March Post

Testifying toward the Insanity Defense

    In my debate elective, we had to write and give a speech on anything we want as long as it is persuasive. I decided I wanted to persuade to my audience, the class, that a psychiatrist/psychologist should always testify in both legal and psychological terms the mental health of the defendant when the "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense is used.

Here are some important parts of my speech:

The insanity defense is one of the most well known forms of defense used in entertainment. In actuality,"Not guilty by reason of insanity" is a special verdict of acquittal in a criminal trial. The verdict grants that, although the accused committed the act in question, he cannot be held legally responsible because he was not sane at the time of the crime. Defendants thus acquitted are then usually committed to a mental institution for an indeterminate period and released upon the recommendation of institution psychiatrists at such time the psychiatrists consider the person "sane." Since the insanity defense originated almost 200 years ago, definitions used to describe insanity have broadened, and new variations of the defense have been developed, giving criminals ever-increasing chances of escaping the legal consequences of their acts.

The "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI) verdict rests in part on two assumptions: that some mentally ill people cannot be deterred by the threat of punishment, and that treatment for the defendant is more likely to protect society than a jail term without treatment. It is important to note that "insanity" is a legal term, not a psychological one, and experts disagree whether it has valid psychological meaning.

Blog 18: Interview 4 Questions

1.) What strategies do you use when dealing with a client?

2.) What strategies do you find to be most helpful and why?

3.) How often do you speak directly with clients?

4.) What are some of the major concerns that occur when having client meetings?

5.) Do you try to use plea bargains as an efficient form of resolving a case? Why or why not?

6.) What are the top skills necessary to successfully work with a client? and why?

7.) Effective communication is something I found to be important, do you agree and how do you practice that skill?

8.) Looking back in time, what is one thing you wish you had done to prepare yourself for this job?

9.) How do you deal with problem clients?

10.) In trial cases how do you prepare yourself for speaking your case?

11.) What are some tactics you use while picking jurors?

12.) How do you know if a case is worth going to trial?

13.) In a scenario where a client wants to go to trial, and it seems unnecessary, do you still have to proceed regardless?

14.) Can u tell me about a situation where a case was handled successfully due to communication and why?

15.) What aspect of Criminal law do you use the most, and why?

16.) What do you think I should look into more for my research as it relates to my EQ?

17.) Do you have any ideas of activities that might explain/entertain a classroom about my topic?

18.) Currently, my most important form of research are my CalCrim and Penal Code books, do you have any others to suggest and why?

19.) If you had to answer my EQ what would your answer be and why?

20.) Moving on towards my 2 hour presentation, what are some key parts of Criminal Law that I need to make sure I cover?

Blog 17: Answer 3

Content:

• EQ: What strategy is most beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

The strategy that is most beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case is to have confidence and a commanding presence while communicating.

• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

In trials, a defense attorney has to convince a jury that the client is not guilty of the charges brought up by the prosecution. If the attorney is unable to speak with confidence and communicate his/her case then they will significantly lose the jurors.

This also happens during arraignments, a defense lawyer must speak with each of the clients and speak with the judge. They must communicate to the judge that the client understands the charges as well as represent their client. 

Lawyers spend almost the entirety of the day speaking with witnesses, translators, judges, and other people who work in the courthouse. In order to successfully defend a client, especially through the trial process, they must be able to take command of the courtroom and present the information necessary.

• The research source (s) to support your details and answer

Alot of my "research" for this came through being at my mentorship and witnessing what each lawyer had to do throughout the day. So I would cite my mentorship, the Public Defender's Office at the West Covina Courthouse.

• Concluding Sentence

In summation, my third and final strategy I to be found beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case is to be able to communicate with a clear and commanding presence. I found this by spending time at my mentorship and witnessing what the lawyers had to do the most, which was communicate. 

February Post: Extending the Presidential Term

       One thing I found interesting while reading a Carribbean newspaper was that a country, called Guyana, had numerous people, including politicians, who wanted to extend the presidential term limt for previous president Bharrat Jagdeo. Due to the high popularity of Jadgeo, this became a huge controversial topic. Although many supported this, it was deemed unconstitutional to remove the term limit and thus a new president was elected, Donald Ramotar. Ramotar has been in presidency for 3 years and 87 days. I found this all very interesting because this is a place that I have family connections to as well I have been there before. It's also very intriguing to read about political issues of another country.

Donald Ramotar, President of Guyana

Blog 16: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ? 
What strategy is most beneficial to defend a client in a misdemeanor case?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
The most beneficial strategy to defend a client in a misdemeanor case is to try and get a plea bargain.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
Another extremely important strategy that is beneficial to defend a client is to use proactice listening to the client's specific background story and needs.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. Each client is different and has a unique life situation, for example, if a lawyer does not know that a client is undocumented they can ultimately cause deportation.

2. I defined beneficial as for both the client and the lawyer. In a real life situation the job of the defense lawyer is to get the best deal for the client, if the lawyer does not listen then they won't be able to understand the client's needs.

3.The client meetings are very crucial and the lawyers must practice proactive listening. Public defenders must meet quickly and efficiently with many clients throughout the day so they must be able to allow the client to give as much info as posssible and then be able to comprehend it before helping the client make a decision.


5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

Ruddy, Sara H., Nancy Yuenger, and Jeff Adachi. California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice. Oakland, CA: Continuing Education of the Bar--California, 2008. Print.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

Honestly, my other source is my mentor and the other lawyers at the public defender's office when I shadow them 

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Through more research and experience, I have found my second answer to be that the use of proactive listening to the client can greatly benefit the outcome of the help from the lawyer. 

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content: 

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
 For my 30 hours, I plan to spend the time working on Speech & Debate. Basically, my next focus for research is going to be geared toward trials. From what I've witnessed and researched so far, trials are of similar structure as Public Forum debates. So I am going to prepare and work on those skills by researching and competing in the next Public Forum debates coming up. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence. 
 As far as evidence is concerned, I can turn in my speeches that I have written and the Judges notes and pictures as proof I worked and competed.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.
I stated this in #1, but this will benefit my exploration of my topic through providing me with skills necessary to public speaking as required to be a public defender. It also gives me experience with the structure of a debate which happens to be similarly structured to a misdemeanor trial thus giving me a better understanding of the process and extent of research required to be successful. 

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Content:

LITERAL
         (a) Write: “I, Givanti Chatapal, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 32 hours of work.”
         (b) California Penal Code 2014 With Selected Provisions from Other Codes and Rules of Court: Desktop Edition.. California: West , 2013. Print.
         (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours. See Senior Project Hours (right column).

        (d)I continued my mentorship at the West Covina Public Defenders Office doing exactly the same things as I had been doing throughout the summer and this year. Which was shadowing the lawyers through client meetings and arraignments, and also helping out in the office mostly doing clerical work.

 INTERPRETIVE 

             The reason I chose to continue doing this is that with more experience in the office and shadowing I get a feel of what it would be like doing this as a career and also the second hand work that is provided for the lawyers to be able to do their jobs. Doing more mentorship is valuable to me because being there is where I get the most information about how to go about doing the research that I read in real life. Also, a lot of my research are about laws and how to go about processes in the courtroom and through mentorship I can see how to do those things successfully and the different ways each of the lawyers in the office proceed to do them. 

APPLIED

             This component helped me grasp the concept of how to successfully run a client meeting and understand more about arraignments. More experience with the client meetings was probably the most beneficial because that is what the Public Defenders spend most of their time doing and it helped me understand my answer 1 more because you have to talk to the client before you can accept a Plea Bargain, which is my answer 1. More specifically, I got to see situations where clients denied the plea bargain and moved on to trial. In seeing this, I knew that my next focal point of research would be on how to successfully get the best decision out of a trial for the client. 

Front view of the West Covina Courthouse

The back/employee entrance to the courthouse

       Inside the Courthouse