PLST 230
NEWS ARTICLE REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS
In Modules/Weeks 3 and 6, you are required to submit a brief essay, which discusses current
news articles that relate to criminal law and procedure. The purpose of this assignment is to
encourage you to evaluate current legal issues that specifically relate to criminal law and
procedure; thus, the news articles that you choose should address a situation in which aspects of
criminal law and procedure are present and highlighted by the media. Your essays should be
critical reviews of the articles, meaning that you should discuss your own opinion regarding the
articles, rather than simply summarize them.
Each review is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of the module/week in which it is assigned.
Review the News Article Review Grading Rubric to improve the quality of your essays and be
sure to adhere to all of the specific guidelines described below.
News Article Selection Guidelines
The articles or news stories that you choose should be 1) found in a newspaper, on a news
program, or from another reputable media source; 2) published within the last month; 3) clearly
related to the field of law, specifically criminal law and procedure; and 4) clearly addressing key
legal issues tied to the study of criminal law and procedure as well as biblical issues. Each
article review must cover different topics. Refrain from using follow-up pieces or multiple
perspectives of the same topic. For example, if you find an article discussing a specific case in
The New York Times, you cannot use a follow-up piece put out a few days later in the same paper
or a different article in a different paper discussing the same topic.
Essay Guidelines
Your essay should be brief—a minimum of 1-page to a maximum of 2-pages, double-spaced. In
the essay, you must summarize the article in order to demonstrate your comprehension of the
content. Additionally, you should identify key elements discussed in the article and relate those
elements back to concepts discussed in the course. Discuss whether the situation described in the
article implements any of the concepts discussed in the course or if there are possible ways that
concepts from the course could be implemented.
At the end of the essay, provide the complete citation for the article (including the publication
date). If possible, you should include the actual article either by pasting it at the end of the
document or by providing a link to the article. Format the essay and citation in correct Bluebook
style.
News Article Review 2
Criminal procedure
The rules of procedure by which criminal prosecutions are governed.
criminal law
The branch of the law that specifies what conduct constitutes crime and establishes appropriate
punishments for such conduct.
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negligent
The failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care in a situation that causes harm to someone or
something.
Rape and perjury are acts. Failing to report a crime does not involve an act. It is
just the opposite—failure to act. Generally, only acts are prohibited by criminal
law. Rarely does criminal law require a person to act. However, in some
situations, people have a duty to act, and failure to act is criminal. An omission is
a failure to act when required to do so by criminal law. Id at 3-2e
Some states go further than others in creating statutory obligations that did not
exist at the common law. For example, Ohio criminalizes the failure to report any
felony that has, or is being, committed. The same law requires health care
professionals to report stab wound, gunshot wounds, and burn injuries that
appear to be the result of violence. id at 3-2f
After bragging to his friends about having sex with a woman who he believed had overdosed and
texting a picture of a partially naked woman on his bed, a Washington State man, Brian Varela,
was sentenced for a mere 34 months. Mihir Zaveri, Man Who Raped Woman Dying of Overdose
Gets Less Than 3 Years, N.Y. Times, November 19, 2018. Mr. Varela pleaded guilty to felony
charges that included second-degree manslaughter and third-degree rape. Id. According to
statements gathered by the police, Ms. Noceda went to the trailer where Mr. Varela was living
during the night of Feb. 3, 2018. Id. She told Mr. Varela she had brought Percocet, and crushed
it up and snorted it, according to the police. Id. Tests later showed that the drugs contained
fentanyl, a powerful opioid. Id. Mr. Varela told the police that he and Ms. Noceda had sex, and
then he gave her liquid THC, which she smoked before collapsing. Id. Originally the prosecutor
Toni Montgomery, wanted to try him for first-degree manslaughter and second-degree rape
which would have produced about 10 ½ years, but Ms. Montgomery said prosecutors opted for
the plea deal because they did not think the first-degree charge would hold up. Id. She said that
was in part because Washington does not make it a crime in many cases for an individual to not
get help for someone dying near them unless they are a parent, or the person dying is elderly,
pregnant or a child. Id.
Man Who Raped Woman Dying of Overdose Gets Less Than 3 Years
By Mihir Zaveri
Nov. 19, 2018
A Washington State man in February texted to his friends pictures of a partially naked woman on
his bed, according to police documents.
The man, Brian Varela, said in the texts that he believed that the woman was overdosing, but
bragged that he had had sex with her and that he could do so again. Mr. Varela, who was 19 at
PLST 230
the time, then started to play a video game, and fell asleep. When he woke up, the woman,
Alyssa Noceda, 18, was dead.
On Thursday, Mr. Varela was sentenced to about three years in prison after he had pleaded guilty
to felony charges that included second-degree manslaughter and third-degree rape.
The 34-month sentence was seen by members of Ms. Noceda’s family and others as woefully
inadequate, and drew sharp complaints.
The judge in the case, Linda C. Krese of Snohomish County Superior Court, expressed
frustration with the state’s sentencing laws that she said restricted her from imposing a stiffer
penalty, according to news reports and interviews. Judge Krese said she could understand why
family members and friends of the victim were “surprised” and even “outraged,” The Daily
Herald of Everett, Wash., reported.
“You’re never going to feel like you can adequately hold him accountable,” Toni Montgomery,
who prosecuted the case, said on Sunday.
Judge Krese did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
“I’m sorry for my foolish actions,” Mr. Varela said in court, according to a video of the
sentencing. “Whatever I get is what I deserve.”
Ms. Montgomery said Washington State laws prescribe specific sentence ranges for certain
crimes.
The manslaughter charge could have carried a sentence of 24 to 36 months, in part because Mr.
Varela had no previous criminal convictions. The rape charge, and another charge that Mr. Varela
pleaded guilty to — misdemeanor unlawful disposal of remains — carried shorter sentences, and
they were all required to run concurrently, Ms. Montgomery said.
Judge Krese said in court that she was “not sure the Legislature really contemplated something
like this” when it crafted the sentencing laws.
Mr. Varela had initially been charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree rape, and
a conviction on those charges could have produced a sentence of almost 10 ½ years, Ms.
Montgomery said.
But Ms. Montgomery said prosecutors opted for the plea deal because they did not think the
first-degree charge would hold up. She said that was in part because Washington does not make
it a crime in many cases for an individual to not get help for someone dying near them unless
they are a parent, or the person dying is elderly, pregnant or a child.
It would have been harder to prove that Mr. Varela had a responsibility to try to keep Ms. Noceda
alive, Ms. Montgomery said.
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“It sort of is beyond the pale morally, when you think about it,” Ms. Montgomery said. “You can
sit there and watch someone die and do nothing and the law cannot hold you criminally
accountable.”
Gina Pierson, Ms. Noceda’s mother, told KOMO News that the sentence was a “joke.”
“Usually people who do stuff like this don’t get away with a slap on the wrist,” Ms. Pierson said.
She could not be reached on Sunday.
Mr. Varela’s lawyer, Paul Thompson, said in an email that most felony crimes have a specific
range of punishment set under the state’s Sentencing Reform Act and that his client pleaded
guilty to amended charges.
“I cannot comment further than that as to the sentencing other than to say that he was sentenced
to the high end of the crimes for which he was actually convicted,” he said.
According to statements gathered by the police, Ms. Noceda went to the trailer where Mr. Varela
was living during the night of Feb. 3, 2018.
She told Mr. Varela she had brought Percocet, and crushed it up and snorted it, according to the
police. Tests later showed that the drugs contained fentanyl, a powerful opioid. Mr. Varela told
the police that he and Ms. Noceda had sex, and then he gave her liquid THC, which she smoked
before collapsing.
Mr. Varela woke up the next day and found Ms. Noceda dead. He locked her in his bedroom and
went to work. When he returned that night, he washed her body to try to remove his DNA and
redressed her before putting her in a plastic crate, according to the police documents. He planned
to pack it with onions to mask the odor, KOMO reported.
On Sunday, Mr. Varela was being held in the Snohomish County jail; he will be transferred to a
state prison, Ms. Montgomery said.
Correction: November 21, 2018
An earlier version of this article, using information from The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash.,
referred imprecisely to Judge Krese’s comments about Mr. Varela’s sentencing. She said she
could understand why family members and friends of the victim were “surprised” and even
“outraged”; she was not referring to her own feelings about the sentencing.
