Law – Page 17 – Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

NASSR, 2023–Romanticism and Justice at SHSU

The LEAP Center is always on the hunt for quality events, and when we heard the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism was being hosted at SHSU–and that the lead organizer was Dr. Michael Demson–we knew we’d found one.

The Conference is taking place over three days, March 30-April 1, with dozens of panels, workshops, entertainment, tours, and other interesting and entertaining programs. LEAP assisted with one of these, a tour of the Huntsville Unit for a group of students, conference attendees, and SHSU staff. Mostly, though, we just enjoyed the conference, benefitting from the great work of Demson and an entire conference committee from individuals across campus and, in fact, from campuses across North America.

The meat of the conference was from the plenary speakers and the panels, both virtual and in-person, with approximately 200 people attending.

LEAP students attended a few of these, including the first-day plenary speaker, Professor Doran Larson, who, among his many titles, is the Director of the American Prison Writing Archive, and he was introduced ably by Professor Michael Demson.

Professor Larsen discussed the distinct themes in prison writing, noting how little they had changed over time, a reflection of the horrible state, as he sees it, of our prison system.

His presentation generated much interest and discussion.

The conference picked up the next day, with a full day of panels, which we were able to attend. We saw great panels featuring professors not only from the United States, but from around the world. All of the panels helped us learn about justice, literature, and many different cultures.

We even learned about Finnish literature from SHSU’s own Dr. Helen Halamari, with her husband Dr. Rob Adams in attendance.

This was our favorite panel. Interesting fact: not only is Dr. Halamari a TSUS Regents Professor, she also has a Ph.D., and four different Master’s Degrees.

Many kudos to Dr. Demson and the great staff (Deanna Briones, Sarie Fuller, Yahneed John, Brittany Johnson, Jerin Milan, and Rhonda Owens) who helped bring this conference to SHSU.

Pre-Law Society Meeting: Voir Dire

Last month’s Pre-Law Society meeting was a natural segue to the topic for this month’s Pre-Law Society meeting. Last month’s discussion featured three attorneys in a question-and-answer format focused on what to expect in law school and what life is like as an attorney.

This month’s meeting had multiple foci. First, the officers provided updates:

In the second part of the meeting, Jade Miller, Pre-Law Society President, Professor Mike Yawn, and Jean Loveall discussed a timeline to go to law school from freshman year to senior year of college.

Since Jade just completed her LSAT Prep, took the LSAT, and applied to her chosen law schools, she shared a wealth of information gleaned from her path to law school. With her personal story of LSAT Prep, Jade inspired the Pre-Law students with three strategies that worked for her: (1) take the Critical Thinking philosophy class (PHIL 2303); (2) budget your LSAT Prep time wisely; and (3) focus on developing and writing a strong argument when completing the Writing Sample part of the LSAT.

After hearing such encouraging words and valuable advice from the three presenters, the Pre-Law Society members were energized to engage in a voir dire activity. Voir dire is the process in which trial attorneys examine potential jurors before the jurors are selected to serve on the trial.

Amari Gallien presided over the voir dire as the Judge, Sephora Pham and Matthew May were the defense attorneys, and Professor Yawn was the prosecutor. As the potential jurors, each of the remaining Pre-Law Society members received a vignette of the character they would portray as a potential juror. These vignette characters ranged from a male country music singer/songwriter with a high school degree to a female accountant pregnant with her second child to a 72-year-old retired art history teacher. This activity introduced future attorneys to the nuanced questioning and strategies involved in selecting jurors for a criminal trial.

Thank you to all the Pre-Law Society members who participated in this interactive meeting. As president, Jade Miller has some exciting topics planned for next month’s meeting. One activity to look forward to is the cording of all Pre-Law Society members who are graduating in spring 2023. We hope to see all Pre-Law Society members on April 19th!

Pre-Law Elections: Charting the Spring

McKenna Nonnenmann

May I be the first to welcome all new and old Pre-Law society members back from winter break!?

We welcomed three guests, each with varying degrees of familiarity. Victoria McClendon recently graduated from law school at Duquesne, and she just passed the bar this summer! She, interestingly, is a former Pre-Law Society President and, of course, a Sam Houston State University alum.

We were also introduced to Dr. Gene Roberts, who graduated with a law degree from SMU. He works here as the Director of Student Legal and Mediation Services and as Associate Dean.

He even has an EdD and a JD! We also heard from Ms. Jean Loveall, a mainstay as a pre-law advisor here at SHSU and the LEAP Center.

Together, they did a great job of explain what to expect from law school, attorney life, and our future years here at Sam.

As it is a new semester, we also needed to fill some officer positions. Jasmine Crooks was re-elected as the Society’s secretary, as well as McKenna Nonnemann (that’s me!) remaining as the historian. With the president position open we had three society members run for the position: Jacelin Daniels, Jessica Hernandez, and Jade Miller.

We also had two members challenge each other for the Vice President of Membership: Christion Chancellor, and Jesus Ayala.

Each member brought wonderful ideas and gave heartfelt speeches, with Jade Miller and Jesus Ayala being awarded the officer positions!

We’d like to thank all Pre-Law members for joining us at this meeting. As well as all members who ran for officer positions along with the officers themselves. We hope to see you next meeting, on March 22!

The Man with the Killer Smile: Dr. Mitchel Roth discusses Serial Mass Murderer George Hassell

One of the nice things about universities is that they promote the exchange of ideas and learning, and that concept was on full display yesterday as Dr. Mitchel Roth discussed his new book on crime: “The Man With the Killer Smile.” Roth, a professor of Criminal Justice at SHSU, brings a learned approach to the true-crime genre, incorporating psycholo0gy, criminology, and history.

The result has won plaudits from the critics, including bestselling author Jeff Guinn, who described the work as “masterful storytelling.” Of note is that Roth is perhaps the first to combine two criminological concepts into one killer.

A serial murderer is someone who commits murder at two (or more) different times, with a cooling off period in between (some definitions require three acts of murder). While a mass murderer is someone who kills at least four people at one time. By these definitions, Hassell is a serial mass killer.

Hassell specialized in families: his own. And Roth describes him as a “husband, father, uncle, embezzler, serial mass murderer, philanderer, child moslester, convict, and military deserter.” He was as Roth continues, “many things to many people, most of them bad.” The book makes this much clear.

Roth’s presentation of his work was entertaining, showing an author with a somewhat dark sense of humor, a felicity with presentation, and a drive to research and write. Although he notes that as he’s “gotten older,” he “has trouble working on two or three books at once,” it’s clear he relishes the research, the interaction with those he comes across in his research, and the act of writing.

As a result and despite the dark subject matter, the presentation was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Reflecting the university mission of promoting ideas and learning, Roth expertly shone a light on history, criminology, and psychology, all captured in “The Man with the Killer Smile.”

Wrapping Up the Fall with the Pre-Law Society

PLS Meeting: Cross Examination Exercise

November 16, 2022

McKenna Nonnenmann

For our last Pre-Law Society meeting, all the members engaged in a cross and direct examination exercise! Following our previous meeting with an attorney, Mr. Chris Thompson, who spoke on tips and tricks to successfully cross-examine a witness in the courtroom, we dove into an immersive experience to apply what we learned from him.

As an interactive exercise, all members were given roles and could ask unique questions to either reinforce the case’s witness or discredit them. To start us off a model group came up to present how the exercise should be done with the roles being played by Yvette Mendoza (police officer), Ashley Kinyon (prosecutor’s witness), Anthony Roughton (prosecutor), and Jocelyn Vazquez (defense attorney).

They each presented a crime scene from the famous movie Taxi Driver. In this case, a man is being convicted of second-degree murder but was pleading for self-defense. This was presented in great detail through excellent opening statements that Jocelyn and Anthony gave. The cross and direct examination the model group gave was a great way to see how to either discredit the witness or make your witness look good!

Turning it over to the members, they each got into their groups with the crime scene they had to examine from the movie Dirty Harry. The members were heavily dedicated to their roles! The officers gathered the witness statement from the witnesses, and the attorneys went to watch the crime scene, which was considered “camera footage,” and used the witness statements to articulate their direct and cross-examination questions.

This experience allowed us, as future attorneys, a piece of the pie of what life could be like as an attorney. There was so much excitement and curiosity about this exercise. It was a great way to learn how a trial may work when the attorneys need to examine the witnesses, and we all hope to do it again soon, possibly in a mock trial!

As we close the fall 2022 semester, we would like to congratulate any seniors graduating this semester and wish them a safe journey. We will see the rest of you next semester, and happy holidays!

Covering the Globe with John Brennan, former CIA Director

11/09/2022, Jessica Cuevas

Approximately once a month, LEAP takes a group of students to Houston to attend a World Affairs Council event. For the month of November, this event happened to be a discussion about U.S. Intelligence and National Security with the Fifth Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan, and Stephen B. Slick, the Director of the Intelligence Studies Project at UT Austin and former CIA Agent. Introducing them was Ambassador David Satterfield, making the group on hand about as knowledgeable on foreign policy as any three people could be.

This combination proved to be as interesting as it sounds, and made even a bit more interesting with the inclusion of several freshmen LEAP participants, including Adisen Massie, Michelle Cardenas, and Andrew Jeon!

Former CIA Director John Brennan with Andrew Jeon, Jessica Cuevas, Adisen Massie, and Michelle Cardenas

Many children grow up wanting to be a federal agent of some sort, and the CIA certainly has an allure. This was the case for former Director Brennan, who applied to the CIA, and when told he would be given an interview, immediately told all of his family about the exciting turn of events! Of course, you can’t be a clandestine agent if everyone knows you are interviewing for the CIA, so he had to turn around and tell everyone that the interview hadn’t worked out. As it turned out, however, the interview went well, and Brennan embarked on an illustrious career.

Serving from 1980-2005, Brennan specialized in Middle Eastern Affairs and counterterrorism and would eventually create a National Counterterrorism Center. Due to his specialization, he had the unique opportunity to serve as an intelligence briefer to Presidents Clinton and Bush (43).

While moderator Steven Slick advertised Brennan’s book, Undaunted: My Fight Against America’s Enemies, at Home and Abroad, he also noted that a title such as “Reform” would have been apt. Not only did Brennan reform the agency, but he helped establish our nation’s policy and response to terrorism, disasters, and cyberattacks.

Brennan was a fitting director for the agency, believing that they should primarily focus on intelligence and not lethal action. He also occasionally angered members of Congress, because he did not seek their recommendations for the types of reforms needed. If he had, he said, he would still be waiting on decisions and consensus.

At almost every opportunity, Brennan spoke of what he and other agents and government figures did as “public service.” And he encouraged the young people in the audience–mostly us–to see public service as valuable and obligatory.

As we’ve come to expect, it was another top-notch speaker and experience put on by the World Affairs Council. Many thanks for the wonderful service provided by WAC.

PLS Meeting: Examining Witnesses with Chris Thompson

October 19, 2022, McKenna Nonnenmann

Continuing our journey of understanding the legal system, specifically the courts, the SHSU Pre-Law Society had the opportunity to hear from a former civil trial prosecutor, Mr. Chris Thompson! He received his law degree from St. Mary’s School of Law and has worked in the legal field in Walker County for 16 years. He is a practicing attorney who works on real estate issues, appeals, and personal injury. Mr. Thompson is also a professor at Sam Houston State University, where he teaches business law. With all the knowledge and background Mr. Thompson has, we were excited to hear his advice and tips on cross and direct-examination skills!

Direct and cross examinations are essential parts of our adversarial trial system, and Professor did a great job highlighting the two approaches.

Mr. Thompson provided various examples of actual trials, such as the recent case of Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard. He highlighted the practice, noting that when doing cross, you force the witness into providing short responses, answering the specific question. Heard, for example, often wanted to provide context or additional information, which the Depp team successfully curtailed. It’s not that Heard can’t provide that information, but it’s her attorney’s job to re-direct and get that information in, if it, in fact, helps Heard’s side.

The other example was from a famous movie that most say has the best cross-examination scene, “My Cousin Vinny.” Mr. Thompson emphasized that the film perfectly expressed the importance of looking at the small details of the big picture. Every detail is essential to a case. When making a case, we need to build up the suspense, just like in a thriller movie or the “ah ha” moment.

Finally, Mr. Thompson pointed out the complexities of examining a witness. For example, when asking questions, you must know when the right moment is to stop asking further questions. This is key to leaving the jury to sway more to your side. All of these tips gave us a better understanding of what cross-examination is and how it can better prepare us for our cross-examination exercise for our next pre-law society meeting.

We want to thank Mr. Chris Thompson for taking the time out of his evening to speak with us and share his journey to becoming a lawyer and tips for cross/direct examination. His advice will help us with future endeavors and cases we may have as attorneys ourselves. Also, we would like to thank the people who attended this past meeting. See you at our next meeting on November 16th!

How to Get Into Law School–A Texas Tech Case Study!

McKenna Nonnenmann, October 29, 2022

This past week at the Pre-Law Society meeting, we welcomed Ms. Shawn Adams, the director for recruitment at Texas Tech School of Law.

Ms. Adams graduated from Texas Tech with a Master’s in Business Administration and a JD! We learned a lot from her educational background and experience as a practicing attorney.

On this evening, her goal was not only to recruit students to Texas Tech School of Law, but also to give us loads of advice regarding the law school application process and what to look for in law schools. She started by looking for three main things when choosing a law school.

Looking at what the cost of living will be at the school apart from tuition
Bar passage rate
Post-graduate employment rate

All three items can be located on the law school’s 509 reports!

Ms. Adams covered what is needed in a law school application: transcript, letter of recommendation, personal statement, LSAT score, and resume–and how those are weighted at Texas Tech.

We also learned more about what Texas Tech school of law offers and how beautiful and engaging their campus life is! In addition, they offer many great resources for students interested in criminal defense and even have a dual degree program.

As the meeting ended, Ms. Adams stressed that it is essential to go at our own pace, and it is okay if we do not make straight A’s in law school because of how rigorous it is. And she encouraged us, noting that if we continue to work hard and have our hearts in the studying, we can go far.

Many thanks to Ms. Shawn Adams for her continual support of the LEAP Center and Pre-Law Society at Sam Houston State University.

	Bob Orkand on Learning from Best in the West…
	Linda McKenzie on There is never a dull moment a…
	Multi-Platform Media… on Fun and Flavor: Chilly at the…
	Highlights from the… on Glazing-A-Trail with Lauren…
	The Civic Leadership… on Foundational Activities of the…