Analysis and Application: Legal Rights Afforded to the Accused (Case Study Sample)

Analysis and Application: Legal Rights Afforded to the Accused
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Analysis and Application: Legal Rights Afforded to the Accused
Police Procedural Steps
Since he begun to incriminate himself and that the police did not request him to do so, they were not obliged to apply Miranda rules. These rulings deal with the acceptability of self-incriminations in court. Although all voluntary information is acceptable in court (Osterburg & Ward, 2007), the police did not ask for it. In addition, the rulings do not suggest law execution process. Thus, the police should not Mirandize John.
Procedural Steps at the Police Station
At the station, the police should continue with their normal procedure of booking him. They should read and explain to him the Miranda rights and ask him to sign in that effect. His address, fingerprints, pictures, birth date, weight and height measurements should then be recorded.
Preliminary versus Grand Jury Hearing
In both hearings, the magistrate(s) decides if there is enough evidence to charge the suspect. If the preliminary judge believes that there is enough evidence, the accused proceeds to trial. Conversely, a grand jury can return a formal prosecution against the respondent. Grand jury hearings are done in secret while preliminary hearings are done in the open. Preliminary hearings are official, accusatorial proceedings where the two sides are allowed to present their cases and proofs while grand jury hearings are not formal. They hear from the prosecution side but not from the defense side. The grand jury is generally powerful than the judges (Roberson, Wallace, & Stuckey, 2007). Under a preliminary hearing, it can be decided that there is no enough evidence to charge the accused or reduce the charges if there is insufficient proof. In addition, a defendant can decide to ignore preliminary hearings. This leads to his trial date becoming earlier, in which case the charges are limited to what is in the filed complaint. In contrast, the grand jury does not grant these rights (Roberson, Wallace, & Stuckey, 2007).
Issues the Judge Would Take Into Consideration When Setting Bond For John
When considering a bond for John, the magistrate needs to look at the weighty of the matter. This will include looking at the intensity of the evidence brought against John and his criminal history. Moreover, the judge should consider the binding ties that John has towards the community as well as his previous failure to honor court summons. John has no binding to the community since all his family members are in...