Exercises

A. Conviction

In Chapter 12 of the textbook, the arrest of Calvin Jackson in connection with a series of murders is described. It is now some 18 months later and Jackson has been on trial for nine murders. The case went to the jury today, and after four hours and 11 minutes of deliberations, a guilty verdict was returned.
Jackson was convicted of killing nine women. He faces life in prison with a mandatory minimum of 25 to 30 years. Sentencing will be two weeks from today. District Court Judge Aloysius J. Melia, who presided over the six-week trial, will do the sentencing next month.

Jackson's defense was insanity. But a three-hour tape-recorded confession he made to the police, which was played to the jury, was full of details of the various crimes, and jurors said, after the trial, this convinced them he was sane at the time of the slayings. Write a story of 250 words for a local newspaper about the verdict.

B. Chen Indict

     Dong Lu Chen, 51, of 1658 Broadway, who was arrested 10 days ago in connection with the death of his wife, Gian Wan Chen, was indicted today by a grand jury. (See Chapter 20, Exercises, F. Chen Arrest)
     He was charged with second-degree murder. He has been held without bail and was returned to jail pending felony arraignment on the charge.
     Write a story for www.freenews.com.

C. Chen Sentence

     District Court Judge Marvin Hurley held a nonjury trial for Dong Lu Chen, 51, who was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Gian Wan Chen, 40.
     Chen spent 18 months in jail pending trial, which began five days ago.
     Judge Hurley reached a decision yesterday of second-degree manslaughter. Two hours later, he sentenced Chen to probation of five years.
     During the trial, testimony showed that while Chen was in Maryland and his wife and children were in Freeport, his wife took a lover. The children testified that their mother taunted Chen about her affair.
     After an argument that the children overheard, Chen knocked his wife down on the bed and hit the slight, 99-pound woman at least eight times with a hammer.
     A second-degree manslaughter conviction carries a penalty of 5 to 15 years. But Hurley said that he imposed probation because of the "cultural aspects" of the case. Hurley cited "the effect of his wife's behavior on someone who is essentially born in China, raised in China and took all his Chinese customs with him to the United States."
     One of Chen's witnesses was Nicholas Trowbridge, chairman of the psychology department at Mallory College, who said that marriage in China is sacred and that a husband could be expected to become enraged on learning of his wife's infidelity. The defense attorney, said, "The basis of this defense is not that it's acceptable to kill your wife as a result of her infidelity. The basis is the special high place the family holds in the Chinese community. This act of adultery would bring great shame and humiliation his entire life."
     He said that because of Chen's mental state there could be no intent, and intent is essential to second-degree murder or first-degree manslaughter.
     You have not covered this trial and so you will have to recapitulate much of the testimony. Your editor tells you to obtain a statement on the judge's sentence from the district attorney, Paul Robinson, who states, "Anyone who comes to this country must be prepared to live by and obey our laws. Anything less than the maximum sentence suggests that women's lives, minority women's lives are not valued."
     He added, "There should be one standard of justice, not one that depends on the cultural background of a defendant."
     Write a 250-300 word story for The Freeport News.

D. Chen React

The day after Chen was sentenced, Mayor Sam Parnass issued the following statement for immediate release:

The City of Freeport Office of the Mayor
For Release: Immediate
Statement
     I am shocked and dismayed by District Court Judge Marvin Hurley's decision to impose a sentence of probation on a man who killed his wife with a hammer.
     Judge Hurley's explanation of his nonjail sentence in the case of Dong Lu Chen was that the defendant's Chinese "cultural background made him susceptible to cracking under the circumstances" and that he was unlikely to kill again. Accordingly, the judge refused to impose a prison sentence.
     This reasoning is both an affront to those of Chinese heritage and inconsistent with the philosophy that sentences for crimes should punish the offender, deter the individual from a repetition of such conduct and serve to deter others from engaging in similar conduct. Additionally, sentences for criminal conduct should communicate a message about societal values that the laws seek to promote, uphold and protect.
     If Judge Hurley's reasoning were accepted, it would be used to argue mitigation for those who commit crimes against persons because of the offender's objection to the cultural, racial, sexual, religious or other characteristics of the victim. A judge in Texas recently applied this irrational philosophy when he accepted a killer's distaste for a homosexual lifestyle as an explanation for his murders and gave him a reduced sentence.
     I reject stereotyping and bias based on cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious or other such grounds and I urge everyone to reject it. While cultural, ethnic and other diversity are important ingredients of a heterogeneous society, diversity should not be used to excuse or justify conduct that is contrary to accepted societal norms.

Write a story for the local TV station.

E. Chen Judge

Two days after you wrote about the conviction of Dong Lu Chen (C. Chen Sentence) and the day after you wrote about the mayor's reaction (D. Chen React), the judge who sentenced him speaks out in defense of his sentence. Here are excerpts from his statement to you in an interview. Write 300 words.

     If a judge made a ruling on a cultural background it would be wrong. It wasn't that it was a defense, but it totally affected this man.
He's not a loose cannon. That's the point. He never displayed psychopathic tendencies.
     This guy is not going to do it again, and he has suffered. There's no question he's going to suffer every day of his life.
     If you kill someone you should face some jail time. I don't find any violence acceptable ... but in this case it wasn't that his cultural background excused him. It just made him more susceptible to cracking under the circumstances. I don't think this man would have killed her under any other circumstances.
     If he went to jail at some point he might come out a real time bomb. Under my mandate, he is under intense supervision.
     This is just a terrible tragedy all around. If you could just see this broken and dejected man and his poor family ... .

     Hurley said Chen had been isolated in jail because he speaks a rare Chinese dialect and had been beaten by other inmates. He said the children asked that their father be given probation, not jail, and that Chen had suffered remorse.
     Also, the National Organization for Women said it intends to file a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
     Write 250 words for The Freeport News.

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