Actual Innocence: (Criminal Law)
The absence of facts that are prerequisites for the sentence given to a defendant.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Actual Innocence v. Factual Innocence: (Criminal Law)
Factual Innocence: A prisoner is guilty of a crime but not what s/he was convicted of.
Actual Innocence: A prisoner did not commit any crime at all.
Appeal:
A proceeding undertaken to have a decision reconsidered by bringing it to a higher authority; esp., the submission of a lower court's or agency's decision to a higher court for review and possible reversal.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Arraignment:
The initial step in a criminal prosecution whereby the defendant is brought before the court to hear the charges and to enter a plea.
Brady Material:
Information or evidence that is favorable to a defendant's case and that the prosecution has a duty to disclose.
The prosecution's withholding of such information violates the defendant's due-process rights.
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194 (1963). Cf. Jencks Material.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Brief:
A written statement setting out the legal contention of a party in litigation, esp. on appeal; a document prepared by counsel as the basis for arguing a case, consisting, sonsisting of legal and factual arguments and the authorities in support of them.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Certiorari:
[Law Latin "to be more fully informed"]
An extraordinary writ issued by an appellate court, at its discretion, directing a lower court to deliver the record in the case for review.
The U.S. Supreme Court uses certiorari to review most of the cases that it decides to hear.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Concurrent Sentences:
Two or more sentences of jail time to be served simultaneously.
For example, if a defendent receives concurrent sentences of 5 years and 15 years, the total amount of jail time is 15 years.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Consecutive Sentences:
Two or more sentences of jail time to be served in sequence.
For example, if a defendant receives consecutive sentences of 20 years and 5 years, the total amount of jail time is 25 years.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Exculpatory Evidence:
Evidence tending to establish a criminal defendant's innocence. See Brady Material. Source: Black's Law Dictionary
A prosecutor is supposed to share evidence the courts may have discovered that points to a defendant's innocence.
Problem: Only the prosecutors get decide what they think is really exculpatory or useful evidence for a defendant. If they do not think it points toward exoneration, the defense may never see it. A state justice system can get out of balance this way. It may be in the best interest that both the prosecution and the defense have equal and reciprocal discovery in cases.
Factual Innocence: (Criminal Law)
See "Actual Innocence v. Factual Innocence" above.
Felony v. Misdemeanor:
Felony: A serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by death.
Misdemeanor: A crime that is less serious than a felony and is usually punishable by fine, penalty, forfeiture, or confinement (usually for a brief term) in a place other than prison (such as a county jail).
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
General Instructions By The Court
The questioning of a witness by the attorney calling that witness to the stand is known as direct examination. The questioning of that same witness by the attorney on the opposite side is known as cross-examination. If matters are brought up on cross-examination which the attorney calling that witness feels should be further explained, or explored, he can ask additional questions of that witness, that is known as redirect examination. And on questions, and upon matters brought up on redirect examination, the attorney on the opposite side can ask additional questions, that is known as recross-examination.
During the course of trial you may hear an attorney object to the asking of a particular question. When an attorney makes an objection he is applying to the court to rule that the question is improper and the witness should not be allowed to answer it. Then the judge must make a ruling. If the judge rules that the objection is overruled, he is ruling that the question is a proper question. If the judge is ruling that the objection is sustained, the judge is ruling that that question is an improper question and the witness should not be allowed to answer it.
Evidence consists of a question coupled with an answer. When an objection is sustained, you have an improper question, you have no answer. You cannot consider that question as evidence, nor can you draw any inference from the asking of that particular question.
Either attorney makes objections during the course of a trial. It is the obligation of each attorney to object to any question which he feels is improper, and an attorney would be remiss in his obligation if he failed to do so.
Grand Jury:
A body of (often 23) people who are chosen to sit permanently for at least a month - and sometimes a year - and who, in ex parte proceedings, decide whether to issue indictments.
If the grand jury decides that evidence is strong enough to hold a suspect for trial, it returns a bill of indictment (a true bill) charging the suspect with a specific crime.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Habeas Corpus:
[Law Latin "that you have the body"]
A writ employed to bring a person before a court, most frequently to ensure that the party's imprisonment or detention is not illegal (habeas corpus ad subjiciendum).
In addition to being used to test the legality of an arrest or commitment, the writ may be used to obtain review of
(1) the regularity of the extradition process,
(2) the right to or amount of bail,
or (3) the jurisdiction of a court that has imposed a criminal sentence.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Jury Nullification:
Jury nullification is a jury's refusal to render a verdict according to the law, as instructed by the court, regardless of the weight of evidence presented. Instead, a jury bases its verdict on other grounds and so asserts the jurors own view of justice; a consequence of providing a right to trial by one's peers.[1] Although a jury's refusal only relates to the particular case before them, juries are reluctant to pass a verdict contrary to law and therefore jury nullification often has far reaching implications signalling as it does an unwillingness by ordinary people to accept the law. Read on at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mandamus:
[Latin "we command"]
A writ issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.
Souce: Black's Law Dictionary
Miranda Rule:
The doctrine that a criminal suspect in police custody must be informed of certain constitutional rights before interrogated.
"The suspect must be advised of the right to remain silent, the right to have an attorney present during questioning, and the right to have an attorney appointed if the suspect cannot afford one.
If a suspect is not advised of these rights or does not validly waive them, any evidence obtained during the interrogation cannot be used against the suspect at trial (except for impeachment purposes)."
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602 (1966)
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Misdemeanor:
See "Felony v. Misdemeanor" above.
Motion:
1. A written or oral application requesting a court to make a specified ruling or order.
2. A proposal made under formal parliamentary procedure.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Motion to Quash:
A party's request that the court nullify process or an act instituted by the other party, as in seeking to nullify a subpoena.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
nolo contendere:
[Latin "I do not wish to contend"]
no contest, often shortened to nolo
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
nunc pro tunc:
[Latin: "now for then"] Having retroactive legal effect through a court's inherent power
the court entered a nunc pro tunc order to correct a clerical error in the record.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Postconviction-Relief (PCR) proceeding:
A state or federal procedure for a prisoner to request a court to vacate or correct a conviction or sentence.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Preliminary Hearing:
A criminal hearing (usually conducted by a magistrate) to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute an accused person.
If sufficient evidence exists, the case will be set for trial or bound over for grand-jury review, or an information will be filed in the trial court.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Prima Facie Case:
1. The establishment of a legally required rebuttable presumption.
2. A party's production of enough evidence to allow the facttrier to infer the fact at issue and rule in the party's favor.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Writ:
A court's written order, in the name of a state or other competent legal authority, commanding the addressee to do or refrain from doing some specified act.
Source: Black's Law Dictionary
Cases
"Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted, but when criminal trials are fair; our system of administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly."
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963)
"When the State's case hinges on the testimony of one eyewitness, the Brady violation looms larger."
State v. Bright, 2004 WL 1157411 (La.2004)
"Reversals should only occur when there can be no confidence in the verdict. This conviction, based on the facts of this case which include a failure to disclose what the State now admits is significant and thus must be reversed."
Bright, 2004 WL 1157411 (La.2004)
"The factors to be considered in evaluating the likelihood of misidentification include
the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime,
the witness' degree of attention,
the accuracy of the witness' prior description of the criminal,
the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the confrontation,
and the length of time between the crime and the confrontation."
Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. at 199-200 (1972)
In order to demonstrate that a line-up identification procedure was suggestive, a defendant must show that the "persons or pictures used in the line-up display defendant so singularly that the witness' is unduly focused on the defendant."
State v. Rosette, 653 So.2d 80,81 (La.App.3Cir.1995)
(citing State v. Duncan, 635 So. 2d at 655)
"The right to counsel is the right to the effective assistance of counsel."
McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 771, n.14 (1970)
Ineffective assistance of counsel claims may be brought in a collateral proceeding under § 2255.
See Massaro v. United States, 538 U.S. 500 (2003)
See also Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) "An ineffectiveness claim, however, as our articulation of the standards that govern decision of such claims makes clear, is an attack on the fundamental fairness of the proceeding whose result is challenged. Since fundamental fairness is the central concern of the writ of habeas corpus, no special standards ought to apply to ineffectiveness claims made in habeas proceedings."
To prove prejudice under the Strickland standard, a petitioner "must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for the counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceedings would have been different."
Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694; United States v. Chavez, 193 F. 3d 375, 377 (5th Cir. 1999) "A reasonable probability exists that counsel's deficient performance affected the outcome and denied [petitioner] a fair trial."
In Strickland the Supreme Court defined a reasonable probability as "a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome."
Id. at 669
In making a determination as to whether prejudice occured, courts must review the record to determine the "relative role that the alleged trial errors played in the total context of [the] trial."
Crockett v. McCotter, 796 F. 2d 787 at 793 (5th Cir. 1986)
"The natural and inevitable tendency of the tribunal ...is to give excessive weight to the vicious record of crime and either to allow it to bear too strongly on the present charge, or to take the proof of it as justifying a condemnation irrespective of guilt of the present charge."
State v. Kennedy, 00-1554 (La.4/3/01), 2001 WL 316170 p.3
See also State v. Prieur, 277 So. 2d 126, 129 (La. 1973)
"Discrimination on the basis of race in the selection of members of a grand jury ... strikes at the fundamental values of our judicial system, because the grand jury is a central component of the criminal justice process."
Campell, 523 U.S. 392, 118 S.Ct. 1419, 140L. Ed. 2d 551 (quoting Rose, 443 U.S. at 556).
"Blacks comprise a distinct class capable of being singled out for different treatment under law."
Johnson v. Puckett, 929 F. 2d 1067, 1072 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 112 S.Ct.274 (1991)
"If a prima facie case of discrimination is made out, the state must explain the disparity or establish that the excluded persons are not qualified."
Black v. Curb, 422 F. 2d 656, 659 (5th Cir. 1970) (citing Whites v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545, 87 S.Ct. 643 (1967).