Final Assessment – Tom Randall’s Halloween Party

Final Assessment – Tom Randall’s Halloween Party

HUM 1020, Critical Thinking

Final Assessment – Tom Randall’s Halloween Party

Your Final Assessment uses a court case format to evaluate your critical thinking skills. It is worth 7% of your final grade. Have fun!
Save and/or print this document for use in answering the Final Assessment questions.
Introduction
Imagine that you have been selected to serve on a jury that is asked to render a verdict on the following situation.
The defendant, Tom Randall, is a twenty-one-year-old college senior in a state where the legal drinking age is twenty-one. On October 31, he hosted a Halloween party in his apartment. Twenty-eight men and women attended the party. Alcohol was served in the form of beer, wine, and liquor. One of the partygoers was Kelly Greene, an eighteen-year-old freshman at the same college. During the course of the evening, Ms. Greene allegedly consumed an undetermined amount of alcohol. While she was driving back to her dorm after the party at approximately 12:15 a.m., Ms. Greene struck two students who were crossing the street at an intersection. One student, Melissa Anderson, was killed instantly. A second student, Edward Montgomery, was hospitalized with multiple fractures. The police officer at the scene gave the following report regarding the driver of the car, Kelly Greene: “I noticed that her speech was slurred, that she was not entirely coherent, and that her breath smelled of alcohol. I asked her to take a Breathalyzer test to determine the amount of alcohol in her bloodstream. She refused. I placed her
under arrest.” Ms. Greene has been charged with Driving While Intoxicated and Vehicular Manslaughter. Her case is currently pending. Mr. Randall, the defendant in this case, is being charged with Involuntary Manslaughter. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in jail.
A. Gathering and Weighing the Evidence
The testimony from the prosecution witnesses and the defense witnesses is described below. Evaluate the testimony by answering the questions that follow each witness.
Prosecution Witnesses:
Helen Brooks (neighbor of defendant) William Doyle (acquaintance of defendant)