Anthony Guerra
SC 240
Dr. Clark
11/17/17
Chasing Gideon In the text, Chasing Gideon by Karen Houppert she explains about the fundamental flaws in the way we provide legal representation to the poor in America. Houppert goes on to clarify how people are often distorted or undersold. She brings up evidence about how defense attorneys are seriously mistreated. They are mistreated because they are underfunded and understaffed. This results in a large workload that would make the top attorneys break down under certain scenarios, which then ultimately reflects in the quality of council that an blamed person is given. Also, the prosecutors receive more money and more staff, I believe that offenders should have to face justice for the crime …show more content…
In this case, the court system is faced with a setback. Rodney Young is considered mentally retarded. This presents an issue because the court must choose if he is qualified for the death penalty due to his mental state. Rodney Young was accused of killing Gary Jones the son of his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors consider that the reason behind the murder was to attempt to get his ex to come back to him. Investigators found that Young had been in the area at the time of the murder and was in possession of Jones’s missing phone. At the end of the trial Young was found guilty and sentenced to death. On this case, I disagree with the court's decision here because the mental health of Young. He was mentally retarded. I believe in this situation the best situation for this is to give Young life in prison. To clear up the shady area in this matter I think that the courts should set up a guideline for what is considered “mentally retarded.” This is because mentally retarded people are not like normal people. They might not understand what is going on around them and they might be spooked and do something they won’t know that is very bad and illegal. That is why I think they should set up a guideline so that rulings can be clearer in the future so something like this doesn’t happen
SC 240
Dr. Clark
11/17/17
Chasing Gideon In the text, Chasing Gideon by Karen Houppert she explains about the fundamental flaws in the way we provide legal representation to the poor in America. Houppert goes on to clarify how people are often distorted or undersold. She brings up evidence about how defense attorneys are seriously mistreated. They are mistreated because they are underfunded and understaffed. This results in a large workload that would make the top attorneys break down under certain scenarios, which then ultimately reflects in the quality of council that an blamed person is given. Also, the prosecutors receive more money and more staff, I believe that offenders should have to face justice for the crime …show more content…
In this case, the court system is faced with a setback. Rodney Young is considered mentally retarded. This presents an issue because the court must choose if he is qualified for the death penalty due to his mental state. Rodney Young was accused of killing Gary Jones the son of his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors consider that the reason behind the murder was to attempt to get his ex to come back to him. Investigators found that Young had been in the area at the time of the murder and was in possession of Jones’s missing phone. At the end of the trial Young was found guilty and sentenced to death. On this case, I disagree with the court's decision here because the mental health of Young. He was mentally retarded. I believe in this situation the best situation for this is to give Young life in prison. To clear up the shady area in this matter I think that the courts should set up a guideline for what is considered “mentally retarded.” This is because mentally retarded people are not like normal people. They might not understand what is going on around them and they might be spooked and do something they won’t know that is very bad and illegal. That is why I think they should set up a guideline so that rulings can be clearer in the future so something like this doesn’t happen