Hi everyone ... welcome to the Fall 2013 Capital Punishment Seminar.  Scott Braden and I are excited to be teaching again.  We have a big class this year, so have patience.  Much of what you need will be posted up on this site.  Lecture notes, class reading, information about exercises.  We also use it to field questions leftover from class or to clarify things we may say.  You should feel free to post and ask questions also.  I would ask that you identify yourself, the comments come to me (Deborah) prior to posting, if something is anonymous or disrespectful to someone else, it will not be posted!  We will also post information about legal happenings from SCOTUS and ARKSC and post if we have any arguments scheduled that may be interesting to the class.

WELCOME!

Sample Paper

Here is a sample paper from last semester, I hopefully will post another example soon.

Sample Paper 1

Examples of Motions, Briefs, and Cert. Petition

The following pleadings can be used as templates for how to stylistically format your final papers. Some of the longer pleadings may take a while to load.

United States Supreme Court Petition for Certiorari

Federal Court Appellate Brief

Federal Court Motion

State Court Appellate Brief

State Court Motion

State Court Response to Motion

Final Paper Information

For guidelines on the paper, students should refer to the ULWR Bill of Particulars.

The following are some scenarios that you can take as a basis for your paper:

Motion in Limine (eyewitness issue)

Response to Motion in Limine (eyewitness issue)

Motion to Suppress (identification)

Motion to Strike Death Penalty

Motion for Expert Funding

Issue Spotting Hypo #1

Issue Spotting Hypo #2

Oral Argument Assignment

Oral Argument Scenarios - If you have lost your assignment, please select one of from the linked document.

Paper Outlines and Next Week's Exercise

The below link are the scenarios for next week's exercise. If you were not in class and did not receive an assignment, just pick one of those in the linked pdf. The point of the exercise is to interview for the first time a client that you have just been assigned to in a postconviction appeal setting. Your goals are to find out their concerns, briefly explain that you will be appealing their conviction and sentence, and to attempt to identify any major problem areas with the client.

Client Interview Scenarios

The paper outlines were due Monday. Many of you did not turn in these outlines. Please turn them in via email (Deb is deborah_czuba@fd.org, Scott is scott_braden@fd.org) by Sunday night.

Another Pleading Example

United States Supreme Court - Amicus Brief.

Class 8 Reading

Please use the following links for reading materials for next Monday (the 17th). At the end of the reading, there is a mock questionnaire that represents the individual that you will portray when you are being interviewed for jury selection.

If your last name begins with A or B, please review these materials.

If your last name begins with C to G, please review these materials.

If your last name begins with H to N, please review these materials.

If your last name begins with S to Z, please review these materials.

Reading for Class 3

I have posted some additional reading for Class 3, I will also be handing out a hardcopy of this in class this afternoon!

Sample Postconviction Pleadings

Next week we will begin discussing postconviction litigation. Below, you will find a sample postconviction petition and an overlength motion. These are the two pleadings needed to properly initiate a postconviction action in Arkansas.

Petition for Postconviction Relief in Howard v. State [note: may take two to three minutes to properly load]

Motion for Leave in Howard v. State