follow prompt in link, 2-3 pages. read chapter 5 from book. watch video 

Law & Culture

Professor Banner

Law in Action

ASSIGNMENT FOUR

Each of these assignments asks you to apply the course material by completing a project or providing advice similar to what an actual law student or lawyer might do. You will conduct research, counsel a client, and outline points of law. Often these assignments require you to review additional, short assigned videos or documents, which are available in the Law in Action folder located in the Files section on Canvas.

In each case, unless specified otherwise, your answers should be as short as possible and as long as necessary.

The assignments must be submitted in a Word document on Canvas by the Due Date listed on the syllabus.

50 points—Excellent (professionally presented, no errors in legal analysis)

40 points—Satisfactory (solid legal analysis; small grammatical or proofreading issues)

30 points—OK (ideas are good but not fully formed; assignment is sloppy)

20 points—Assignment was submitted but includes multiple errors of law and/or grammar and proofreading issues

0 points—Assignment contains multiple mistakes and is not professionally presented or assignment was not submitted

There are 8 LIA assignments in all, each worth 50 points, for a total of 400 course points.

You have seven days to complete each of these assignments. Late assignments will not be accepted without a documented medical or religious excuse. Being sick for one or two days of seven is not an excuse.

Assignment Four

Assume that you are a reporter on the “legal beat” for a national newspaper. You have been asked to write an opinion piece discussing whether Michelle Carter’s appeal to the US Supreme Court of her criminal conviction for involuntary manslaughter* of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy is likely to succeed.

Based on the criminal law principles discussed in Chapter 5 and any criminal procedure or constitutional argument you wish to add, outline your strongest and best arguments as to why Carter is likely to succeed or fail on appeal. Consider, in your answer, whether the prosecution failed to prove she committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the elements of the crime, and whether, if the elements were met, there should have been any affirmative defenses available to Carter.

* Should you take a criminal law class, you will learn that the common law crime of homicide is divided into four categories:

· First Degree Murder (requires knowing intent and premeditation)

· Second Degree Murder (requires knowing intent but not premeditation)

· Voluntary Manslaughter (Second Degree Murder committed after being Provoked)

· Involuntary Manslaughter (Reckless Homicide, meaning that the defendant knew the risk of their actions and proceeded to act)

· Negligent Homicide (The defendant should have been aware of the risk of their actions and proceeded to act)

Here, the accusation is that Carter acted recklessly in causing the death of Roy.