HOW DO YOU END UP IN

COURT?
CADEN MUNSON

INDEPENDENT STUDY MENTORSHIP – SPRING 2019

MRS. CLICK
 DISCLAIMER

Not all the information in this

presentation comes directly from
mentorship experience, some of
the information comes from
outside research.
 MENTOR INTRODUCTION

• Mentor – Mekisha Jane Walker

• Mentorship location – Mentors home office and
the court room
• Mentors career – Criminal defense attorney
• Education – University of Houston - Bachelor of
Science
• Legal Studies - American Jurisprudence -
December 1998

https://www.google.com/search?q=harris+county+court&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUK
EwjVs9H2ytngAhWM6oMKHQYDDikQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=625&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=sJ1zRUKyylFKOM
 WHAT IS ISM

• ISM stands for Independent Study Mentorship. Each student has to select a
mentor to shadow for at least one semester. The students are required to
spend at least 3 hours a week with their mentors and keep an activity log. At
the end of each semester the student is required to give a presentation
about what they learned to three professionals in positions related to their
mentorship. The goal of ISM is to help high school students get a better idea
of what their future career could be or help them decide what they want to
do as a career.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&biw
=1366&bih=625&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=akt1XOisHZP7jwSGvpeYCg&q=
ISM&oq=ISM&gs_l=img.3..35i39j0l4j0i67j0l2j0i67l2.3864.9202..9442...
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=iw1DuS89jtloUM
PROJECT
TOPIC
For my project topic I decided to study what goes
on in a normal trial. Since the vast majority of
people will never step into a court room for a trial
I hope that my project can help explain the in’s
and outs of an average trial.
 KEY POINT ONE – HOW DO YOU END UP IN
COURT
• Commit a crime
• Get caught by the police
• Get charged with a crime
• Don’t plea or get a dismissal
• Fight the charge in a court of your peers
• Can go to jail for a class A misdemeanor or higher.
 KEY POINT TWO – HOW DO YOU GET REPRESENTATION

• Advertisement by mail, billboard, or pamphlet/flyer

• Word of mouth
• Internet research
• Court appointed public defender
• Avvo.com

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&biw=1366&bih=576&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei
=oEx1XL6oB8LajwTKnrKwCg&q=attorney+with+client&oq=attorney+with+client&gs_l=img.3..0.47669.52
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M:
 KEY POINT THREE – WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU
GET REPRESENTATION
• Discuss next steps in case
• Plea or get some kind of alternate punishment
• Take the charge to court
• Select a jury
• Prepare for the fight

https://www.google.com/search?q=jail+bars&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&source=lnms&tbm
=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS_LWDztngAhXC6YMKHZqvBL8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=576&saf
e=active&ssui=on#imgrc=fkvYjq4p87D6XM:
 KEY POINT FOUR – WHAT HAPPENS IN COURT
• Who is in the court room
• What do the people in the court do
• What are the procedures of the court
• What happens if something goes wrong
• Wrongful convictions https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&tbm=isch&q=jury&chi
ps=q:jury,g_1:cartoon:CfHnG7fMJfI%3D&usg=AI4_-
kTYdKAwTsmg0PLh8CYnWKbcu0xQCg&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwii5f3Ep9_gAhXomq0KHb
bsAUAQ4lYIKigB&biw=1366&bih=625&dpr=1&safe=active&ssui=on
 KEY POINT FIVE – THE BIG DECISION

• What happens if you win

• What happens if you lose
• Mistrials and other rare possibilities
• AJ Armstrong
• Michael Morton

https://www.google.com/search?q=jail+bars&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&oq=jail+bar
s&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1721j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on
 PRODUCT SLIDE

• My final product is a time line on everything leading up to the trial to the end of the
trial. Its 18 steps and it covers the average process. However, each case is different so
there will be a few missing links.
 CURRENT
EVENT
• For my current event I chose to took into El
Chapo’s criminal trial. This court case
gives a good example of what kind of
personal information can be exposed and
how no aspect of a defendants life is
protected from the jury. It also details the
violence and paranoia of El Chapo during
https://www.google.com/search?q=el+chapo&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS809US809&sour
ce=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilq7buy9ngAhWSxIMKHSwYATEQ_AUIDy
gC&biw=1366&bih=625&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=HeWNRWLyxbI24M
the time when he was the leader of the
Sinaloa cartel.
 CONCLUSION

• Overall this semester of ISM has taught me a lot. My dad was a police officer for twenty-five years so
I learned how police officers do their jobs in arresting criminals and sending them to jail. Being
able to learn what a defense attorney does to try and prevent people from serving jail sentences is
opposite to the environment I have grown up in, and it really opened my eyes. I have developed a
greater sense of understanding in what goes on in a courtroom and disproved many of my
preconceived misunderstanding for the better.
• Thank you Mekisha for being a wonderful mentor and taking time teach me
about your career.
• Thank you graders for taking some time out of your day to grade my
presentation.
• Thank you Mrs. Click for always helping with assignments and being
flexible.
 WORK CITED
• Reamey, Gerald S. “The Truth Might Set You Free: How the Michael Morton Act Could Fundamentally Change Texas Criminal Discovery,
Or Not.” Texas Tech Law Review, vol. 48, no. 4, 2016, pp. 893–929., commons.stmarytx.edu/facarticles/247/.

• Farber, Madeline. “What Is a Mistrial?” Fox News, FOX News Network, 16 Nov. 2017, www.foxnews.com/us/what-is-a-mistrial.

• “What Happens at the Trial?” What Happens If I'm Convicted at Trial?, Law Offices of the Public Defender Eleventh Judicial Circuit of
Florida, www.pdmiami.com/what_happens_if_im_convicted_at_trial.htm.

• “ What Happens at the Trial?” What Happens at the Trial?, www.pdmiami.com/what_happens_at_the_trial.htm.

• Streicker, Sherilyn. “Jury Selection in Criminal Cases.” Www.nolo.com, Nolo, 17 Aug. 2015, www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/jury-
selection-criminal-cases.html.

• “What Happens during a Trial?” State of Maine Judicial Branch: Jury Information - Traverse Juror Handbook - What Happens during a
Trial?, State of Maine, www.courts.maine.gov/maine_courts/superior/jury/handbook/trial.html.

• Dhar, Fred. “Trial Process in Texas.” Houston Criminal Lawyers, Fred Dhar, www.texasdefenselaw.com/library/trial-process-in-texas/.