Reference no: EM133516470

Assignment:

Your Task: Identify three (3) Constituional Violations in this Case

THE CASE

In Jacksonville, Florida, on the morning of Sunday, May 7, 2000, a white tourist was murdered outside of a Ramada Inn by an unknown African-American young man. The murder was witnessed by the 75 year old husband of the victim. The husband described the shooter as a tall, thin, 30-year old Black male wearing a knit cap, a dark T-shirt and shorts.

A couple of hours later, fifteen-year-old Brenton Butler was stopped and questioned by police as he was walking past the crime scene, which was not far from his house. At the time, the police officer said, Let's stop that guy - he might know something." Butler was placed in the police car.

Butler was brought to the crime scene in the police car - he was handcuffed and sitting in the back seat of the car. Butler was shown to the husband in a Show-Up identification. Butler was never taken out of the vehicle for the identification and the husband, who wore glasses, viewed Butler through the window of the police car from at least 20 feet away. Although Butler was shorter and younger than the description of the shooter that was initially provided by the husband of the victim, who had been standing next to his wife when she was shot, the husband identified Butler as the killer, and Butler was arrested.

Butler was taken to the police station where he was interrogated for twelve hours without the presence of his parents or a lawyer. While in the interrogation room, Butler was interrogated by 2 detectives at a time. In the late afternoon, Butler was taken into the woods near the station, where a 3rd detective punched Butler in the face and the stomach to "convince" him that he should confess. After returning to the station, Butler signed a confession which was written by one of the detectives.

After this, the police stopped investigating, and Butler was charged with murder without any physical evidence against him. The prosecution's case was based solely on the positive eyewitness identification and the confession, which Butler later testified he had signed due to physical coercion by police.

Identify 3 Constituional Violations

For Each Violation you find do the following:

1) State and describe the violation.

2) State which Amendment or Rule of law has been violated.

3) Explain why the specific action by the police or prosecutor is the violation.

4) Cite one Supreme Court case that applies for each violation.