Confession evaluation criminal Justice
As a defense attorney representing Mayo in his case with the plaintiff, I would try to negotiate for a plea agreement or bargain for his claim on his behalf. This is due to the fact actual cause of the death of Basil Scowen through an act of self-defense. The advantage of pleading for an agreement for this case would help me to be able to have the charger reduced to a less severe offense. In this case, taking a plea for an agreement for the defendant would help him as the prosecutor of this criminal case can reduce the charges from the possible murder to manslaughter whose specific sentence might be less compared to death if he decided to go for trial (Kassin, 2008). Following the fact that there is no bright piece of evidence on the case to justify the element of self-defense claim that the defendant is likely to make, going for trial might implicate the judgment and have the defendant charged with murder for a more punitive sentence.
As a prosecutor, I would go to trial. This is because this discretion is more definite and categorical based on facts (Lassiter et al., 2006). Using the report from the police and the other witnesses brought in to the case, I would make a case against Mayo for the interest of the public interest. Besides, the benefit of a trial is that it would offer a better chance for the development of charges on the Defendant as it follows a more due diligent procedure. The case would be better decided in a trial following the pieces of evidence presented by the police and the Dietz and Joe witnesses’ confession. Also, the case through a trial would act as a precedent case for others, which are likely to occur in the future.
References
Lassiter, G. D. (Ed.). (2006). Interrogations, confessions, and entrapment (Vol. 20). Springer Science & Business Media.
Kassin, S. M. (2008). False confessions: Causes, consequences, and implications for reform. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(4), 249-253.