Vermonts Judiciary Facts

Fig 1 source:http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/default.aspx

In selecting high court/supreme court judges, the state of Vermont either grants life tenure or they use reappointment of some type. Thirty-nine states have intermediate appellate courts; however, Vermont is one of the eleven states that do not have intermediate appellate courts. Similar to the selection of high court/supreme court judges, selection for all general jurisdiction trial court judges includes life tenure or reappointment of some type. One of the main concerns, or drawbacks, with selecting judges through popular elections is its perceived inability, or unwillingness, of voters to exclude the qualifications and effectiveness of judicial candidates. For this matter, significant effort has been devoted to educating state voters about candidates. However, selecting judges through popular elections is beneficial because of the probability of increased representation of women and minorities on the bench.

Fig.2http://vaiss.org/pics/vaiss.jpg

In the state of Vermont every court branch such as Environmental and Superior Court have two or more judges in jurisdiction. There is an addition of twenty-eight assistant judges for the Superior and Family Courts. There are six trial courts and then there is only one appellate court in the state of Vermont. The link to the Supreme Court is the following: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/gtc/supreme/default.aspx

Family Court: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/GTC/Family/default.aspx

Superior Court: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/GTC/Superior/default.aspx

District Court: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/GTC/District/default.aspx

Environmental Court: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/GTC/environmental/default.aspx

Vermont Judicial Bureau: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/default.aspx

Probate Court: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/GTC/Probate/default.aspx


Fig.3 source: http://ctlgbtlaw.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/gayadoption2.jpg
Dominik A. Bailey Jr, a man in Thetford, Vermont, was accused and charged with the felony of removal of human remains. He dug up his father’s cremated body which was buried in Vershire graveyard, and returned home with the remains and headstone. Dominik’s mother was the one who made the phone call to Thetford police. She told police that she suspected her son of digging up her husband’s remains and taking it home with him along with the headstone. Bailey’s aunt said she received a voice message from him stating that he was “going to get his father” and there was no reason for the family to continue to put flowers there anymore. Bailey says that he took his father home with him because he missed him. He calls his aunt again later the same day and tells her that his father is now there at home with him in the living room. Police searched Bailey’s home and discovered the remains and headstone. He was later pulled over and taken into custody. Considering that this is a felony crime, it is most likely for the General Jurisdiction court to hear of this case.

Fig4 source:ctlgbtlaw.wordpress.com/.../

In 1993, Jane Van Buren had given birth to two boys by insemination. Deborah Lashman was Buren’s lesbian partner and had lived with Buren for several years. Jane is considered the biological mother of the two boys and had all parental rights while Deborah had no legal standing. The lesbian couple filed a petition for second parent adoption. According to the law , if someone who is not the stepparent adopts a child, it will disable all parental rights to the biological parents. Considering the couple was not married, the court denied all adoptions. Lashman and Buren appealed to the Supreme Court resulting the reverse decision of the lower court. This decision made the Vermont Supreme Court the first to recognize lesbian co-parent adoptions. This type of case would be heard by the appellate court.


RESOURCES
Fact Sheet on Judicial Selection Methods in the States (2009).
Retrieved October 24, 2009, from American Bar Association Web site: http://www.abanet.org/leadership/fact_sheet.pdf

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents. Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved October 26, 2009. From website: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_gay/f_gayc.cfm

Gaylord, S. (2009, October 25). Pro & Con: Debate over reforming judge election system continues. News & Record. pp A1

Lesbian Wins Appeal on Vermont Adoption. Retrieved October 26, 2009. From website: http://www.scs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/domestic-partners/vermont-adoption.html

Vermont Man Charged with Digging Up Dad. Police Say Man Brought Remains Home. (August 3, 2009) Retrieved from WPTZ.com website: http://www.wptz.com/news/20262990/detail.html#

WARRANTS, SEARCHES, SEIZURES,& RIGHTS

Fig.1 source:http://blog.kir.com/archives/exclusionary%20rule.gif

In the case of Bradley Harrison, the evidence was taken even though it was found during an unreasonable search. Mr. Harrison was caught driving from Toronto to Vancouver with more than 77 pounds of cocaine in his rental car. The police officer pulled him over because he was missing his front license plate. From there the officer proceeded to search his vehicle and found the narcotics. The judge stated that the officer’s conduct was brazen and flagrant to Mr. Harrison’s rights but yet they sentenced him to 5 years in prison. In the US the evidence would have been thrown out because of the 4th amendment which is bans unlawful search and seizure. The US is the only country that suppresses physical evidence due to police misconduct.
Breyer’s statement was “the exclusion of evidence is a deterrent to police misconduct”. I agree with this because it is deterrent. You can find something on someone such as drugs or illegal weapons; but if you have not found it without reasonable cause of searching, it is not able to be used as evidence in a court case. I however do not agree with the exclusionary rule. The exclusionary rule prevents those who need to go to prison from going to prison. If you get pulled over and an officer finds drugs in your car but didn’t have reasonable cause to search your car, you get off free. Why is that? Taking in that one person for drugs can save a lot more people later. It may be an amendment to ban unreasonable search and seizure, but wrong is wrong and those people should pay for their wrongs.






Fig.2 source:http://troydooly.com/wp-content/themes/visionary/images/stop-children-porn.jpg

Eric Achenbach and his wife lived on a property in Brattleboro. Eric didn't have any postings on his property with the "intention to exclude" such as fences or barriers. He also did not have any "no tresspassing" signs posted on his property. In the back of his home, Eric had a platform for a wooden tent built in the woods. One day two deer hunters found Achenbach's hidden child pornography under some loose boards of the platform. Three days later, one of the deer hunters called the police. The police didn't have a search warrant when they obtained the child porn as evidence. Brattleboro District Court Judge Katherine Hayes , claimed that the police didn't need a search warrant because Eric didn't have any postings to exclude the public from his property. She also states that the police did not violate Eric's constitutional rights. The evidence in this case was allowed and the officers didn't obtain a search warrant before hand because they didn't feel the neccessity of a search warrant. I believe that this case in a Plain View warrantless search. In consideration of the property not having postings to exclude tresspassers from the land, makes the evidence in plain view and accessible for anyone to find.



Fig.3 source:http://www.dominickrusso.com/images/miranda_rights_card.jpg

The purpose of the Miranda Warning or the Miranda Rule is to warn suspects or crimnials during their arrest that they hace the right to remain silent and that anything they say can and will be used against them in the court of law.The Miranda Warning protects the 14th and 15th amendment. The picture above explains how the Miranda Warning works. However there are still some ways that police can obtain statements from the accused. Below are some examples in which police have obtained illegal statements from accused.

1. "A suspect can be questioned in the field without a Miranda warning if the information the police seek is needed to protect public safety” (Siegel, 2009). This would happen if a weapon is involved with the situation.
2."An attorney's request to see the defendant does not affect the validity of the defendant's waiver of the right to counsel”(Siegel, 2009). If you are in jail and you attorney asks to speak to you your responses are no longer under the Miranda Law.
3.If you are in jail and you tell the officers that you "might" want an attorney they still have the right to question you. If a lawyer comes to defend you and you did not give consent, no matter what you said before your lawyer came will be used against you in the court of law.

RESOURCES


Smallherr,S.(2009) Court Says Child Porn Seizure is Legal. . Retrieved October 11, 2009. We Are Vermont. Web site: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090916/NEWS02/909160324/1003/NEWS02

Siegel, L.J. (2009). Introduction to criminal justice. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Lason, A. (2000, March). Miranda rights. Retrieved from http://www.expertlaw.com/library/criminal/miranda_rights.html

Televisions crime fighters

In the police field are women respected the same as men are respected? In the police field women have to work for their respected. Women do not enter the police field with respect just handed to them they have to earn their respect unlike men who gets respected no matter what. Kirsten Leger stated "While women perform as well as men in various patrol assignments and situations, they still face a significant amount of disapproval from the male police personnel population" (Leger, 1997, 231)
Do you think that women are called to do the jobs that the men officers don’t want to do? Female officers are mostly called to do the easy jobs for example an accident or burglary at home. You don’t see to many officers handling a school shooting or a domestic violence call.
Do you think female officers tend to get angry when dealing with a frustrated situation? Men officers become angry when a situation gets more and more complicated.In other words women know how to handle the stress and deal with the situation at hand. According to Susan Grant (2008) "Women are less easy to anger. The more stressful a situation gets, the more calm we get. Anger is more likely to come to a male officer than a female officer."
Are female officers more brutal than male officers? Male officers are more brutal than female officers. Men tend to get angry and use their police power to get what they want, while female officers try to compromise and give warnings before they act to police brutality.
Do you think its easy for women to get promoted in the police force? For women its hard to even get in to the police force. Most of the promotions go to the men just because they are men. Women have to fight to get a promotion or show that they are worthy enough to get a higher position than any man.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf5FruRHbNg

The above is a television show that depicts one of the four policing types.
The type of policing it depicts is the crime fighter. The crime fighter is said to be one of the most important types of police work. They focus more so on apprehending criminals and investigating serious crimes, rather than pety thefts or misdemeanors. Their main focus is on the victim. They are known as the "thin blue line" that tries to protect society from the murderers and rapists. (279) The show that best depicts this type of policing is Cold Case. Cold is a show that takes fictional stories and brings them to life for the soul purpose of entertainment. This show gives insight to the true meaning of crime fighting and justice as a whole. These officers best fit the crime fighters policing category because they are really focused on the victims and are real advocates of those whom dont have a voice. Their main goal is to apprehend the victimizers or the accused.



Jonathan Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray were shocked with tasers by two police officers in Brattleboro,Vermont. Jonathan Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray were said to have been trespassing on private property during the time they were doing volunteer gardening. The owners of the vacant property, which was the Robertsons family, had reported them not once but twice to the Brattleboro Police Department. Crowell and Kilmurray had peacefully refused to leave the property and held on to barrels. According to many of the witnesses the trespassers were “practicing civil disobedience” and taser guns in this case were an “outrageous use of force.” Gary Benjamin, a resident in Brattleboro, was curious as to why taser guns were used if the trespassers showed no threat to the officers or to the community. Tasers are a nonlethal conducted energy device that administers a shock to an uncooperative suspect by way of an electrified dart. I feel the police could have physically removed the trespassers instead of tazing them because it would have caused less bodily injuries. Smallheer (2007)

Cites:

Police Brutality in Vermont? The Buzzing Taser Controversy in Brattleboro! Personal Injury Newsroom. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from website:
http://wmass.indymedia.org/?q=node/77

Cold Case 'Retrieved 10/04/09,from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf5FruRHbNg Jonathan Littman


Youtube. (2009) Waverly hires first female police officer. from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw8rMj2DoJM

Kirsten Leger (2009) Public perceptions of femlae police officers on patrol. American Journal of Criminal Justice 21(2), 231-249. doi:10.1007/BF02887451