Criminal Charges Assignment

Imagine that you are working as a paralegal in the Johnson County Attorney's Office. One of your responsibilities is the review of arrest reports and narratives to determine the appropriate charges for alleged criminal activity. After you review the case information, you consult with the Prosecuting Attorney and recommend the most appropriate charges to be filed. For this assignment, I would like you to read the Narrative Reports filed by the arresting police officers. Based on the information they contain and on legal research, please indicate the appropriate charges for each defendant. Criminal Defendant #1: Colton Jones Charge 1: ____________________________________________________________ Charge 2: ____________________________________________________________ Charge 3: ____________________________________________________________

Criminal Defendant #2: James Malloy Charge 1: ____________________________________________________________ Charge 2: ____________________________________________________________ Charge 3: ____________________________________________________________ Charge 4: ____________________________________________________________

NARRATIVE REPORT OF OFFICER JOHN SMITH On Saturday night, I, Officer John Smith along with Officer Pete Mitchell, was on foot patrol in the bar district located in downtown Iowa City. We observed a disturbance take place just west of The Vine on the sidewalk. At this time, the disturbance was first observed by me. I notified Officer Mitchell that there appeared to be some sort of fist fight. As Officer Mitchell looked up towards the direction that I was pointing, it appeared to have calmed and separated. We then noticed that the two subjects involved in the disturbance were migrating towards The Union Bar and were walking in that general vicinity. Officer Mitchell and I proceeded to walk in that direction in order to diffuse any further problems as both subjects were still yelling at each other. The white male subject walking towards The Union Bar ahead of the other subject was later identified by an Iowa driver's license as Colton Jones, a 22 year old. The other white male subject that was walking behind Jones was identified later by Officer Mitchell as James Malloy, a 24 year old. From what officers observed, it appeared as if Malloy was yelling profanities towards Jones, and Jones did also participate and turned back to provoke Malloy as well. At this point, both subjects had walked in front of The Union Bar on the sidewalk. It was at this time that the subject in the back, which would be Malloy, initiated a fist fight once again with Jones. Jones did turn around and actively participated in this mutual physical combat with Malloy that was initiated by Malloy. They actively fought each other. We yelled out "Police. Stop fighting." We ordered the subjects to separate, but they failed to do so and continued in mutual physical combat with each other. It should be noted that the physical combat that was taking place included several blows by both parties, punching each other in the face. Officer Mitchell and I attempted to separate the subjects, but they continued to actively fight despite our efforts to physically separate them. At this point Officer Mitchell directed more of his attention to Malloy and attempted to gain control of him. In the meantime, I had my attention on Jones. We were able to somewhat separate them physically and upon doing so, Jones took off running on College Street towards The Vine. I radioed to other units that I was involved in an active foot pursuit providing direction of travel and the description of the subject. As Jones ran past The Vine, it should be noted that he pushed several bar patrons to get away from me. I yelled numerous times "Police. Stop running." Jones failed to heed my warning and continued to run past bystanders knocking them to the ground as we rounded the corner of The Vine. Shortly after turning the corner, Jones went back westbound in the alleyway. It was at this point that Office Linda Wagner pursued the subject with me. We then made our way to 3rd Street after exiting the alleyway. We pursued the subject on 3rd Street and affected him arrest in front of a liquor store. It should be noted that while trying to handcuff Jones, he stated many times that he was the victim of an assault and wanted to pursue charges. While in close proximity to Jones, I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from on or about his person. He also had red, watery bloodshot eyes. Officer Linda Wagner was the one who placed handcuffs on Jones.I then arranged for the subject to be transported to the Johnson County jail. Jones was advised that he had a right to a chemical test, and Jones declined by stating "I'm drunk." I later arrived at the Johnson County jail, took custody of Jones, and then transferred custody to the booking deputies. At this time, this is Officer John Smith ending my report. Please refer to Officer Pete Mitchell's report for further information regarding his involvement.

NARRATIVE REPORT OF OFFICER PETE MITCHELL On Saturday night, at approximately 11:50 p.m., I Officer Pete Mitchell and Officer John Smith, were on routine foot patrol in the downtown bar district. Officer Smith and I were standing in front of The Vine when Officer Smith advised me that he had just observed a physical disturbance between two males. These two white males were later identified as James Malloy and Colton Jones. Officer Smith advised me that he had seen these two in a physical disturbance and that they were now walking down the sidewalk towards The Union Bar. Officer Smith and I began to follow the two subjects from a distance, speeding our pace to catch up to them. The one subject, later identified by Iowa driver's license as James Malloy, a 24 year old, had his back to us and was walking after the second subject, later identified by Iowa driver's license as Colton Jones, a 22 year old. It appeared that there was a verbal dispute going back and forth between Malloy and Jones as they were walking towards The Union Bar. As we were catching up to them, Jones turned around in a confrontational manner towards Malloy, and they began to yell at each other and began to swing at each other with closed fists. At this point, Officer Smith and I ran to their location. I grabbed Malloy from behind by his shoulders and repeated myself several times stating "Police, police, police." I repeated this over and over as I pulled Malloy away from Jones. Officer Smith attempted to go hands-on with Jones. Refer to the report of Officer Smith. As I grabbed Malloy from his back side by his shoulders, I grabbed ahold of him by his blue sweatshirt. As I pulled him apart from Jones, he pulled out of his blue hooded sweatshirt. I dropped his sweatshirt and again grabbed ahold of Malloy by his arms and we both fell to the ground. I fell down on my back and Malloy fell on top of me. Malloy attempted to pull away from my grasp numerous times as I was verbally identifying myself several times as "Police." Malloy attempted to swing his fists on me numerous times but never struck me. At this point, I delivered a right kick to his groin area. Upon doing so, Malloy was tackled off the top of me by an unknown witness. After Malloy was tackled off of me, I was able to grab Malloy by his hair, holding his head down, identifying myself again numerous times as "Police", yelling this at him. I instructed Malloy to place his hands behind his back and he attempted to pull away from my grasp as I was pulling his right arm around his back. Malloy and I stood up and I was able to place him into custody. I physically escorted Malloy back to our squad car which was parked near The Vine. While escorting him to the squad car, Malloy did have bloodshot watery eyes, slurred speech, and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath. He made several comments about wanting to fight and numerous other incoherent statements that I was unable to understand. Malloywas using aggressive language towards me as I attempted to speak with him. Prior to having him sit in the backseat of the squad car, I was able to identify him with an Iowa driver's license in his back right pants pocket. He was placed in the backseat of the squad car where I immediately initiated my in car recording device. I immediately transported Malloy to the Johnson County jail. During transport, Malloy made vague threats towards me indicating that something was going to happen to me and that he would not be around when it occurred. Upon arrival at the Johnson County jail, I asked Malloy if he would be willing to provide me with a breath sample on my PBT. Malloy indicated that he was not going to and that he was "drunk." After initially refusing to provide me with a breath sample, Malloy then stated that he would give me one because he wanted to see how drunk he was. Malloy provided me with a breath sample on my PBT at the Johnson County jail prior to being booked which indicated that he had a BAC of 0.235. Malloy was walked into the Johnson County jail booking center and released to the booking deputies. While in the booking process with deputies, Malloy became uncooperative and refused to comply with deputies' orders to change in the changing room. Malloy became combative verbally and physically towards the deputies. Malloy had to be physically escorted by deputies to an isolated holding cell due to his actions and behavior. End of Report of Officer Pete Mitchell. Refer to Officer John Smith's report for supplemental details.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Question Description Criminal Charges Assignment Imagine that you are working as a paralegal in the Johnson County Attorneys Office One of your responsibilities is the review of arrest reports and nar... View the full answer