Trial for the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard - Research Paper Example

It is also important to note that, while abducted, Dugard gave birth to two daughters aged 11 and 15 years old by the time she was set free. In the year 2011, June 2, Phillip Garrido was decreed to 431 years in prison while the wife, also an accomplice was decreed to 36 years imprisonment. Phillip Garrido had always had a history of rape cases in his past life, he is accused of raping a woman Katherine Callaway in Nevada in 1976 where he was charged and convicted for sexual crimes in both state and federal courts.

The psychiatrist report states that he needed psychiatrist help for his sexually deviant behavior coupled with drug abuse. When at Leavenworth, he met Nancy Garrido where they started a relationship based on crime and sexual harassment of victims. After the arrest of Garrido, the investigating officers did an extensive search at his residence and adjacent residences, these included searches in the premises of his business partners too. Though the searches did not produce any evidence that would sustain a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt, the police did not overrule Garrido as a suspect.

At the detention centre, Garrido would later reveal to a reporter that, though he admits that what he did is wrong, it was the only thing he could do to turn around his life and to be accepted in the society. The defense requested a psychologist or a psychiatrist’s report on Garrido for the argument of the case; at the trial, the defense managed to secure Garrido a bail at $ 30 million but the request for no-bail parole was denied by the courts. On the hearings of October 29 and December 11, 2009, Katie Callaway a past victim of Garrido appeared in court during the defense hearings, though she did not address the court.

At a later hearing on January 21, 2010, the defense attorney for the accused was disqualified for failure to disclose some facts and documents to the public and the court, and instead substituted by another attorney; moreover, Mrs Garrido was also granted bail of $ 20 million at this session. Mrs Garrido’s lawyer Mr Tapson later disclosed at a public forum that both the accused had made a confession that they would plead guilty to the offence of false imprisonment and sexual assault. This was to enable a plea-bargaining in order to have Mrs Garrido have a lighter sentence, on the expected day of the plea, both Phillip and Nancy Garrido did not plead guilty as expected in an amended claim.

In addition, in order to complicate matters, the attorney for the first accused Phillip Garrido complained of the biased selection of the jury arguing that it will likely affect the final decision. The court was now faced with a decision whether the process in itself had legitimacy; moreover, another area of concern is whether both Mr and Mrs Garrido were unanimous in the decision to plead guilty. While Mrs Garrido’s attorney contended that it was a joint decision for both to plead guilty, Mr Garrido’s attorney Gellman disagreed on this insisting that every attorney should strictly speak or comment on their respective client’s case.

The concerns about the jury were dispensed with as they had little legal implications on the case beforehand. On June 2, 2011, Garrido was convicted of rape and kidnapping on his own plea of guilt and convicted to 431 years imprisonment while his wife Nancy received 36 years imprisonment, Jaycee Dugard, their victim did not attend the session of court when the judgment was read. (Karmen, 2012). In