B.I.G. Case

B.I.G. Case
CJ 101 Unit 7 Assignment
Kaplan University

B.I.G. Case

Trial Process

The Notorious B.I.G case should represent one of the most complex trial process in United States’ court history. First, all the relevant evidence needs to be tabled in order for the court to allow the case to proceed to trial. Ballistic evidence, witnesses and prospective statements need to be prepared as part of the evidence pool by prosecution. On the other hand, the defendants need to be given an opportunity to file a motion to dismiss on grounds that evidence available is to enough to proceed to trial. The reason for this is that the case heavily rely on witness testimony, which does not carry much weight but for the suspect description and clothing. If the case moves to trial, ballistic evidence as well as witness testimonies should be presented, followed by examination by the defense and prosecution.

Opening statements

Prosecution: This is a society that is founded on strong ideals of justice. That is what were are here for today, justice. Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G, was a strong young man, who tried to bring change to America through his music. Unfortunately, he was gunned down on the streets by the defendant at a tender age of 24 without good reason, as witness testimony would suggest.

Defense: Everyone was saddened by the premature death of Mr. Wallace. However, the prosecution needs to point its finger at the culprit in order to ensure justice. As evidence would indicate, the accusation against the defendant is conjecture and it is the responsibility of this court to ensure that an innocent man does not get punished for a crime of another.   

Direct Examination Questions

Witness cross examination should be focused on identifying the suspect and placing him at the crime scene at the time when the murder is committed. Failure to do this hands the defense a loophole that could lead to the case being thrown out especially given the fact that sings point towards evidence tampering and lack of commitment in the side of law enforcement (Duke, 2011). As a result, the following questions should be asked during direct examination to unearth witness testimony in the case.

– Where were you in the morning of 9 March, 1997?

– What can you tell this court about this night that is relevant to this case>

– During this time, did you have any encounter with the defendant?

– When you saw or heard the defendant, what was he doing?

– Is it possible that you might have confused the defendant with another person?

– So, you are certain of what you saw?

Cross examination questions

The questions that the defense should direct at the witnesses during this time should look to discredit the witness, or to question his ability to clearly identify the defendant. The shooting takes place at night after a party, which means that the witness could be intoxicated or vision might be jaded (Rowlands, 2011). As a result, putting his judgment to question and the ability to supply useful testimony should be paramount. Therefore, the following questions should be asked during cross examination

– Did you see the defendant actually gun down Mr. Wallace?

– How many gunshots can you report?

– Don’t you think it was too dark to be able to clearly identify a person in a car?

– You were among the people coming out of the party with Mr. Wallace, correct?

– Were there drinks, or any form of intoxicants at the party?

– How many drinks did you have?

– Are you aware that alcohol or any form of intoxication impairs judgement?

– Don’t you think the drink could have impaired your judgement, making you confuse the defendant with someone else?

 

 

References

Duke, A. (2011, Apr). FBI reveals documents in Biggie Smalls death probe. CNN.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/08/biggie.smalls.files/

 

Rowlands, T. (2011). Investigation into death of Notorious B.I.G. heats up. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/07/california.biggie.death.probe/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place an Order

Plagiarism Free!

Scroll to Top