Capstone Case: Illinois v. Lara A jury found the defendant, Jason Lara, guilty of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault based on the claim...

Capstone Case: Illinois v. Lara

A jury found the defendant, Jason Lara, guilty of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault based on the claim that he sexually penetrated an eight-year-old girl. On appeal, Lara argued that the State failed to prove the corpus delicti of the offense because the State failed to present any evidence corroborating Lara's confession that he sexually penetrated the alleged victim.

• Provide some examples of how corpus delicti could have been proven for the more serious sexual assault offense alleged at issue in the case.
• Do you believe that corpus delicti serves an important purpose, or should confessions be allowed to stand alone as evidence to support convictions?