Cristina is packing up some evidence in a case she was working on. She got a strange request from the prosecutor: “Witness would
like her locket back for the sentencing and mitigation hearing, please. She wants the defendant to be able to use it.”
Intrigued, Cristina reads through the case file. This is what she learns.
Milo and Tara have grown up together in the same neighborhood all their lives. When they went to first grade, Milo's dad had an accident at work. He was permanently injured and, for a number of reasons, he never received the right medical care and the family struggled. Milo's dad became addicted to his pain medication as his health got worse.
Tara's parents gave her a locket as a gift for starting school. They worked very hard to buy it, and it is one of her most valued possessions. On one side is a photo of her parents, and on the other side is a photo of Tara and Milo.
When Milo and Tara were in fourth grade, Milo was having an even tougher time at home. He didn't always have enough to eat, and he almost never got much sleep. His mom worked a night shift, so it was up to him to take care of his younger sisters. Because of all this, he lost his temper and got into a fight at school. It was the first and only time, but it became a disciplinary matter in his file. At the end of the year, Tara was tested for gifted classes, and although Milo was always about at the same level as Tara, or he had been, he was not tested since his disciplinary file disqualified him.
By the time Milo and Tara went to seventh grade, Milo's dad had been arrested for his drug use. He was first placed into a diversion program, but the program was far too expensive for the family to manage, and he violated the terms due to nonpayment. He went to prison to serve out his time for the nonviolent drug possession and use offenses. Milo has started working after school so he was tired all the time, and his grades were dropping. Tara continued to do well, and as always, she wore her locket everywhere.
At 17, Tara was thinking about going to college. Milo wanted to go, but it just didn’t seem possible. Thinking about what he might be missing out on made Milo sad, and he and Tara decided to go have a pizza to relax and have fun for an evening. At the pizza place, some young men started harassing Milo and Tara. One of them yanked Tara's locket off of her neck, cutting into her skin and breaking the chain. Tara screamed and fell to the floor.
Milo was shocked. He jumped the man with the locket. He wrestled the locket from the man, but the man and his friends were drunk, laughing and sneering. He made a racist comment to Milo, and Milo snapped. He beat the man up—badly. When he was pulled off, the police were there and the man was unconscious.
Tara told the police what happened and begged them not to arrest Milo, but they explained to her that he went way too far. He should have stopped after he recovered the locket. Milo was charged with aggravated assault, and because the man sustained a concussion, Milo faces prison time. His sentencing is next week.
Cristina puts down the report, and sighs.
In your notes, answer one of the following questions using bulleted notes:
As a witness for the defense, what sort of arguments would you make on behalf of Milo at sentencing based on the theories you studied?
or
Based on your understanding of crime theories, what could be done after the trial to help Milo avoid a similar situation in the future?
