Description
For this essay, you will be using the article labeled "Mock Trial" (Attached):
You have to Argue whether Jadine Russell took her own life or whether it was taken from her by the drunk driver, Keith Cook. Please research beyond the evidence found in the article. Make sure that you have an argumentative thesis/claim, and that you are following Toulmin's model: no fallacies, conceding and rebutting opposition, warrants/backing, modal qualifiers, etc.
the essay should be 2 1/2 to 3 pages in length, double-spaced. Also remember to consider your audience. (I am not your audience.)
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Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Mock Trial Analysis - Outline
I.
Jadine Russel
II.
Responsibility
III.
Keith Cook
IV.
Conviction
Running head: MOCK TRIAL ANALYSIS
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Mock Trial Analysis
Name
Institution
MOCK TRIAL ANALYSIS
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Mock Trial Analysis
Responsibility is an essential variable in this case. Jadine Russel is personally responsible
for her life, the life of those who love her, and the lives of those who she had brought into this
world. Similarly, Keith Cook, the driver, is responsible for himself and other road users. The
case is all about the responsibility of the two individuals involved in this case. The defendant and
the plaintiff attorneys need to show that their clients exercised enough responsibility not to
warrant being responsible for what happened on that fateful night.
Jadine Russel
The question that needs to be asked is how much power a person has over their own life.
The second question that arises from this situation is at what point does “Cause” shift from one’s
responsibility for their lives to others. The hospital staff is professionally and legally mandated to
save any life that comes through the hospital system. However, they can only do that when the
patient is “agreeable” enough to be treated. Being a Jehovah witness worshipper, Russel was
religiously not allowed to seek medical help. The faith believes that medical help makes them
“dirty” and that it is not biblically sanctioned as Jesus Christ, in Luke 5:22-24, argued that
sickness is a matter of sin. As such, when faced with illness or a calamity, one's faith is enough
to heal, and as such, Russel was relying on her faith to heal her, and if it was not in God’s will,
then she was ready to die. The understanding here is that her situation was God-sent and no
human being should or has the power to intervene on what God has started.
Responsibility
The law and religion do not accord anyone power over their own life. This means that a
person cannot take their own life and claim “ownership” of their life. One’s life is the
responsibility of the government and can only be taken by natural causes such as disease or
MOCK TRIAL ANALYSIS
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calamity or by the government itself when it deems i...