ESSAY DUE DATE: This essay will be due by Friday, February 6th.
MPT DUE DATE: The MPT will be due my Sunday, February 9th.
DELIVERING THE ESSAY/MPT TO ME: You may certainly email it to me at tjohnson@siu.edu. If you write, you may scan and email it to me or you may fax it to me at 618 435 3317.
WRITING OR TYPING: Approach these essays and MPTs (and all your practice essays and MPTs) in the way that you will for the bar exam. Thus, if you plan to type for the bar exam, then type your answers. If you plan to write, then write your answers to these essay questions. If you write, I will gladly accept scanned electronic copies of your essays.
INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR ESSAY: Occasionally, we may have a question about the work you have turned in. Having your contact information helps us to easily get a hold of you if we have any questions about your essay or MPT.
ONE MPT ASSIGNMENT FOR EVERY STUDENT IS SET OUT AFTER THE ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS
All STUDENNTS :
Essay - Evidence - Please use the February 2008 Evidence Question in your essay materials. The text of the question is set out below.
Victor was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Standard hospital practice requires the admitting nurse in the emergency room to record all information provided by a patient about the cause of the patient’s illness or injury. Following that practice, the admitting nurse, Nurse, asked Victor: “What happened?” Victor responded: “I was stabbed with a big knife. Dan did it.” Nurse immediately wrote Victor’s statement in the appropriate place in the hospital record.
One week after his hospital admission, Victor unexpectedly died as a result of the stab wound. Dan was charged with Victor’s murder.
When Victor’s wife, Wife, heard of Dan’s arrest, she was shocked. She told Friend, “When Victor and I were alone together in the hospital, he told me who stabbed him, and it wasn’t Dan!” But Wife refused to tell Friend whom Victor had identified as his assailant.
During the trial, in order to prove that Dan stabbed Victor, the prosecutor offered the hospital record made by Nurse that contained Victor’s statement that Dan stabbed him. The prosecutor cannot locate Nurse to testify at trial. Defense counsel objected to admission of the hospital record and the statements in it, but the court overruled the objection.
During the presentation of Dan’s case, defense counsel suggested that Victor had been attacked by Stepson, Wife’s child by a previous marriage. Defense counsel called Wife as a witness and questioned her concerning Victor’s statement to her about the identity of his assailant. Wife refused to answer on the basis of the marital privilege. The prosecutor objected to the questions directed to Wife on the grounds that they sought to elicit hearsay. The court sustained both Wife’s claim of privilege and the prosecutor’s hearsay objection.
1. Did the trial court err in admitting into evidence the hospital record containing Victor’s statement? Explain.
2. Did the trial court err in sustaining Wife’s claim of privilege? Explain.
3. Did the trial court err in sustaining the prosecutor’s hearsay objection to Wife’s testimony? Explain.
SECOND MPT ASSIGNMENT OF THE WEEK
MPT - IN RE MISTOVER ACRES LLC - Please use the July 2007 MPT - In re Mistover Acres. The text of the MPT WILL NOT be set out below so please consult your materials.