Criminal Justice Courtroom Process

Criminal Justice Courtroom Process










Criminal Justice Courtroom Process
CJA 491
Grace Melendez
February 25. 2013
Dr. Linda Robinson









Criminal Justice Courtroom Process
The criminal justice system in America is a confusing process and when in a situation that requires court action, the criminal justice process can seem very lengthy to the regular citizen. In the following paragraphs the focus will be on the case of William Kennedy Smith. It will cover the case from reportage through conclusion including the role of attrition, as well as what criminal justice process applies to the case. It will also include how different participants influence the case in terms of discretion and whether the defendant (William Kennedy Smith) would benefit more from a bench trial or from a jury trial.
William Kennedy Smith
In the early hours of March 31, 1991 Patricia Bowman called a friend Anne Mercer and asked to be picked up at the Kennedy residence in Palm Beach, Florida (Bell, n.d.). Anne picked up her friend and took her to the police station in Palm Beach. There she reported that William Kennedy Smith, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and current Senator Edward Kennedy, had raped her on the beach at the Kennedy Estate (Bell, n.d.). She was taken to the local hospital, Humana, where she was provided with treatment for her injuries and subjected for forensic testing (Bell, n.d.). No one else that had been present that evening at the estate, was aware that a crime was allegedly committed. However, it soon became one of the most followed cases of rape in the United States (Bell, n.d.).
Out for the Evening
Late in the evening of March 30, 1991, approximately at 11:00 p.m., Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy, his son, Patrick, and his nephew, William Kennedy Smith went to the Au Bar in Palm Beach, near the Kennedy Estate (Bell, n.d.). On their return to the estate, two women from the bar accompanied the men—Michelle Cassone, the bartender, and Patricia Bowman,...

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