Missouri State Supreme Court example essay topic

The Son of Sam trial occurred in New York, New York on May 8, 1978. David R. Berkowitz was the Defendant, he was on trial because he was a mass killer. He killed six and wounded seven from October 1976 to August 1978. Hundreds of Detectives were assigned to find the. 44-caliber killer, so called because of the unusually large hand gun bullets he used. They found him because he got a parking ticket in front of a fire hydrant near the seen of the crime.

Cops found his car and found a duffel bag full of guns behind the front seat. He was seized when he came outside, carrying a. 44-caliber revolver in a small paper bag. He was found guilty and got six twenty-five years to life terms with an additional fifteen to twenty-five terms for assault and attempted murder. One of the reasons for these outrageous acts were because his stepmother, whom he was attracted to, died. He was extremely depressed for a long time.

As a result of his stepmothers death he went out to search for his birth mother. He found her, but was disappointed with her physical appearance, so he decided to take it out on the entire female race. The second reason for David Berkowitz actions was because his dog ordered him to. Berkowitz claimed that his neighbor, Sam Carr, was a high demon and sent evil messages through his pet Labrador. These messages ordered him to kill. Berkowitz says he tried to kill the dog, but he couldn t.

He claims the dog was possessed. From this court case a law was produced. This law clearly states that every person or organization contracting with any person accused or convicted of a crime, with respect to the reenactment of such a crime, by way of a movie, book, magazin article, radio or television presentation or from the expression of such person's thoughts, opinions, feelings or emotions about such a crime, shall pay over all profits to the Crime Victims Board. The Dred Scott Case Dred Scott was born a slave. He lived in Missouri with his owner Peter Blow, where he had no freedoms. Next he was sold to a doctor in Illinois.

After this Doctor died he was sold to this family, who lived in a free state. But this family was different they wanted to free him and help end slavery. Yet they wouldn t release him. They wanted him to take this to the lower courts. One of the lower courts actually ruled in his favor, but the Missouri State Supreme Court later reversed this decision.

After eleven years in the court they finally got it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justice Roger Taney's reason for this ruling was that slaves were not citizens, and just because Scott lived in a free state didn t mean he was free. The significance of this case is that Dred Scott Decision actually ended the Missouri Compromise. Scott's clam was that he had become a free man when his owner had taken him to a free state, which had made him free under the 1820 Missouri Compromise. It was decided he was a slave regardless were his owner took him, during the 1856 December term.