Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

The sixth amendment if outlines the criminal justice system used in the United States. This amendment grants citizens the right to a speedy and public trial, an impartial jury, a trial where the crime was commited, knowledge of the accusation, knowledge of those testifying against the accused, and legal counsel.

October 12, 2010



"Meat Cleaver" trial set to begin

New York, NY – In the case of New York vs. David Tarloff, jury selection is kicking off Tuesday October 12, 2010. Both sides are hoping they can get that fair and impartial jury to hear evidence of how Tarloff, a former mental patient of the living victim Dr. Kent Shinbach, took a meat cleaver to kill and severely injure his two victims.


Tarloff, is pleading the affirmative defense of insanity, saying he didn’t know right from wrong when he stabbed to death New York psychologist Dr. Kathryn Faughey and injured Shinbach, and is not criminally responsible for his conduct. The evidence shows Faughey, a practicing psychologist, was stabbed multiple times with a knife in addition to blows with a meat pounder. The attack happened February 12, 2008.


When Faughey’s associate, Dr. Kent Shinbach, heard her cries for help, Tarloff began to attack him with the meat cleaver itself. Tarloff had previously purchased the items as part of a kitchen combo set for meat preparation.


Tarloff, who was ruled competent and then incompetent to stand trial at one point, has been in and out of Rikers Island Jail and Bellevue Hospital in New York City since the killing. It was a diagnosis of mental delusions that led to the ruling that Tarloff could not understand his charges and was not able to assist his New York City defense attorney Bryan Konoski. Medication allowed for a competency ruling to be reinstated and the trial to go forward this week.


Prosecutors will have a videotaped statement of Tarloff taken after his arrest to play for the jury. Although the defendant does not confess to the act, he does tell investigators he never meant to hurt anyone.


Tarloff’s DNA was also found on suitcases he wheeled into the office building and the identification of Tarloff will be given by patients of the doctors who were at the office that night as well as Shinbach who survived the attack.


Prosecutors have said that motive for the killing was actually to get back at Shinbach who institutionalized the defendant now 20 years ago. Tarloff also wanted to rob the older psychiatrist, they say, so that Tarloff would have the money to take care of his mother. He lived with his mother for years. She had been moved to a rest home shortly before the attack.


If convicted of first degree murder, Tarloff will be sentenced under New York law to life in prison without parole or a term of imprisonment of up to life. If the jury would find Tarloff not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be sent to a psychiatric medical facility for an undetermined amount of time.


Jury selection is expected to take a week; the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.


-Jean Casarez, In Session Correspondent

This article discusses a courts attempt to find a fair and impartial jury for a well known murder case. The right to a impartial jury is granted by the sixth amendment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2mjioiuN48

This video discusses Casey Anthony and a her well known case. Because the case was so highly publicized before trail the defense was having a difficult time finda a fair and impartial jury