Course Description
Students will continue the process of learning the proper role of a prosecutor as a “minister of justice” in our criminal justice system. This portion encompasses working with professionals in this area.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate law students will not be doing any extra work beyond
that required of the Juris Doctor students. J.D. students are
post-baccalaureate students and the workload expected of them is
the same workload expected of post-baccalaureate graduate
students. Law students are professional students, not
undergraduate students. Graduate law students are primarily
international lawyers seeking expertise in the American legal
system. This expertise is gained through exposure to Juris
Doctor courses.
Athena Title
Prosecution III Hours
Non-Traditional Format
Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. Students will be involved in the planning and implementation of the projects(s) and may spend time outside of the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 50-75% of overall instructional time.
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
Course Objectives
Students in this course will learn about the procedural steps involved in the prosecution of a criminal case following a defendant’s arraignment and plea of not guilty. Specifically, students will learn about jury selection, trials, post-trial motions, and appeals. Students will also learn about the 4th Amendment’s definition of “searches” and “seizures” (including Katz’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” test and Jones’ “trespass theory”), the 4th Amendment’s search warrant requirement (and its so-called “well-recognized exceptions”), the 4th Amendment’s “particularity clause,” the 5th Amendment’s due process guidelines governing techniques used in the identification of suspects, the 6th Amendment’s Confrontation Clause (including how to comply with Crawford v. Washington and its progeny), ineffective assistance of counsel (as defined in Strickland v. Washington and its progeny), and the death penalty. Students will also learn practical skills, including how to prepare for and conduct: jury selection (including how to comply with Batson v. Kentucky and its progeny), trials, post- trial motion hearings, and appeals. Students will also learn how to draft a search warrant. Students will acquire the foregoing knowledge and practical skills through a combination of classroom lectures, classroom exercises, “how-to guides,” select readings in our text: Prosecutorial Ethics, and the students’ real-world experiences in their Third Year Practice Act externships.
Topical Outline
Time will be spent working with professionals on real cases.
Syllabus
Public CV