Saint Joseph’s University Cokie Snow Legal Memo

Question 1: Write a Hypothetical.

Write a legal memorandum analyzing what happened in the following scenario.

Suppose Cokie Snow operated a cocaine trafficking operation that controlled several areas of a city. Cokie had a dirty cop, Ada Anna Abetta, on the payroll who relayed information about what was happening on her suburban beat to Cokie. Officer Abetta informed Cokie of rumors of a new low-level dealer, Ima Pusher, selling crack at the major high school in her beat for a different dealer. Ima was a 16-year-old student who commuted to school in an old beat-up car. Cokie and the cop made a plan to eliminate the competition. Cokie arranged to have a large amount of cocaine placed in Ima’s car. Then Cokie contacted Officer Abetta, who picked up and arrested Ada for trafficking cocaine. While Ima was in jail before trial, Internal Affairs caught Officer Abetta in a sting and arrested her. Officer Abetta made a quick deal to reduce the charges against her by telling the prosecutor’s office about Cokie’s operation. Officer Abetta informed the prosecutor’s office about how Cokie had planted drugs on Ima and then arranged to have the officer arrest Ima.

While Officer Abetta was awaiting sentencing, Ima’s public defender was negotiating a plea bargain with the same prosecutor’s office, but with a different assistant prosecutor (one from the juvenile division). The juvenile prosecutor did not inform Ima about how the drugs had been planted during plea negotiations with Ima. To avoid being tried as an adult and facing up to 15 years in prison, Ima agreed to admit to the crime in juvenile court and take a sentence recommendation of being committed for no less than 1 year to a secure juvenile facility known for its drug treatment program. The state in which this occurred, however, would not expunge drug trafficking as a juvenile from someone’s official public record.

Six months into Ima’s residential sentence, her lawyer discovers the truth. The lawyer is considering two ways to seek relief on behalf of Ima—one based on Santobello v. NY (1971) and the other on Kyles v. Whitely (1995). You are the lawyer’s assistant and have been asked to prepare a legal memorandum assessing the two approaches. Please submit your memorandum as a Word document.

Outline:

1. First, summarize the law presented in Santobello v NY. (Target length: 1 developed paragraph)

2. Second, review how the important facts in this hypothetical fit with the Santobello case? What is similar and what is different? (Target length: 2 developed paragraphs)

3. Third, draw a conclusion about the prospects of Ima being able to challenge his conviction on this ground. Give reasons for your conclusion. (Target length: 1 developed paragraph)

4. Fourth, summarize the law presented in Kyles v. Whitley. (Target length: 1 developed paragraph)

5. Fifth, review how the important facts in this hypothetical fit with the Kyles case? What is similar and what s different? (Target length: 2 developed paragraphs)

6. Sixth, draw a conclusion about the prospects of Ima being able to challenge his conviction on this ground. Give reasons for your conclusion. (Target length: 1 developed paragraph)

7. Seventh, draw a conclusion about which strategy is more likely to be successful and give reasons. Alternatively, if you think they can both be successful or neither can be successful, indicate why. (Target length: 1 – 2 paragraphs)

Question 2: For this assignment, you will choose any primate to research and write a short essay (300 words) on your findings. You may choose any primate- which means you can choose a human or non-human primate, and you are not limited to choosing extant primates. This means you can choose to do your write up on any of the fossil hominins or primates, or any of the living primates. However, please do not do a write up on modern humans.

As you research your primate, look for information on its habitat, diet, range (where it is found), form of locomotion, social structure, morphology, conservation status, and any fun fact or something new you learned while researching the primate. Additionally, you will need to include the suborder, family, genus, and species names for your primate.

A list of websites below:

https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Primates/

https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils…

Template:

1. Subrder:

2. Family:

3. Genus:

4. Species:

5. Common name of primate (if applicable):

6. Your ~300 word, double spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margin essay here. Be sure to include information about the habitat, diet, range (where it is found), form of locomotion, social structure, morphology, conservation status, and any fun fact or something new you learned while researching the primate.

Criteria:

I. Taxonomy: Accurately recorded suborder, family, genus, and species

II. Habitat: Fully describes habitat of selected primate.

III. Diet: Fully describes diet of selected primate.

IV. Range: Fully describes range of selected primate

V. Locomotion: Fully describes locomotion of selected primate.

VI.Social Structure: Fully describes social structure of selected primate.

VII. Morphology: Fully describes morphology of selected primate

VIII. Conservation Status: Fully describes conservation status of selected primate

IX. Formatting: Essay is about 300 words, double spaced, 12 pt font, and follows template.

X. Proper Citation: All information is properly cited both in the text and includes a list of references properly formatted at the end of the essay.