Summit vs. State Supreme Court of Nevada (1985) Essay

Summit vs. State Supreme Court of Nevada (1985) - Essay Example This testimony was offered by the appellant by stating that the victim had previous knowledge of similar acts that formed a foundation for the current case. Summitt was convicted by the grand jury, and the current case is an appeal on grounds of the rape shield law under FRE 412. Issue The issue before the court in the current case is whether the rape shield law allowed the admission of prior sexual experience of the victim as evidence in the case. The court had to determine whether Summitt could introduce the prior sexual experience of his victim as a basis for his defense in the appeal of his conviction. Rule The rule in this case is defined by the Nevada Revised Statute Section 50.090.1, which limits the inquiry into the sexual history of a victim in a rape or sexual assault case. This rule reversed the common law statute of rape cases, where the morality of the victim could have led the assailant to infer consent for sexual acts. Analysis The rape shield law was designed to preve nt the introduction of irrelevant evidence in sexual assault cases, evidence that had the potential to prejudice a jury against a victim in the case. The evidence that is usually barred includes opinions or apparent previous reputations of the victim and prior sexual experience. In the case of Summitt v. The State Supreme Court of Nevada, the rape shield law was used to prevent the appellant from introducing a previous sexual assault on the victim as basis for defense. The appellant tried to claim that since the victim had been subjected to the same assault previously, the victim had prior independent knowledge of the present case. According to common law, a defendant has the right to present witnesses in a case, cross examine them and introduce any history that pertains to the case. But in the case of sexual assault, this history might have no bearing on the case and just prejudice the jury. Therefore, the rape shield law is used to shield the victim from unfair testimony. In this case, the defendant tried to prove that the prior sexual experience of the child could have been used to formulate the evidence in the current case, indicating that the rape shield law should not have been applied. In dissenting, Steffen, a judge, stated that the previous sexual experience of the victim could have been used to make up statements in the current case, and that the lesser court was wrong in excluding reference to the previous assault. Conclusion The decision in the case to reverse the prior ruling and remand the case for a new trial was based on the error by the district court in not admitting the prior sexual experience of the victim in the case. This means that the rape shield law can sometimes act unfavorably for the defendant, since the victim could have prior knowledge that might have bearing in the current case. Discussion The rule in this case impacts different rape and sexual cases. From the decision, it is seen that the rape shield law can be circumvented by a jury if it is evident that the defendant needs the prior sexual experience of the victim in his case. Question 2 Facts Martin Weil unexpectedly passed away, and on investigation, his doctors could not explain the cause of death or the cause of several medical complications that he experienced before his death. One

First Amendment Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

First Amendment Rights - Essay Example The freedom of speech and expression has its downside and its negative effects include: discrimination and hatred caused due to religious freedom of expression, obscenity and biased content presented by media and protest against measures that are healthy for the overall society. One of the main reasons due to which the First Amendment was enacted was to protect the right of all religions to exercise their religion in a free manner. The issue with free exercise of religion is that religious groups preach their followers that their religion is superior to other religions and is the best religion. This has resulted in differences among individuals representing different religions and has led to the growth of biased attitudes of followers of one religion for followers of other religion (Basford, 2003, p.386). Another issue is that, Schools and Universities that are backed by religion such as Catholic schools even have students from different religions and these educational institutes ten d to promote their own religion within the educational institute as a result of freedom to exercise religious activities. This coerces followers of one religion to follow the teachings and practices of other religion. Another issue is that while religious teachers of different religions are preaching their followers, they tend to create hatred among their followers for people of different religions. Another reason due to which the First Amendment was enacted was to protect the media from any policies that could restrict their activities and content they use. Media is considered as an important part of the American society as it educates and provides information about day to day events that are taking place within the American society. But media has surely crossed its lines and has misused the freedom it had. Media used to be highly regulated through rules and regulations, scenes that are obscene in nature and information that is biased in nature was not allowed to be aired on media. Today, media openly provides biased information and acts as trial rooms for several issues and try to become the judge of these issues. There have been several instances where national TV channels such as CNN have aired obscenity. For example: The exposure of Jannet Jacson’s nudity on CNN which is a national TV channel (Anderson, 2004, p.1). Another important part of media is Internet and the access to internet has increased with the passage of time. One of the most troubling realities of Internet is the pornographic material that is promoted through it. Internet is used by people of all ages and the population that has gained majority in using internet is teenagers and children. This population tends to access pornographic material which is hampering their mental development. The First Amendment right of protesting against the government for the protection of individual rights has even caused several issues. The main problem caused by this clause is that the citizens might protest the government against making rules and regulations that are beneficial for the society and the government might be held responsible for conducting discrimination if it makes decision in favor of certain part of population, while the same decision might not be in favor of others. For example: the government is trying to use gun