Supreme Court Highlight on Jinkins v. State of Florida

Firm K of Palm Harbor University High School: 

Christian Carvajal, Nick Gobes, Jonathan Im, Juno Lee.  

Photo courtesy of Mumtu Lalla.

BY MUMTU LALLA

Staff

           Firm K of Palm Harbor University High School and Firm E of Oak Hall High School both argued in the case of Jinkins v. State of Florida. 

          Jinkins v. State of Florida is a criminal case about a patient, Jay Zeen, telling a psychologist, Dr. Amy Jinkins, about his plan to rob a bank to avenge them for not giving him a loan.

          Mr. Zeen believed that the loan could have possibly saved his nine-year old son who died due to an untreated illness.

Dr. Jinkins did not report Zeen to the police, and he ended up robbing the local Bank of America, killing a nine-year-old girl with his getaway car. Due to the fact that Dr. Jinkins favored psychiatrist-patient communication over reporting Zeen’s plan to the police, she was prosecuted as an accomplice and convicted of the same two crimes as Zeen. Dr. Jinkins appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming her conviction should be reversed on the claims of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

   The side of the State of Florida is being argued by Firm K of Palm Harbor University High School. They are basing their arguments on the fact that Dr. Jinkins is an accomplice and that she abused the principal of psychiatrist-patient communication. They researched this case with the support of their teacher, who has a strong background in law. After yesterday’s preliminaries, they also strengthened and solidified their case through the comments of the judges and law students who observed them.

   The side of Dr. Jinkins is being represented by Firm E of Oak Hall High School. Their arguments focus around the 8th Amendment Proportionality Clause which stresses Dr. Jinkins claim about cruel and unusual punishment. They did their research by using the precedents of lower courts to initiate their arguments. After preliminaries, they also used the remarks of the law students to solidify their case and fill the gaps in their argument, which made them more prepared for today.