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Allen V. United States (1987)
''Allen v. United States'', 164 U.S. 492 (1896), was a United States Supreme Court case that, amongst other things, approved the use of a jury instruction intended to prevent a hung jury by encouraging jurors in the minority to reconsider. The Court affirmed Alexander Allen's murder conviction, having vacated his two prior convictions for the same crime. Such an instruction became known as an ''Allen'' charge and is given when, after deliberation, a jury reports that it is deadlocked and unable to decide on a verdict. Because it is used to dislodge jurors from entrenched positions, the ''Allen'' charge is sometimes referred to as the "dynamite charge" or the "hammer charge." ''Allen'' is based upon the Supreme Court's supervisory power over the federal courts. Thus, it is not binding on state courts. Approximately half of US states prohibit ''Allen'' charges on state law grounds. Background Allen's three trials had been presided over by Judge Isaac Parker of the United Stat ...
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Supreme Court Of The United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. However, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. The court may decide cases having political overtones, but has ruled that it does not have power to decide non-justiciable political questions. Established by Article Three of the United States ...
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Jury Instruction
Jury instructions, directions to the jury, or judge's charge are legal rules that jurors should follow when deciding a case. They are a type of jury control procedure to support a fair trial. Description Jury instructions are the set of legal rules governing how jurors should behave when deciding a case, often addressing with whom jurors may discuss the case and how jurors will decide who is guilty. They are a type of jury control procedure, intended to mitigate potential actions of jurors that may prevent a fair trial; the judge provides these instructions to ensure their interests are represented and nothing prejudicial is said. Use United States Under the American judicial system, juries are often the trier of fact when they serve in a trial. In other words, it is their job to sort through disputed accounts presented in evidence. The judge decides questions of law, meaning he or she decides how the law applies to a given set of facts. Jury instructions are given to the ...
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Hung Jury
A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. This situation can occur only in common law legal systems, because civil law systems either do not use juries at all or provide that the defendant is immediately acquitted if the majority or supermajority required for conviction is not reached during a single, solemn vote. Australia Majority (or supermajority verdicts) are in force in South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Australian Capital Territory and Commonwealth courts require unanimous verdicts in criminal (but not civil) trials. Canada In Canada, the jury must reach a unanimous decision on criminal cases. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, a hung jury is declared. A new panel of jurors will b ...
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US States
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders (such as paroled convicts and children of divorced spouses who share child custody). State governments in the U.S. are allocated power by the people (of each respective state) through their individual state constitutions. All are grounded in republican principles (this being required by the federal constitution), and each provides for a government, consisting of three branches, each with separate and indepen ...
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Isaac Charles Parker
Isaac Charles Parker (October 15, 1838 – November 17, 1896), also known as “Hanging Judge” Parker, was an American politician and jurist. He served as a United States representative from Missouri and was appointed as the first United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, which also had jurisdiction over Indian Territory. Parker became known as the "Hanging Judge" of the American Old West, because he sentenced numerous convicts to death. In 21 years on the federal bench, Judge Parker tried 13,490 cases. In more than 8,500 of these cases, the defendant either pleaded guilty or was convicted at trial. Parker sentenced 160 people to death; 79 were executed. The other 81 either died while incarcerated, were pardoned, or had their sentences commuted. Early life Born in Ohio, Parker was the youngest son of Joseph Parker and his wife Jane Shannon. He was the great-nephew of Ohio Governor Wilson Shannon. He was raised on th ...
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United States District Court For The Western District Of Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (in case citations, W.D. Ark.) is a federal court in the Eighth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit). The District was established on March 3, 1851, with the division of the state into an Eastern and Western district. The U.S. Courthouse & Post Office in Texarkana is shared with the Eastern District of Texas, making it the sole federal courthouse located in two states and a location of two federal districts. The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. The current Acting United States Attorney is David Clay Fowlkes. Organization of the court The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas is one of two federal judicial districts in Arkansas. Court for the District is held at El Do ...
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United States District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district court has at least one courthouse, and many districts have more than one. District courts' decisions are appealed to the United States courts of appeals, U.S. court of appeals for the circuit in which they reside, except for certain specialized cases that are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court. District courts are courts of common law, law, Court of equity, equity, and Admiralty court, admiralty, and can hear both Civil law (common law), civil and Criminal law, criminal cases. But unlike U.S. state courts, federal dis ...
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Black Direction
''Black v The Queen''. is a decision of the High Court of Australia. In the first trial, Black was found guilty of two crimes of arson by a jury but only after the trial judge had directed the jurors make a majority decision. On appeal to the High Court of Australia, the decision was set aside, and a new trial ordered. The Court's finding The majority ruling found that judge did not instruct the jury appropriately in relation to the flaws in the police interviews. They found that the trial judge should have told them to scrutinise police interviews closely. It additionally found that the jury must be free to deliberate without any pressure being brought upon them. The Court quashed the conviction, set aside the decision of the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal and ordered a new trial. Broader applications In Australian law, a "Black direction" is a direction by a judge to a jury to reconsider the votes of a small number of jury members. In Queensland, a judge may ma ...
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Australian Law
The legal system of Australia has multiple forms. It includes a written constitution, unwritten constitutional conventions, statutes, regulations, and the judicially determined common law system. Its legal institutions and traditions are substantially derived from that of the English legal system. Australia is a common-law jurisdiction, its court system having originated in the common law system of English law. The country's common law is the same across the states and territories (subject to augmentation by statutes).. The Australian Constitution sets out a federal system of government. There exists a national legislature, with a power to pass laws of overriding force on a number of express topics. The States are separate jurisdictions with their own system of courts and parliaments, and are vested with plenary power. Some Australian territories such as the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have been granted a regional legislature by the Commonwealth. Th ...
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Commonwealth Law Reports
The Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) () are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. The Commonwealth Law Reports are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters. James Merralls AM QC was the editor of the Reports from 1969 until his death in 2016. The current editors are Christopher Horan KC and Paul Vout KC. Each reported judgment includes a headnote written by an expert reporter (by convention, a practising barrister) which, as an authorised report, has been approved by the High Court. The current reporters are as follows: * Roshan Chaile * Ella Delany * Bora Kaplan * Rudi Kruse * James McComish * William Newland * Alistair Pound SC * Daniel Reynolds * Alexander Solomon-Bridge * Julia Wang * Michael Wells * Jillian Williams * Radhika Withana The headnotes include a summary of counsel's legal arguments. The Reports also include tables of cases reported, affirmed, reversed, overruled, applied or judicially commented on and cited ...
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Allen Charge Case Law
Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence * Allen House (other) * Allen Power Plant (other) Businesses *Allen (brand), an American tool company *Allen's, an Australian brand of confectionery *Allens (law firm), an Australian law firm formerly known as Allens Arthur Robinson *Allen's (restaurant), a former hamburger joint and nightclub in Athens, Georgia, United States *Allen & Company LLC, a small, privately held investment bank *Allens of Mayfair, a butcher shop in London from 1830 to 2015 *Allens Boots, a retail store in Austin, Texas * Allens, Inc., a brand of canned vegetables based in Arkansas, US, now owned by Del Monte Foods * Allen's department store, a.k.a. Allen's, George Allen, Inc., Philadelphia, USA People * Allen ...
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1896 In United States Case Law
Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Röntgen has discovered a type of radiation (later known as X-rays). * January 6 – Cecil Rhodes is forced to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope, for his involvement in the Jameson Raid. * January 7 – American culinary expert Fannie Farmer publishes her first cookbook. * January 12 – H. L. Smith takes the first X-ray photograph. * January 17 – Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War: British redcoats enter the Ashanti capital, Kumasi, and Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I is deposed. * January 18 – The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time. * January 28 – Walter Arnold, of East Peckham, Kent, England, is fined 1 shilling for speeding at (exceeding the contemporary speed limit of , the fir ...
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