Criminal Litigation in Action

Criminal Litigation in Action, Second Edition is designed to prepare law students and new lawyers for the practice of criminal law in the trial courts. The book is based on the fictitious but realistic criminal case of People v. Roger Battistone and tracks the case from arrest through sentencing. Students learn by doing. For example, when the class addresses pretrial release, students participate in a simulation exercise requiring them to play the role of the prosecutor, defense counsel, or judge at a bail review hearing. Similarly, students participate in simulation exercises on charging, interviewing, preliminary hearings, grand jury proceedings, discovery, motion hearings, plea bargaining, and sentencing hearings. Along the way, students become familiar with the various stages of a criminal case by applying the law found in judicial opinions, statutes, rules of court, local rules, and jury instructions to the facts of the Battistone case.

The book explores advocacy at each stage of a criminal case in the trial courts, including the prosecutor's role, defense counsel's role, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, the consequences of an arrest, charge, and conviction for the accused, and the relative merits of alternative procedures. Students can expect to develop competency in the critical skills of fact-gathering and fact-management; case evaluation; courtroom advocacy including familiarity with courtroom protocol and interfacing with the judge; written advocacy, including the writing of motions and sentencing memoranda; and the application of the various sources of law in a criminal case.

Although the book is set in Southern California and refers students to California law, it is an excellent way to introduce future prosecutors and defense attorneys from any jurisdiction to the practice of criminal litigation in the trial courts. In many instances, the book addresses matters and procedures that are rooted in the federal constitution—for example, McLaughlin, Brady, Cunningham, Crawford, motions to suppress evidence obtained in violation of the 4th and 5th Amendments, and IAC claims—that are of universal interest, concern, and application. To the extent the book describes a procedure that varies from the approach taken in the student's jurisdiction, the course instructor can use it as an opportunity to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the alternative approaches. Appreciating the value in this sort of discussion, the book in some instances deliberately addresses alternative approaches, particularly in the chapters on preliminary hearings and grand jury proceedings.

Instructors will find that of the book's best features are its supplementary materials. The teacher's manual includes step-by-step instructions for the various simulation exercises and provides thorough answers for all questions appearing in the Questions and Notes of the student text. It also includes information, photographs, and documents to be distributed to students as the Battistone case unfolds. A CD accompanying the student text includes outlines that appear in the student text to allow students to complete the assignments from the forms included on the CD as well as sample motions. A CD accompanying the teacher's manual includes documents relevant to discovery, assignment sheets that can be easily filled out, and scripts to assign for various simulation exercises.