Iowa Public Television

Challenge Question Number 1 for Assistant County Attorney #1144

Clearly describe what you expect from the students:
Spike is charged with Assault With a Weapon for hitting Vince with a lead pipe. Vince is mildly retarded and doesn't speak very clearly, and when he explains things they get all jumbled up.

The attack broke Vince's nose. There were no witnesses to the attack except Vince. Spike admitted to police that he hit Vince with the pipe because he thought Vince stole his CD player. (Spike later found out his sister borrowed it.)

The judge said that because the police didn't read Spike his rights, the police cannot testify about Spike's confession - unless Spike testifies at trial. Spike has been convicted of assaulting other people twice before this situation with Vince.

Assault With a Weapon carries two years in prison and/or a $5000 fine. The charge can be reduced to Assault Causing Injury (which carries up to one year in jail and/or a $1500 fine) or Simple Assault (which carries up to 30 days in jail or a $500 fine).

If Spike is convicted of any of these crimes, the judge could put him on probation instead of sending Spike to prison or jail. If Spike gets probation, the judge can impose any reasonable conditions of probation.

Divide into a group of defense attorneys and prosecutors and role play the plea bargaining situation.

To what crime will Spike plead guilty? What should his punishment be? If the case goes to trial, should Spike testify? Can the jury hear about Spike's other assault convictions?

In order to give the teacher some guidance in evaluating the student's project(s); list some tips that may help to assess the student's work:
Did they recognize the risks if the case goes to trial - both to their side and the other side? Did both sides recognize that the prosecutor may not be able to prove the crime with only Vince to testify? Did they recognize how the excluded evidence effects the case (the prosecution's case is very weak without it, but Spike cannot afford to testify and allow the jury to hear this evidence). Do they recognize that not all information is evidence is something the jury gets to hear? (The prior assaults would not come into evidence.) Was the prosecutor fair? Did Spike's attorney try to minimize the punishment to him? Did both sides try to persuade the other side how negotiations should go (Prosecutor: he did it, and he could go to prison for two years; Defense: Vince is not a good witness and you probably can't win at trial so you should reduce the charges.) Were the parties specific; do they know exactly what will happen when the plea negotiations take place? Did they consider creative terms of probation (anger management classes or counseling?)

Did they read carefully and notice and understand the subtleties:

A.The difference between jail (a local facility) and prison (a state level facility)

B.The difference between 1) doing time OR getting fined and 2) doing time AND/OR getting fined - the possibilities are different for different level offenses.

C.That these crimes carry "up to" two year, one year and 30 days . . . in other words, the judge could impose less than those maximums.