On Friday March 13, 2017, Kevin is walking home after his date at the movies. He is approached by two police officers who begin stating to him “Do you have a gun. We know you drug dealers carry guns”. Kevin is confused and tells the officers that he doesn’t have a gun he is just walking home after seeing a movie. They begin to search him claiming that it is for their own protection and they want to make sure he doesn’t have a gun. They then begin digging into Kevin’s pockets and find a large amount of money. They tell him they are going to seize the money as they believe it is drug money. Kevin tries to explain to the officers that he works for cash and was just paid after work on Friday. They were not buying his excuse and seized the money. He was provided with an inventory receipt for the money and advised that a prosecutor would review the case to determine whether he should be charged with money laundering.After leaving the area Kevin remembered one of the officers from high school and was angered by what happen. He immediately took to Facebook to tell everyone that he knew that Officer Harris was a dirty cop. He went on to say that Officer Harris is a thiefthat steals money and probably plants drugs on innocent people. Kevin didn’t fully believe this to be true, but he was angered by the situation and wanted to make Officer Harris look bad.Even after posting those messages Kevin was still angered by what occurred,so he looked up the girlfriend of Officer Harris who he identified as Cindy. He wanted to make Officer Harris look really bad,so he took to Facebook to say all kinds of untrue things about Cindy. He posted that Cindy was a drug dealer and that she dated a crooked cop. He further posted that Cindy was able to get extra drugs and money because her boyfriend Officer Harris was ripping of drug dealers. Kevin knew none of this was true, but he was angry at what Officer Harris did to him and he wanted to get payback.The next day of Saturday March14, 2017 Internal Affairs officers for the Town of Rowansaw the messages that Kevin posted on Facebook. They decided to open an investigation into Officer Harris and his girlfriend Cindy. Based on the information on Facebook,police kicked in the front door of Cindy’s residence andsearched the entire house. When Cindy requested a warrant,they showed hera piece of paper that had some writing on it, but it was not a court authorized search warrant. During the search no drugs were located.The police then conducted an interview of Cindy. She asked to speak with an attorney, and she was informed that she didn’t need one. She was informed that as long as she helped them catch that dirty cop Harris that she had nothing to worry about. They told her that they wanted her to arrange for Harris to bring her drugs. She was confused and explained to them that Harris wouldn’t break the law and do something like that. She explained to them that Harris was a good cop and had integrity.
The Internal Affairs officers realized that this wasgoing to be a harder task than they anticipated. They decided that they were going to set Harris up. They called him pretending to be drug dealers. They told him they needed help moving their product from one side of town to another and that they wouldpay him for taking the risk. He denied their offer and even informed them that he would turn them in if he figured out their identity. They then informed him that they had Cindy and they would kill her if he didn’t do what they wanted him to do. They informed him they would call him back in 30 minutes. Officer Harris frantically called Cindy and went to her house butcouldn’t locate her. When they called back 30 minutes later Officer Harris believedthey were serious,so he reluctantly agreed.After getting the product in his car and traveling .5 miles he was stopped by the Internal Affairs officersthat set him up. His car was searched,and the drugs were found. He tried to explain to the officers the situation and they did not want to hear his explanation. Officer Harris went to trial and tried to present the defense that he was coerced by drug dealers that were going to kill his girlfriend Cindy. Cindy kept quietabout what happened because she did not want to get in any trouble and was concerned about what these officers were capable of. Officer Harris was found guilty and sentenced to 24 hours of public torture. Hewould be placed in a stockade and members of the town would be free to torture himin any manner that would not cause death.Just before the sentence was to be carried out Cindy came forward and informed thedefense attorney of Officer Harris of what occurred. His attorney filed a motion claiming that his trial was unfair and that he was coerced into committing the crime. His attorney demanded that he be awarded a new trial. He was awarded a new trial and prior to the trial the charges were dismissed. However, it wasn’t over. One of the Internal Affairs officers had a lot of connections with the legislature. The legislature passed a bill of attainder and sentenced Officer Harris to 24 hours of public torture. Officer Harrisis now awaiting his sentence of public torture to be carried out.
Assignment: In this assignment you should identify any possible legal issues that are involved and any human rights that are being infringed upon. You may use case law, the Constitution, the Amendments to the Constitution andany other material discussed throughout this course to support your position.
Format: Your paper should have a cover sheet that provides all of the general course information. Additionally,your paper should be numbered starting with the first page after the cover sheet. Your paper should be a minimum of 4 pages and a maximum of 10pages in length. The font should be Times New Roman Size 12. The paper should be double spaced. The paper should be written in IRAC format. A sample of this format will be provided and discussed.
Grading Criteria: You will be graded on the following criteria-Grammar & Spelling-Identification of various rights and laws that protect those writes-Analysis of those rights and law the supports your position-Staying within the confines of the writing assignment-Submitting your assignment on Canvas in Word Format (.Doc, .Docx…)-Submitting a paper that is the proper length-Writing the paper in the proper format.
Directions are also in the file
0 comments