Assignment:
Paper 1: In the Dark, Season 2 Podcast, The Curtis Flowers Case
The following paper assignment is expected to be 3 to 5 pages in length based on the detail and depth of responses to the key questions posted below. The submission should be prepared in MS- Word docx file, or PDF, double spaced, in 12 Times New Roman font. A cover page is not required. Page numbers are appreciated. A Work Cited page is expected at the end of the submission and is not part of the expected paper range stated above. If there are images, charts, or supplemental information, it should be included after the Work Cited page. The style of reference citations is your decision. URLs should be working links clickable from the document file submission.
The topic of this paper covers a landmark court decision or case closely related to the topic or themes analyzed through the Curtis Flowers case study this semester. Each student will be assigned a unique case topic, posted at the end of the assignment.
1) Begin your paper with a 2 to 3 paragraph summary and explanation about what you believe to be the most important theme of the Curtis Flowers case. What principle, concept, decision, or outcome will be your lasting memory about this case?
2) Using your specific assigned case (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/218/#tab-opinion-1946739), provide a 2 to 3 paragraph summary (longer if necessary) based on your reading of the case through the link provided. Your summary should include information on the original charges in the case, along with lower court decisions, highlights regarding the constitutional violations or judicial errors, and the decisions of appellate and/or the US Supreme Court.
3) You may need to do external research of News sources or other legal case sources and you should provide those sources in your work cited. Most cases have similar or companion cases with similar or companion themes in the appeal. Locate another case that is similar, linked, or topically related to your assigned case, and provide a similar summary of that case as you did in #2 above, and then explain, compare and contrast, how that case is linked to your case.
4) Return to the topic of Curtis Flowers. Explain how your assigned case is linked or related to the Flowers case. If the comparison is not clearly obvious, then explain or contrast why your case is not relevant to Flowers. Include in this explanation what changes in the Flowers case, criminal procedure, or evidence would need to change to make your case relevant. Don't forget that there are/were other suspects in the Flowers case who were either informants, witnesses, or potential offenders (guilty.)
5) Conclude your paper with some final research outside of the podcast In the Dark (apmReports) and discuss what future impacts/reforms the Flowers case might have on the US Criminal Justice system... think not only about Mississippi, but nationally.