bibliography: Aaron Riley Hill Elongating, Michael. “Mock Trial Blob. ” Mock Trial Blob. N. P. , n. D. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. The mock trial blob may not have been one of the most scholarly sources one could of chosen, but the information it had to offer was immensely helpful in building my argument.
It had step by step information on how to build an argument and how to convey said argument to a Jury. Being a blob it seemed to offer a plethora of solid useful information. It was a great starting point for the assignment. The author of the blob has been in criminal law for 17 years and has been both a defense attorney as well as a prosecuting attorney. “Opening Statement in Criminal Cases. ” Opening Statement in Criminal Cases. N. P. , n. D. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Criminal Defense homestead was also full of great information on many aspect of being and speaking as a defense attorney.
I mirrored much of my argument after some of the arguments I read on the site. The gave many great examples of how to write an opening hook that grabs a Jury. They even went into detail about how one should dress and how to use non-verbal cue to your advantage, which obviously did me no good in this case, but it speaks to the amount of depth this site went into about how to be a defense attorney and how to be successful with your opening statements. “Steps in a Trial. ” American Bar Association. N. P. , n. D. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Being someone who has never been interested in law and knew, really, nothing when it came to this type of argument-?this source was perfect. It goes in depth about how the court system works and what standard operating procedures are in a rout of law. It had a section that was all about what the Jury is told by the Judge. The judge would advise the Jury that it is their sole purpose to Judge if the facts and of the credibility (believability) of witnesses where plausible, among a ton of other information on Jury conduct.
All in all this source was very helpful in the writing of my argument. MORROW, JAMES C. OPENING STATEMENT FROM THE DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE. Towpath. Mamba. Org/. WILLOWIER & KILOMETERS n. D. Web. This was one of the first sources I came across and it was a very basic overview of how to impose an argument and what to say and what not to say in an opening statement. It showed how to use thing such as use of demonstrative evidence, how to tell a good story and how to use the evidence to build your story.
It wasn’t a scholarly source, but it did help in composing my argument. “Opening Statements and Closing Arguments: Making Your Case Tags: Oral_argument, Trial_practice . ” Famous (and Infamous) Cases. N. P. , n. D. Web. 14 Mar. 2014 This was a source that I referenced the most when writing my argument. It was a solid scholarly source and it was filled with a overabundance of information and old case files. Some of the information included A collection of online resources, including particular trials, trial skills materials, databases, and relevant Journals and news.
It was maybe the biggest help in writing. I read a multitude of famous opening statements and closing arguments. I had opening statements from the impeachment of President Andrew Jackson to the O. J. Simpson trials. It was by far the most easily accessible and credible source I used. “Murray Defense Makes Opening statement. ” Youth. Youth, 27 swept. 2011. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Though youth isn’t a scholarly source it did in fact offer up a ton of useful information and gave me a solid base to work from.
I chose to look at the opening statement of the Conrad Murray. The doctor who allegedly killed Michael Jackson. I only used this as a reference because I took a lot of what the prosecuting attorney said and used in in my argument. The most compelling part of this video is when the going on for two minute about what they aren’t there to debate about. Which you will see reflected in my arrangement. It was a huge help in really pocking holes in what the persecuting attorney would come out and say. It was perfect and really took my paper to the next level.