Deck 6: Trying Ford

Question 1

Ford attorneys did not want the trial held in Elkhart, Indiana. What is the process through which a judge must decide whether a trial should be moved to another jurisdiction?

A) laissez fair
B) voir dire
C) change of venue
D) authentication

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Who did Ford hire to assist in jury selection?

A) Malcolm Wheeler, a Stanford Law graduate
B) Hans Zeisel, a nationally known legal scholar
C) Otto Klassen, a local psychiatrist
D) James Neal, a criminal defense attorney

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following was not true regarding the jury?

A) females who drove trucks would be favorable to Ford
B) older men would be the favorable to Ford
C) the jury was ultimately composed of seven men and five women
D) it took two weeks for the prosecution and defense teams to agree upon and select a jury

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is not true regarding moving the trial from Elkhart to another city in Indiana?

A) Ford won its motion to move the trial to a new city
B) the trial ended up in Grant County because many citizens there worked in the local Chrysler and Delco plants
C) the trial ended up in the small community of Winamac
D) Judge Harold Staffeldt would preside over the case

Question 5

How and why did Judge Staffeldt rule on Cosentino's attempt to introduce as evidence Ford documents on pre-1973 Pintos?

A) he admitted most of the documents into evidence because he embraced the theory of products liability
B) he admitted most of the documents because he believed in strict constructionism
C) he excluded most of the documents because he embraced the theory of products liability
D) he excluded most of the documents because he believed in strict constructionism

Question 6

Malcolm Wheeler, one of Ford's attorneys, expressed views about the use of the criminal law against corporations. With which of the following statements would he agree?

A) businesses should never use cost/benefit analysis when human lives are at stake
B) juries do not have the expertise or knowledge to decide innocence or guilt in cases brought against corporations
C) the criminal law is needed, because regulatory and civil controls have proven ineffective
D) because the criminal law stigmatizes corporate lawbreakers, it is the best way to control corporations

Question 7

Which of the following was not one of Terry Kiely's broad observations regarding the vast number of documents?

A) Ford had state-of-the-art technology to build a safe gas tank
B) Ford saved $20.9 million by not fixing the Pinto
C) Ford continued to stifle government attempts to impose more stringent safety standards
D) early crash tests showed that the Pinto's gas line would rupture if hit from behind in excess of 55 mph.

Question 8

Which of the following is false about the Pinto trial?

A) the judge supported James Neal's motion to exclude photographs of the Ulrich girls from the trial
B) eyewitnesses reported that the difference in speed between the Ulrichs' Pinto and Dugar's van was no more than 30 to 35 mph
C) the prosecution at the Pinto trial was fully able to tell the whole Pinto story
D) the autopsy reports were in agreement that if not for the Ulrich girls' burns, the girls would be alive because the force of the collision did not cause them serious physical injuries

Question 9

According to the authors of Corporate Crime Under Attack, during the trial, the judge's rulings on evidence seemed to consistently frustrate:

A) the defense, because the prosecution was allowed to show the jury virtually every photograph, document, and test result it had that related to the Ford Pinto
B) the prosecution, because the defense was able to block most of the photographs, documents, and test results Cosentino had planned to show the jury
C) the media, because the press was not allowed to cover the trial until after the jury verdict was in
D) no one, because each party was able to present its case essentially as it had planned

Question 10

At the end of the Pinto trial, the Indiana jury rendered:

A) a verdict of guilty on all counts
B) a verdict of not guilty on all counts
C) a mixed verdict: guilty on some counts, not guilty on other counts
D) no verdict; the trial resulted in a hung jury

Question 11

The defense team eventually relented on the authentication issue because they feared public opinion may turn against Ford.

Question 12

The Ford Pinto prosecution in Indiana was important because it showed that:

A) federal regulatory agencies would go after a corporation for marketing a harmful product
B) the civil law could be used to go after a corporation for marketing a harmful product
C) the criminal law could be used to go after a corporation for marketing a harmful product
D) the state would never take action to protect a citizen injured by a product marketed by a corporation

Question 13

At the end of the trial, the prosecution commented that the success of merely bringing Ford to trial was important because it showed that "corporations can be prosecuted for any crime, including homicide."

Question 14

The main reason why the Ford Pinto Case had such a large impact was that the Ford Motor Company was found guilty of criminal charges.

Question 15

Which of the following is not true regarding what happened after the trial?

A) Mike Cosentino served seven terms as prosecutor in Elkhart
B) Judge Staffeldt became a federal judge
C) Lee Iacocca was fired by Henry Ford II
D) Jim Neal went on to defend John Landis on involuntary manslaughter charges that occurred during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie

Question 16

What is a "change of venue"? Where was the trial held? How did this work to Ford's advantage?

Question 17

Assume you are the prosecution. Present your case as to why Ford was guilty of reckless homicide in the Pinto deaths of the three teenagers.

Question 18

Assume you are the defense. Present your case as to why Ford was not guilty of reckless homicide in the Pinto deaths of the three teenagers.

Question 19

Assume that you were a member of the jury and have just entered the jury at the conclusion of the final arguments of the trial. How would you have voted? Why?

Question 20

How did the rulings of Judge Harold B. Staffeldt affect the outcome of the trial? In particular, why did he not allow into evidence information on non-1973 Pintos? Why did the prosecution believe that his rulings were incorrect?

Question 21

What was the verdict in the trial? Did this mean that the case was not important? What precedent did it establish in terms of the prosecution of corporations for violent offenses?