Topic of the paper will focus on a criminal case that has been Essay - 1

Topic of the paper will focus on a criminal case that has been adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court and has implications on the criminal justice system - Essay Example The court thus proceeded to assign him one by the name of Kirk McAllister who was a veteran defense lawyer. As the case proceeded, however, Scott Peterson later stated that he would be able to afford a private attorney after all and hired the services of Mark Geragos who had handled other high profile cases similar to his (Crier & Thompson, 2005). The judge appointed to the case later on moved the trial from Modesto, California where the crime had been committed to Redwood City in the year 2004 due an increase in hostility towards the defendant (Scott Peterson). The judge felt that due to this hostility, the judge felt that Scott would not be able to receive a fair trial in Modesto as individuals in that region had already perceived him as guilty and it would have been impossible to get a non bias jury in that area (Beratlis et al, 2007). The hostility was due to the type of coverage that the case received from the media. (Bird, 2005) The news had already portrayed Scott Peterson as an inhumane individual who was accountable for the death of an innocent woman and an unborn child. They covered the story as if the defendant was guilty, and the process of the trial was just a preliminary to the inevitable end result of a guilty verdict. In order to ensure that Scott Peterson would be able to get a fair trial, the judged moved the case to another area away from Modesto, where the residents felt bereaved as they had lost one of their own. It should b noted, however, that the coverage of the country was country wide, and thus it cannot be said how much the move changed matters in terms of the defendants portrayal (Beratlis et al, 2007). The main witness of the prosecution also hired her own attorney who played a big role as a sympathizer to the prosecution as she was not bound by the gag order that prohibited the others who were involved