Read the facts of the case and the arguments of the key players.
Imagine being in the role of the judge.
David Browne comes from a family of criminal offenders. His father is currently serving a life sentence
for murder and his mother has been in and out of prison her entire life on drug offenses. His two older brothers
have served time for violent offenses, such as sexual and physical assaults.
As a juvenile, David was caught being cruel to the neighbor’s cat. David is now 23 and has established a
decent adult rap sheet. One evening he is hungry and walks to the local burger joint. It is late and the
restaurant is empty. There are only two young females on duty. Upon seeing this he decides to rob them.
During the course of the robbery, he decides it’s best not to have witnesses, so he shoots and kills the two
clerks. Later, police are able to link him to the crime using the video surveillance. During the course of the
investigation, police also learn that David openly bragged about committing the murders.
The defense asks for a bench trial. The fact that David committed the double homicide is not at issue.
During the trial, both psychological and biological explanations are presented to the judge.
Abigail Demers State Prosecutor
Abigail Demers State ProsecutorThe trial has received a lot of media attention, and the prosecutor, Abigail
Demers, is seeking the death penalty. The charges include two counts of first degree murder. During the trial,
Miss Demers argues that David is a psychopath who lacks empathy and should receive the death penalty for
the cold blooded murder of two innocent girls.
Samuel Powers Defense Attorney
During trial the defense attorney, Samuel Powers, does not dispute that David committed the two homicides.
However, as part of the defense, Mr. Powers states that David and other violent offenders in his family possess
a defect in their MAOA gene. Mr. Powers further argues that David should not receive the death penalty
because he cannot control his actions, thus David’s actions cannot amount to first degree murder.
You are the judge in this case. Your role is to evaluate the perspectives of the prosecution and defense.
Answer the questions under the Your Assignment section below.
Your final paper should be 2–3 pages in length and include, at minimum, two resources. One of the resources
must be an article from the DeVry University Online Library.
Using material from this week's reading assignments and outside sources, address the following.
Given the prosecutions argument,
in approximately one paragraph, briefly explain some of the main characteristics of the psychopathic
personality; and
in approximately one paragraph, describe the difference between a primary psychopath and a secondary
psychopath.
Given the defense attorneys argument,
summarize in two to three paragraphs the research that has been conducted on the MAOA gene.
Summarize and support your overall position on how you would decide this case in two to three paragraphs.
Given your research, do you find David guilty of first degree murder or a possible lesser degree of homicide?
Sample Solution