*The Course Reader is now available for purchase at Professional Image – University (South King Street), and the cost is $17.45.
To: Prosecution Clinic Students, Law 590b
From: John Barkai
There is no reading assignment for the first class (but there is an “observation assignment” – see below). The syllabus is posted on my web site at www.hawaii.edu/~barkai/L590b.html. I am sending the assignments for the first week at the bottom of this memo.
You can also find my web site by googling “John Barkai” then going to the link for the Prosecution Clinichttp://www2.hawaii.edu/~barkai/L590b.html
Paper handouts for the class will soon be available for purchase from Professional Image. However, all the handouts that will be at Professional Image are already available to you in digital form at the bottom of the webpage for the class (above). In addition, I have a Dropbox folder for the class which has all the handouts above and other material. I suggest you use the Dropbox folder. As you probably know, you can copy files out of the Dropbox folder to your own computer, but please do not MOVE or DELETE Dropbox files or else they will not be available to the rest of us. Here is the link to that a folder –
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y292fm5cbfo02ek/AACsbsVlRPEffxYNV2ZhlwQRa?dl=0
During the semester, you will try real traffic and misdemeanor offenses in the District Court as well as a number of simulated mock trials in class. In addition, we will meet in class every week on Monday and Wednesday at 10 a.m.(except for the last couple of weeks). You can take this class for either 3 or 4 credits (with proportional workloads). More about that in the first class.
ASSIGNMENT FOR FIRST CLASS: Before the first class, go to a busy street corner with a stop sign or red light and observe the traffic pattern for 5 minutes.
What traffic offenses did you think were committed?
Find a section of HRS (Hawaii Revised Statutes) (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/) or the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu (http://www1.honolulu.gov/council/ocs/roh/#published) which specifies some traffic offense that you saw take place (some of the most common offenses will be found in HRS 291C – the Statewide Traffic Code (stop signs, red lights, etc.) http://www.lawserver.com/law/state/hawaii/hi-statutes/hawaii_statutes_chapter_291c
Be prepared to discuss in class what specific elements of the statute or ordinance you saw violated.
As a prosecutor, how would you prove any violations you saw?
As a police officer, what would you have to testify about to prove the case?
Because this is a limited enrollment class, it is important for you to attend the first class. If you do not attend and do not notify me in advance, you may be dropped from this class and another student will be allowed to enroll in your place.
Also, be sure to bring your current law class schedule with you to class. We will look for times when each of you can go to court. You need one half-day free each week to attend court, e.g. Monday p.m., Tuesday a.m., Wednesday p.m., etc. You will go to court on the same day each week. Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon often have the most trials.
It is much better if you can be free to go to court in the afternoon. Most trials are scheduled for the afternoon. There will seldom be a trial in the morning. Usually court will last for 1-2 hours, but it could go until noon in the morning or to 4:30 in the afternoon. When you do start going to court, you will need to be at court either by 8:30 in the morning or 1:30 in the afternoon.
Note that we will do a mock trial against the Defense Clinic students on the evening of Thursday Feb. 12 from 5-7 p.m. at the District Court. Some of you might have a class conflict with that. I will try to get you excused for any conflicting class for this once in a semester opportunity. We will try to work things out. Please plan ahead.