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A courtroom dictionary
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Index
1. Courtroom words. 2. Courtroom expressions. 3. Stages of a criminal case. 4. Character Analysis. 5. Plot Analysis.
Courtroom words 1. Appeal: A request for a higher court to review a decision made by
a lower court. 2. Arraignment: When the accused is brought before the court to
hear the charges against him or her. They plead guilty or not guilty at this time.
3. Acquittal: A legal determination that a person who has been charged with a crime is innocent.
4. Adjudicate: To decide judicially in court. 5. Bail: Security (usually money) to insure that the accused person
appear at trial. 6. Conviction: The result of a criminal trial in which a person is
found guilty. 7. Cross-examination: The questioning of a witness by the lawyer
for the opposing side. 8. Direct-examination: The first questioning in a trial of a witness by
the lawyer who called that witness. 9. Objection: The opposing side finds fault with the question being
asked the witness. 10. Overruled: The judge, following an objection, decides the
questions may continue. 11. Parole: Conditional release from prison before the end of a
sentence. 12. Perjury: A deliberate lie said under oath. 13. Judgment: The decision of a court of law. 14. Mistrial: A trial that becomes invalid, is essentially canceled,
because of a mistake in procedure. 15. Motion: How a lawyer asks the judge to make a decision. 16. Oath: A declaration of a statement's truth, which renders one
willfully, asserting an untrue statement punishable for perjury. 17. Plead: To answer an allegation. 18. Proceeding: Any hearing or court appearance related to the
adjudication of a case. 19. Remand: To send a case back to the court from which it came for
further proceedings. 20. Reverse: To set aside a judgment on appeal or proceedings in
error. 21. Sustained: The judge, following an objection, agrees that the line
of questioning should not continue. 22. Verdict: the jury hands down a verdict of guilty or not guilty.
Courtroom expressions 1. As jurors you are not to be swayed by sympathy. 2. Bail should be continued. 3. Call your next witness. 4. Can you tell the jury … ? 5. Could you briefly describe … ? 6. Could you describe the appearance of (a package, etc.)?
7. Counsel, lay a foundation. 8. Defendant will be remanded. 9. Don’t belabor the point counselor. 10. Don’t discuss the case. 11. Don’t volunteer explanations of your answers.
12. I direct the jury to disregard the statement that …
13. Jurors may be excused. 14. Keep your voice up. 15. Keep your own counsel, don’t talk about the case.
16. May I have it? 17. Members of the jury, you are instructed to disregard …
18. Mr. X will reduce the decibel level. 19. Please proceed. 20. Please raise your right hand. 21. Please remain standing. 22. Please resume your seat. 23. Remember, you are under oath. 24. Rephrase the question. 25. Speak into the microphone. 26. State your full name for the record. 27. The following prospective jurors are excused.
28. The witness will resume the stand. 29. Use your common sense. 30. Will the defendant please rise. 31. Will the prospective jurors please stand. 32. Will the people in the well of the courtroom please stand.
33. Would you raise your right hand? 34. Would you indicate … ? 35. Would you describe … ? 36. Would you point (someone) out? 37. Would you look at … ? 38. Would you state for the record … ? 39. Would you label that as (car, building, etc.)? 40. Would you mark that with an “x”? 41. You are excused. 42. You can proceed, Mr. (X). 43. You can resume your seat. 44. You can answer the question. 45. You have exhausted that subject, please move on.
46. You may answer the question. 47. You may be seated. 48. You may cross-‐examine, counsel. 49. You may inquire, Mr. X. 50. You may proceed.
You may step down.
Stages of Criminal trial The process of a criminal trial starts when the individual is arrested, or charges are in order. There is an initial arrest of 2 to 48 hours. Then the defendant is informed about the case and the charges the accused has to pay. If it is not a murder a bail will be set. If the charge is for murder, bail may be set or the accused will be notified of when and where to appear next to be remanded into custody. The next step is the preliminary hearing, which usually happens 7 days after the informal arraignment. The district judge determines if the case merits going any farther. The prosecution calls witnesses and shows evidence; usually de defense does not do that. If the case is remanded to federal court, there is no preliminary hearing, instead the defendant goes before a grand jury, which is made up of 23 citizens, and these meetings are private. The next 30 days the formal arraignment takes place; usually the defendants plead not guilty or stand mute. After 30 more days the pre-‐trial conference is held. The next step is a jury, where the judge will give opening instructions to the jury, and then the opening statements are heard. Then the case-‐in-‐chief follows, these is where the prosecution shows evidence. Lawyers will argue on the evidence. Usually the defense will ask for a motion of demurrer, which means to dismiss the case for lack of evidence, if the judge accepts the defendant will be called not guilty, but if the judge does not accept, the lawyers have the roll to directly examining the defendant. Defense and prosecution give their own statements, then the judge orders how to proceed, the verdict is known once a 12 to 1 decision is reached. If the verdict is not guilty, the defendant is free to leave, but if he is guilty the judge will sentence him to serve time, the defendant will be remanded into custody. http://www.thelawshack.com/ImInnocent/Criminal_Procedure.html
Character analysis
Jury #12
Occupation: Advertising Executive
He looks young, maybe about 25 or 30 years, he wears a black suite and a
thin tie, and he wears round shaped glasses.
He is a serious man and not very expressive, a man of few words, he only
says what he thinks it’s necessary.
He is not rude with any of the other jurors, it seems like he doesn’t involve
personal thoughts.
He is a quiet man and talks with respect; he is a little unstable with his
decisions.
He is nice and friendly with other jurors, but he is not fully concentrated on the
case, other things, such as games, looking through the window, or having
dinner, distract him.
He talks about what he does for a living with other jurors, and it seems like he
is a man with a good job. Sometimes he uses advertisement talk.
He doesn’t think things through, he give the first answer that comes to his
mind. He is impatient and wants the trial to be over so he can be back to his
normal life.
Other jurors sometimes yell at him because he doesn’t give enough
arguments, but in general no one messes with him because he doesn’t mess
with anyone, he listens to all of them without interrupting and he is heard too.
His role in this case is to help to find evidences and facts that can determine
weather the accused is guilty or not guilty. At first he does not play his role
well because he votes guilty, he didn’t look for more details that would help
him to be sure that he was guilty. Then he started to listen to juror #8 and
realizes that there has to be more proves on this case other than witnesses.
He starts to take smarter decisions.
At first he voted as “guilty”, he didn’t give his reasons. Then he changed his
vote to “not guilty” after juror #8 explains why the old man could not have
heard the voice of the kid saying “I’m going to kill you”, because the train was
passing by and the noise is really hard. After listening to jurors #3 and #4 talk
about how clear the woman’s testimony was, he changes his vote to “not
guilty”, again. At the end, the old man says that he noticed that the witness
wore glasses, and that no one goes to sleep with their glasses on, so
everyone has a reasonable doubt on the woman’s testimony, because now
the woman’s sight is on question, and juror #12 change his vote to “not guilty,
again.
If he have had voted differently, or someone else did, the case would have
gone on for hours, if there was none unanimous resolution, they would have
gone crazy and start fighting with each other.
If I were juror # 12 I would have voted as “not guilty” at first, because I think
that there is always a reasonable doubt, I would have discuss it and found out
more information, then I would have decided if the kid was “guilty” or “not
guilty”.
Plot Analysis
Similarities Differences There are twelve jurors in both. In the movie that name of juror #8 is
Davis, and in the book, the name does not appear.
In both, the book and the movie, there is a woman’s testimony.
In the book the boy is 16 years old and in the movie, the boy is 18 years.
In the book and in the movie, juror #3 is the last one to vote “not guilty”.
In the movie you can see the juror’s physical appearance, and the way they dress, while in the book there are few descriptions, such as, old, young, etc.
The room they are in is very hot, both specify that.
In the movie, juror #3 tears the picture of his son at the end, while in the book the conflict with his son is has not much importance.
The ones that participate most in the dialogue are jurors #3 and #8.
In the movie, at the end, the name of juror #9 is said, and in the book it does not appear.
In both of them, the only one that voted “not guilty” at first was juror #8.
In the movie, we can see the defendant, even if he is not described, we can get an idea of how he is.
In both of them at the beginning, all of the jurors try to convince juror #8 to vote “guilty”.
When I read the book I imagined the jurors younger than they appeared in the movie.
In both, all jurors deliberate in a close, isolated room.
At the end of the movie, juror #3 didn’t seem so bad at all, but the book does not specify his motives.
In both, at the end, all jurors vote “not guilty”.
In the movie, the settings are clearer.
In both, juror #3 is very rude and aggressive with other jurors.
The psychological ambience of the movie is even more intense than the one at the book, maybe because of their facial expressions of tone of voice.
Mock Trial
2011
10th B