University of Houston Law Center



Criminal Law- the power of persuasion:Objectives:To learn how to make an effective argument through storytelling.To learn the different degrees of murder by analyzing the statutes. To learn how to apply a set of facts to the elements of a crime. Introduction:QUIZ (15 min)Persuasion:to?induce?to?believe?by?appealing?to?reason?or?understanding; convinceIn criminal law we use persuasion to convince a jury that someone is guilty or innocent. There are many tactics we use in our every day life that persuade others of our ideas. storytellingspeaking to the emotionslogical argumentseven guiltCan you name tactics you might use?Those are only few. There are so many ways to persuade. Here is a video that can give you an idea of some of the tactics that attorneys use in court all the time. What you are about to watch is called closing arguments where the attorneys for both sides get to summarize to the jury what they believe to be the facts and apply it to the law. Notice the techniques that both sides used to convince the jury. Look at the body language and the tone the attorneys use.The jury’s job is to decide based on the facts whether they believe the accused is guilty or not guilty and that is why each attorney uses different tactics to emphasize particular parts of an argument or minimize others. Notice also there is a general theme that each attorney kind of uses to sway the jury. Video (10 min): defense uses this theme of corruption of the mind by TV.The prosecutor points out the morality and emphasizes the jury’s duty to do the right thing. I will give you a script and I want you to read it to me in the most persuasive way you can. ( I will pick two people to read a passage and tell them to emphasize different parts of the paragraph).Ok we will shift gears a little bit and talk about murder. I am sure you all know that when someone is accused of murder, they can be accused of different “degrees of murder”. Murder is under this big umbrella called homicide. What differentiates murder from other kinds of homicide is the fact that murder is committed with malice. Malice is the ill will or deliberate intent to harm someone. Does anyone know what the degrees are and what they mean? Someone asked this question earlier during one of our first classes together. The differences between the different kinds of murder are the mental states that are required to commit those murders. Here is a quick definition of each but we will also look at the actual statutes and see if we can apply them to a hypothetical. Degrees of murder- DefinitionsFirst Degree Murder:?Requires that you have taken the life of another with "malice aforethought" or a premeditated intent to kill.Second Degree Murder:?Requires that you have taken the life of another with intent, but with no premeditation or forethought.JUST based on these definitions what do you think the sailors would be convicted of IF someone was convinced that what they did was murder?Sec. 19.02 MURDER…(b) A person commits an offense if he:(1) intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual;(2) intends to cause serious bodily injury and commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual; or(3) commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), an offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.Sec. 19.04. MANSLAUGHTER. (a) A person commits an offense if he recklessly causes the death of an individual.(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree.(class discusses this one together)Tom Brady is cheated when he buys a car from the Falcon’s Carz Shop. He attempts to return the car but Matt Ryan just laughs and tells him to go away. Every time Brady has to make a repair on the car je gets angry. Finally he decides to wreck Ryan’s car to get even with him. Following him home from work in evening, Brady tires to ram his car, hoping to bend the axel or frame. Instead of bending the frame, the collision smashes Ryan’s gas tank causes an explosion and kills him. (separate the class to defense and prosecution to use both persuasion and what they learned about murder crimes)During the Miss Universe competition, Iris Mittenre found out that her ex-boyfriend caused her a lot of problem and she may lose the title. She blames him for all her trouble. She decides to shoot him. Iris decides to go home so that she can prepare to carry out the murder. She accidently hits a jogger who darted out of nowhere. Stopping immediately, Iris rushes to help the jogger who is already dead. She was driving a safe speed limit and the jogger was completely unavoidable. Who can be accused of murder? What kind of murder should they be convicted of if any? ................
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