For all the Internet criminal law experts out there:
- In murder criminal cases, where the victim is a CHILD, injuries to the child, photos of injuries, photos of any weapons used, the autopsy report, autopsy photos, medical records, hospital photos, testimony of injuries, crime scene photos, graphic cell phone and house videos are all RELEVANT even if the murderer admits the murder. The People always have the burden. These things are uncomfortable to listen to, watch, investigate, and try as a juror, prosecutor, police officer, detective, family member, judge, court reporter, media, court staff, and public. But, what happened and how it happened is required and should be no matter if the victim is an adult or a child. Children have the same rights under the Constitution that adults have. The truth is the truth no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel.
-In murder criminal cases, where the victim is a child, there is no law, jury instruction or legal requirement that we must show evidence that the murderer was mean to the child in the past, was a mean or abusive person in the past, hurt the child in the past, is a violent person in general, abused the child in the past, abused others in the past, or anything else you think you need to make sense of the killing. In CA, we are allowed to use past conduct to show propensity in child abuse cases, after a motion if the judge allows it. But it’s not a legal requirement in order to prove guilt. So, are you internet people saying if you kill an adult, no one cares about past conduct, but once you kill a child, you are only responsible for the murder if we can make sense of it and prove some past bad conduct against that child? Again, the laws apply equally to all victims. Don’t put additional requirements on holding someone responsible just because the victim is a child. Everyone wants to know motive, the why, or make sense of it. But that’s not required to prove guilt even in child murders. Don’t be unfair to the child.
-In CA, we have a guilt phase and an NGI phase. Same jury but in essence two trials. The first is all the tough-to-hear evidence. There we obviously have the burden. The second is more of a battle of the doctors/experts. In CA, the defense has the burden regarding proving their client was “criminally insane” at the time of the crimes. In the CW, it looks like they do all of it in one trial and the People or CW have all the burdens including the issue of insanity. So, talking about the victims, focusing on the victims, and making the trial about the victims and what the defendant did to the victims is not “sick.” Thats what a prosecutor should be doing. Thats the facts. A child was murdered. It’s a child murder case. If it’s a child victim, and that makes you feel uncomfortable, we don’t have different Constitutions for adults and children. That would be unfair.
The death of children in criminal jury trials should NEVER be secondary to your cause (no matter how important) or to the defendant. I don’t fault the defense attorney for doing this - that’s his/her job. But you internet experts, this isn’t about YOU. It’s about the children.