Court Reporting. Write up two court reports, from the given material Essay

Court Reporting. Write up two court reports, from the given material each with a commentary - Essay Example While presenting the case, the prosecution reiterated that the girl had been found murdered in a field near Seaburn Metro Station over the weekend. She had five stubs in the stomach and medical reports presented in the court showed that she died from shock and internal bleeding. Before the body was discovered, the 14 year old girl had gone missing since Friday when she failed to return from school. A dog walker discovered the body of the girl lifeless in the field the following morning as police was already conducting a search. According to witnesses, the accused boy had squabbles with the dead girlfriend days before the incident. Detectives are still awaiting the test results of DNA samples collected from a knife used in the murder. The defendant’s lawyer, Doug Richardson asked the court to bail him out, citing the defendant had no previous criminal records. The court denied request for the bail given the weight of a murder charge. The defendant remains in police custody awai ting the next court hearing as the victim awaits burial next month. Commentary Whereas journalists have the responsibility to provide the community with accurate information of the happenings going on around them, there are legal responsibilities they have to consider when reporting events (Banks 2012, 02). Court proceedings are sensitive. While reporting the murder case involving the teenager, Paul Ross, the law requires that the name of the defendant be withheld. Whereas there is never any problem mentioning the name of the victim unless in a sexual assault or rape case, I chose to withhold the name of Monica Smith to protect identity of the accused. Additionally, the report does not detail the names of the parents of the accused and the victim for the same reason of protection of identity. This is particularly imperative given the fact that a defendant remains innocent until proved guilty in a legal procedure. In addition, the report fails to mention remarks reported in the court as having transpired before and after the incident. Before the murder, the defendant is reported to have states, â€Å"If I can’t have her, no one can.† Additionally, Ross is recorded to have broken down and confessed killing his girlfriend during police interrogation. He said, â€Å"I didn’t mean to kill her, just frighten her with the knife.† This report dodges these comments primarily to prevent a scenario that may show prejudice and bias. The journalist report fails to mention these statements as that would seem as though the journalist already has a formed opinion that Ross is guilty. It leaves the legal responsibility of determining innocence or guilt to the judiciary. Second Court Case The Newcastle Magistrates Court on Monday bailed out a revered Newcastle barrister after an awry â€Å"blind date† led to a lawsuit. The 33-year-old resident was charged with attempted rape of 19 year old Sunderland University Law student. The two were strang ers to each other until Friday night when they met at a popular nightclub in town. The young woman claimed that they did not know each other until that evening when the defendant bought her drinks and asked her out to smoke cigarette. She says it was at that moment that the defendant tries raping her, raised an alarm and escaped before calling the police. In his defense, the 33-year old Newcastle resident reiterated that they had mutual consent to spend the night in a hotel room next to the