Show how the due process relates to your High Profile Case. , discuss sentencing, the purpose of minimum sentencing guidelines, and how it
was carried out in the case. discuss the crime itself and consider theory around why the
person committed the crime. discuss the burden of proof, the trial, and sentencing as it
pertains to your case.
Katherine Knight was charged with the murder of John price. Initially Knight pleaded guilty, however the judged dismissed the claim and was arraigned in court on February 2001 whereby she changed her plea to not guilty (Fandom, 2020). After the enlisting of the jury the court ordered a psychiatric assessment to ascertain if she was mentally fit to make such a plea. Knight’s team of lawyers’ were armed to the tooth to defend her on the claims of amnesia and dissociation however the psychiatric tic test proved that Knight was of sane mind (Legal studies, 2010). Given the lack of remorse of the crime committed against human life Katherine Knight was sentenced to a life without parole (Facts Legend, 2020). Katherine Knight’s court case is one of the most infamous cases in Australia. (Rhys, 2019) Katherine Knight murdered John Price in the most gruesome nature which elicited a lot of controversy pertaining the motive (Student Share, 2014). Most scholars frame the motive of murder partly on Knight ‘s history of abuse by male relatives when she was young and views the murder as a reflex mechanism to defend herself against some preconceived abuse. (Student Share, 2014) During the trial the prosecutor produced photographic information that pieces the whole murder together. Katherine Knight initial trial was set for 23, July 2001 but was postponed to 15 October 2001 due to counsel’s illness. During the trial, Justice Barry O’Keefe offered the jury the option to quit the case due to the horrific nature of the photographic evidence. With only five out the trial commenced, shortly after Knight’s lawyers consulted the judge who adjourned the trial to the next day. The next morning Knight changed her plea to guilty and the jury immediately dismissed the claim on the basis that Justice O’Keefe had been consulted on the plea change the previous day. Fortuitously the trial was adjourned and the judge ordered for a psychiatrist examination to determine Knight’s mental capacity to understand the consequences of a guilty plea. Eventually the result showed that Knight was of sane mind and dismissed her lawyers claims of amnesia and dissociation. On 8 November, Knight was sentenced to a life in prison, without the possibility of the parole marking the first longest and gruesome sentence ever imposed on a woman in Australian history (Katie, 2018).
references
Facts Legend. (2020). 50 Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts. Retrieved from Facts Legend: https://factslegend.org/50-interesting-mary-katherine-knight-facts/ Fandom. (2020). Katherine Knight’s Trial. Retrieved from Fandom: https://myhouseduringmylife.fandom.com/wiki/Katherine_Knight%27s_Trial Katie, S. (2018). Why Katherine Knight Slaughtered Her Boyfriend And Made Him Into Stew. Retrieved from Allthatinteresting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/katherine-knight Legal studies. (2010). Case Study-Australia’s first female to be sentenced to life imprisonment. Retrieved from Legal studies: https://legalstudies-notes.blogspot.com/2010/11/casestudy-australias-first-female-to-be.html Rhys, M. (2019). Murder & Cannibalism: The Katherine Knight Story. Retrieved from WHO: https://www.who.com.au/katherine-knight-cannibalism-life-imprisonment Student Share. (2014). Behavioral Profile of killer Katherine Knight. Retrieved from Student Share: https://studentshare.org/psychology/1628348-behavioral-profile-of-killer-katherine-knight
