The case before the court faces Mr. John Robinson and Mr. Jim Harrison. Mr. John Robinson is being accused of the murder of Jane Clark and robbery at the Mayfair Bank. Mr. Jim Harrison is accused of being an accomplice in the crimes committed by Mr. John Robinson. There are several ordinary and two expert witnesses to offer sufficient direct, circumstantial and scientific evidence and ensure that the accused persons are convicted of the crimes of homicide and robbery.
The first witness is Mr. Bill Simpson the assistant to the deceased head teller Jane Clerk. Jane Clark was on the phone talking to her husband when a man came into the bank while Simpson was at the teller counting money from two deposit bags. The man pointed a gun at him and demanded money. He heard Jane Clerk scream and witnessed the man fire two shots at Mrs. Clark. He also witnessed the man grab the two bags filled with money and run out of the bank. Evidence from Mr. Simpson ought to be taken as direct evidence since he witnessed the actual violation of laws against murder and robbery with violence. Mr. Simpson was conscious and present at the scene of the crime although he was in a state of shock and stared blankly according to the bank manager, Mr. Peter Owens. This attests that he had witnessed shocking events.
Mr. Peter Owens, the manager at Mayfair bank is the second witness to offer evidence in this case. He returned from lunch and found Bill Simpson in state of shock staring at the bleeding body of Jane Clark. He asked Mr. Simpson what happened but got no reply from him since he was in a state of shock. Mr. Owens then leant over Jane Clark and heard her whimper "the guy with the scar shot me" before she died. This dying declaration by the deceased Jane Clark is ascertained when John Robinson is arrested and found to have a massive scar running down the length of his face. The defense counsel may interpose that Mr. Bill Simpson shot Mrs. Clark since he was found by the bank manager at the scene of the crime; but the dying declaration clearly describes the gunman and exempts Mr. Bill Simpson from being accused of the murder. Mr. Peter Owens identified the bags recovered from Robinson’s apartment as belonging to Mayfair bank.
Jane Clark’s husband is the third witness. He was on the phone with his wife when the robber came into the bank. Jane creamed making it is possible for her husband to hear her screaming on the phone. Mr. Clark also called police to the crime scene. His amounts to circumstantial evidence and is crucial in establishing the nature of the crimes.
The fourth witness in the case; Mrs. Joan Santo provides direct evidence against the accused. She was loading groceries into her car across the street from the bank at the time of the robbery. She heard two gunshots coming from the bank and saw a man run out carrying bags. She also heard the man yelling “She made me shoot her” as he jumped into a waiting “beat-up” car. Mrs. Santo copied the license plate number of the car onto the back of her grocery receipt. A check with the Department of Motor Vehicles revealed that the car was a 1964 Chevy Nova registered to a Mrs. Mary Robinson of Pine Bluffs. The details of the crime recorded by Mrs. Santo cannot be dismissed as hearsay as they match the actual details confirmed upon completion of investigations.
The fifth witness is Mary Robinson, wife to the accused Mr. John Robinson. The defense counsel may counter that Mary Robinson is not liable to present evidence against her husband under the husband-wife privilege. The privilege interposes that parties to a marriage contract shall not divulge confidential communications between the two while they are married (Stein, 35). This could bar Mrs. Mary Robinson from giving evidence based on her husband’s confessions to her but; it does not bar her from giving evidence based on what she witnessed when she came home from work.
Mary Robinson found her husband and Jim seated on the floor counting money from two cash bags imprinted with the name “Mayfair Federal”. When Mary questioned John about the money, John told her to shut up and mind her business. John Robinson admitted to her after Jim leaves that they had robbed a bank earlier that day. Since the confessions are confidential information between a husband and wife, Mary is exempted from divulging them to the court under the husband-wife privilege.
Mary is at liberty to present testimony on her husband’s financial situation as an unemployed alcoholic who has no control over his temper. She can use documentary evidence to deduce that John Robinson shot Jane Clark out of his short-temperedness. Jane Clark’s screaming at the time of the robbery could have sparked John’s short temper which caused him to shoot her. A Woman present at the scene of the crime heard two gunshots from the bank at the time of the robbery and heard a man yelling, “She made me shoot her”.
Mary Robinson experienced violence in her marriage more evidence that John was a violent man. He often stroked her “with the back of his hand”. John’s apparent short temper and his violence towards his wife amount to documentary evidence on his personality, which could have, led him to shoot Jane Clark during the robbery.
Mrs. Mary Robinson confirmed that the car identified by Mrs. Joan Santo during the bank robbery belonged to her. She also confessed to detective Ted Walker that John always used the car although it was registered under her name.
Detective Ted Walker is the sixth and one of the two expert witnesses in this case. Detective Walker was assigned to head the investigations on the crimes committed in the Mayfair Bank and arrested the two persons accused in this case. He was able to use various witnesses to locate another witness present at the scene of the crime, Mrs. Joan Santo. He also obtained confessions from Mrs. Mary Robinson wife to the accused Mr. John Robinson.
Detective Walker confirmed that the car used in the crime belonged to Mrs. Mary Robinson of Pine Bluffs, wife to the accused Mr. John Robinson. Using the information he had gathered, Detective Walker assembled a team of police officers and went to Robinson’s apartment. When they knocked down the door to Robinson’s apartment they found Jim and John seated on the couch sharing a bottle of Wild Turkey. Detective Walker informed the two that they were under arrest for the homicide and robbery at the Mayfair bank.
Detective Walker led police officers to arrest the two individuals and upon searching the apartment found a loaded handgun and two Mayfair Federal cash bags each containing a large amount of money under a pile of old clothes. At the police station, Jim and John were placed in separate holding cells and advised of their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. In the arrest, of John and Jim Detective Walker violated none of their constitutional rights and obtained evidence lawfully meaning that there all the evidence he obtained is admissible in court (Friedman 22).
Jim Harrison is the seventh witness in the case. His evidence can be termed as a “fruit of the poisonous tree” extremely crucial in the determination of these cases. He was a friend to John Robinson, and the two used to drink together at John’s apartment. Unlike John, Jim did not have a violent temper. On the material day, he obliged to drive John to rob the Mayfair bank on the promise that John would give him $200. He did not get into the bank to rob and neither did he shoot Mrs. Jane Clark. He tried defending himself during the arrest by Detective Walker, by saying, “I didn’t even go into the bank”. John smacked Jim for saying this and commanded him to shut his mouth. At the police station, Jim gave a full written confession wherein he truthfully outlined the involvement of each of them in the crimes. As an accomplice, in the crimes committed at the Mayfair bank by John Robinson Jim’s confession of the crimes is a statement against penal interest (Stein 42).
On the other hand, John refused to give a written statement and told the police that he just drove the car and that Jim “went in and shot the woman.” John’s statement sounds flimsy and unfounded while his refusal to present a written confession sells him out as being the most liable of the crimes. A scar also run the length of John’s face as the deceased Jane Clark stated in the dying declaration.
Forensic investigator Gabe Martin is the eighth and the second expert witness in this case. He examined the handgun recovered from the Robinson’s apartment during the arrest and determined that it was in fact, the gun used to kill Jane Clark. Gabe martin presents scientific evidence to link Mr. Robinson to the killing of Jane Clark.
The defense counsel may object and interpose that since both Joan Santo and Bill Simpson were unable to identify John Robinson and Jim Harrison in the identification parade the two are innocent of the crimes. But, Mrs. Santo and Mr. Simpson were unable to identify the culprits under exceptional conditions. Joan Santo said that everything happened too quickly. Moreover, she saw a man running to the car from a distance and therefore, it was not possible to clearly make him out. Bill Simpson got shocked when he witnessed the shootings and, it is possible that he lost clear memory of how the gunman looked like.
The money bags and the handgun recovered at the Robinson’s apartment shall be presented in court by as real, direct evidence or exhibits. Having followed the law and respected the rights of accused persons during the arrest and in the course of investigations; the evidence presented before this is substantial, adequate and admissible to convict exhibits to convict Mr. John Robinson of homicide and robbery at the Mayfair Bank while Mr. Jim Harrison ought to be convicted as an accomplice.
Works cited
Friedman, Lawrence. American Law in the Twentieth Century. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2002. Print
Stein, Alex. Foundations of Evidence Law. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2005.
Print.
“Robbery at Mayfair Bank”- Case Study
