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anatomy of a trial

Anatomy of a Trial [Period 4, Class #3, 5-27]

"Welcome back," Alex said, nodding at her group. They were in the Danger Room once more, which should not be very surprising to the students. It was a wonder Alex didn't move every class here, considering how at home she felt in the courtroom. Even, yes, a fake one.

"I hope you rehearsed your opening statements," she began, "because that is what we're starting with. Each of you will stand up, explain whether you're representing the prosecution or the defense, and approach the jury. Give your opening statement. Don't be nervous -- if it helps, remember that they're just constructs of this room. Be clear, and confident, and address them as you might a co-worker, or an acquaintance. The jury is helping you seek justice, no matter which side you represent. You don't need to flatter them, or try to curry favor, but be sure not to alienate them, either. A hostile jury will be less inclined to believe you."

She offered a reassuring smile. "It'll be over before you know it. Once you're finished, we'll discuss, and your classmates and I can offer feedback. Supportive feedback, I'd like to add, because I won't tolerate any of you being rude." The smile was replace with a very firm death glare, just to underscore that particular point. "Point out weaknesses, but also strengths. Make constructive suggestions. It's a process, one we'll be going through together.

"And once we've finished that, we'll talk a little about examining witnesses -- which is, naturally, what you'll be doing in class next week."

(OOC: Alex's sample opening statement (in the marked OCD thread below) discusses violent crime and predatory behavior, and thus could be triggery. Please avoid if that is upsetting. The rest of class should be fine.)

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With an icon that you wish you got to use more often.

Yes, Alex is wearing a trenchcoat over lingerie.

Karla

Squall Leonhart

Hyuuga Hinata

Warren Worthington III

Vance Astrovik

Worry! Fuss! Worry and fuss! Or be cool as a cucumber. Either way, you've got some speeching to do.

Squall wasn't nervous. There wouldn't be any POINT to being nervous. Being nervous was stupid.

...This sucked.

Hinata was... was going to sink down in her chair and review her notes.

Public speaking. Alright then. It was easier, afte her time in the plays, but still...

There will be an abuse of OCD this week, just to make this run smoothly. Show of hands, who's surprised?

These subthreads will be where you, the students, give your speeches. You can write them out, or describe them, or handwave like it is going out of style. Then everyone else pings in with reactions, feedback, and so forth.

She's not kidding about playing nicely. Constructive feedback is good. "That sucked" will unleash the Wrath of Cabot.

The glasses of power and justice!

Alex approached the jury, nodded to them once, then began.

"Jane McIntyre was, in many ways, a typical twenty-two-year old girl. She liked playing tennis, and going dancing with her friends. She had just received her Bachelor's degree from Hudson University, in biochemistry, and planned to start graduate studies in the fall. Her friends said she was lively and outgoing.

"Jane was also afraid. She had recently ended her relationship with her boyfriend of six months, William Thornsmith, over an increasingly erratic pattern of behavior. Unfortunately, his rage only escalated once they separated. There were threatening letters mailed to her address, and angry messages left on the answering machine. She confided in friends that she thought he was following her. She said, and I quote, 'I'm scared of what he might do.'

"On May 23rd, at 2 am, Jane's fears were tragically realized. She was shot four times, three of the bullets hitting her chest cavity. She was declared dead upon arrival at St. Vincent's."

From there, Alex outlined the case -- Thornsmith's missing rifle, his belligerent attitude towards the police, and the evidence they had of his intimidation techniques. She explained what witnesses she would be calling, to establish Jane's state of mind, and to prove Thornsmith's motivations.

"This case is about an angry young man who couldn't handle rejection," Alex said, at the conclusion. "This case is about a man's need for control, and his lust for revenge when that control was taken from him. That lust drove him to kill. Jane McIntyre tried to escape him, and he made her pay, with her life. Don't let him get away with it."

Edited 2010-05-27 11:08 (UTC)

After Alex tags in here, other people can offer feedback.

After her opening statement, Alex rejoined her students for any comments they might have.

(OOC: except the obvious, that she does way better with this sort of thing when Dick Wolf & Co write her than when I do ... )

The ninja with freaky eyes!

Hinata was beyond nervous but she knew what she was talking about—the case, at least—remembering the details was simple. She swallowed when it was her turn before lifting her chin and taking over.

"It was a cloudy foggy night when Mimi Callahan, left her friend's house with two of her classmates in tow. Th-They were all in high spirits—the end of semester was near, all of them felt they'd do well on their exams, and they'd just come from what was, to all accounts, a very well done party. All three of them had indulged in a few glasses to celebrate the birthday of Michelle Herstein, though Miss Callahan, keeping in mind that she was to drive them home, was careful to space her drinks out and eat and drink other things in-between.

"While turning changing lanes to facilitate turning into the campus dorms, the car Miss Callahan was driving went out of her control. Miss Callahan and her companions were severely injured and it was only the swift response from emergency services which kept them alive so that they could be here today.

"No one else was injured," she said, taking the time to look at the audience before she went into the details of the case, including a report by a mechanic as to the state of the car one week prior to the accident, naming her witnesses that she wished to call to support the ch-character and state of mind of Miss Callahan the evening of the accident, as well as the injury reports and subsequent difficulties all three girls were coping with.

"This was not a deliberate infraction of the law," Hinata concluded quietly. "Miss Callahan—Mimi—has paid already for her miscalculation. Will you make a young girl's life that much harder?"

After Hinata tags in here, people can offer feedback.

That? That was a sighing Hinata absolutely convinced she'd done it all wrong and fussing with her case documents as she waited to see what people might say.

"You painted a lovely story," Alex said, smiling reassuringly at the girl. "Tragic mistake, not carelessness. You made the defendant a sympathetic figure, which is crucial in an affirmative defense."

She glanced down at a few notes. "If you're hoping to use mechanical failure as a possible smoking gun, I'd suggest mentioning it earlier; make it seem like another element that set the stage, and not something that came up after. That's mostly a style choice. Similarly, most of your tone is very good, but the line at the end about making her life harder is risky -- certain jurors might insist she did this to herself, and start losing sympathy again. It's a hard line to walk, and a gray area at best."

Another smile, and a gentler one, at that. "It's okay to be nervous. I know attorneys who had to run to the lavatory and be sick the first time they opened a case. You held yourself together really well. Just make sure your voice is loud enough to carry, okay?"

It took effort to not bow and stammer her apologies to what was, quite possibly, the gentlest critiquing of her skills ever. Which, somehow, made her feel worse.

She let her breath out in a sigh and a nod for the point about her voice being loud enough. "Sh-Should I perhaps mention the prior difficulties with the car as they're leaving the party?" Hinata considered what else... oh. "I... I was not sure how to end it," Hinata admitted. "I suspect that I may have to think of several endings and pick which feels right depending on the mood of the room by the end of my opening. If--If that is alright?"

Was it? She didn't know that winging it would be a great idea, but surely that wouldn't be too bad?

"Possibly there," Alex said, considering, "but that might be clunky. It could interrupt the general flow. Move it around a little, find somewhere that feels natural. Go with your instincts."

She smiled, again, hoping that Hinata heard the compliments as well as the critiques. Too many people filtered out one side. "And playing to the room is never a bad idea, if you trust your ability to adapt on your feet. It's a useful skill. It means if you hit a sour note early on, you can excise it from the rest of your opening. Juror #6 suddenly looks like you threatened his dog; play that point more carefully. Things like that."

Witch Queen with a sapphire of power!

After Karla tags in here, other people can offer feedback.

The SeeD with a gunblade and a 'tude!

Squall stood up and paced back and forth in front of the jury with his hands in his jacket pockets, staring at the floor.

"Honored Jurors," he began. "The man sitting over there is a doctor. For all I know, and for all you know, he could be a pillar of the community. Maybe he gives to charity. Maybe he goes to church regularly. Maybe he coaches little league. That's all irrelevant. Because the fact is, he is a drug dealer."

He shrugged, looked over at the defendant, and then looked at the jury, and then back at the floor. "He doesn't look like one. And the drugs he's selling aren't illegal when used properly. That doesn't change anything. He is selling addictive drugs so that his users can go home and get high, and he knows it, and I know it, and now you know it."

Squall lifted his head, then, and made eye contact with each and every jury member. "He's going to try to tell you he had a medically valid reason to write each any every prescription. That's bullshit. He's going to try to tell you that the extra money his patients gave him was just gifts, out of the goodness of their hearts. That's also bullshit. I don't like wasting my time, and I don't see any point in wasting yours. We wouldn't be here if I wasn't convinced he was guilty."

He went back to pacing. "You're not here to decide whether or not he should be allowed to practice medicine. He shouldn't, obviously, but that's a matter for the licensing board. What you're here to decide is whether he should go to jail -- again, obviously, he should -- and for how long. I hope you will do the right thing."

After Squall tags in here, other people can offer feedback.

Yeah, so -- speech was done or whatever.

Squall looked around and waited for people to tell him what he'd done wrong.

"I like your fire," Alex said, smiling at him. "Use that. I also like that you made sure to make eye contact for your points of emphasis. Good. You wanted to know that they heard you. I'd like to encourage you to try keeping their eyes for all of your statements."

She glanced down at her scribbled notes. "I would also recommend using a 'show, don't tell' approach - prove that the medications were invalid, instead of asking them to believe your judgment. It's obvious to someone who knows the case, but the defense will try to muddy those waters. And the word 'bullshit' is dicey if you've got little old ladies on the jury who clutch their pearls with strong language, but the passion behind it is exemplary. You've shown the jury you care about this case, and you've gotten their attention."

"But I don't care about the case," Squall protested. "I'm just saying his defense is bullshit, is all. Because it is." He shrugged.

"Where's the anger coming from, if you don't care about the case?" Alex asked. "You were defiant. You're not indifferent to his fate; you want him to be punished. Why?"

Edited 2010-05-31 00:34 (UTC)

"He deserves to be punished," Squall told her. "He broke the law, did bad things, and hurt people. Whether he actually gets punished doesn't affect me at all."

"If I gave you the keys," she asked, "and said you could go over there and unlock his handcuffs and set him free, and that that freedom would be legally binding ... would you do it?"

Squall looked at her with confusion and contempt.

(What are you, stupid?)

"Of course not!"

"Why not?" she asked. "It doesn't matter to you if he gets punished. It doesn't affect you. Maybe he'd offer you money to let him free."

Edited 2010-05-31 05:22 (UTC)

The mutant who cries for JUSTICE!

After Vance tags in here, other people can offer feedback.

Red Bull gave him wiiiings!

After Warren tags in here, other people can offer feedback.

"Now that that's out of the way," Alex said, "let's talk a little about next week. Next week, we're going to deal with witnesses that you have called, to support your case. These witnesses, you will be calling to establish certain facts, or possibly opinions, if you have expert witnesses on your list. We'll deal with witnesses for the other side at a later date -- cross-examination is more difficult, and requires finesse.

"Witnesses that you have called, on the other hand, are safe, in that you know already what they'll be testifying to. You aren't trying to discredit them, and there's no need to play Barry Payson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Mason). Be careful not to lead your witnesses -- never ask 'did you see the defendant shoot the victim?' That's leading. Try 'did you see anything unusual?' We'll go more into depth on that next week.

"For now, I'd like you to tell me who you will be calling, for this case, and what reason you have for asking them to testify. Alternately, if you're not sure who to call, ask, and your classmates and I will help you think of useful suggestions."

If she's here!

Karla was there, silently going over her notes before her presentation.

She's totally here.

It is eating my OOC thread, but I'm guessing it'll show up again later because LJ hates me. In which case, have seventeen more.

Repeat incoming!:

As mentioned above, you can handwave the opening statements, or describe them, or write them out. Make sure to mention anything useful like "Bob was nervous and dropped his note cards three times" if you'd like feedback.

For next week, there will be NPC witnesses, so please let me know (either here-now or there-then) who you'll be calling and what testimony they'll be giving -- it can be as simple as "the cops who arrived on the scene first" or "his alibi."

Note: your witnesses will look suspiciously like the cast members of L&O:SVU that have already popped up as NPC jury members. Recycling, woo!

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Anatomy of a Trial [Period 4, Class #3, 5-27]

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