Defense Attorney’s Opening Statement?
Posted on Jan 28, 2012 with Comments 3
Matty Boy asked:
Hi,
At my school we are reading “To Kill A Mockingbird.” We are having a mock trial (assuming that Tom Robinson had gotten acquitted). Bob Ewell is being charged with assaulting his own daughter. I was appointed to a team of 2, to be his defense. I am wondering if anyone knows like a blueprint I could follow for my opening statement.
Tona James
Hi,
At my school we are reading “To Kill A Mockingbird.” We are having a mock trial (assuming that Tom Robinson had gotten acquitted). Bob Ewell is being charged with assaulting his own daughter. I was appointed to a team of 2, to be his defense. I am wondering if anyone knows like a blueprint I could follow for my opening statement.
Tona James
Filed Under: Law & Ethics
1. Introduce your self and your client. Begin with a short, catchy sentence or phrase that sums up the theme of your case and is memorable
2. Tell the jury your theory of the case in narrative form, i.e. Why your guy didn’t do it. Don’t promise them anything that you will present just point out the flaws in the prosecutions case.
3. Tell the jury what you want them to do, i.e. carefully consider all of the evidence, don’t make a decision until they’ve heard the entire case, prosecution won’t be able to prove case BRD, any doubt is a not guilty
4. Say thank you.
It varies. Sometimes (not often) the defense reserves its comments until the end. But a common plan is to acknowledge that the jury has an important job and a responsibility to follow the law. Because the State normally goes first (and gets the last word at the end), they often comment on what the prosecutor has told the jury they will hear. They then acknowledge that that does indeed sound bad. If it’s essentially a question of who did it and not what was done, they may also tell the jury that it’s clear there was a serious crime that should be punished and remind them that the job before them is not to blindly punish anyone brought before them. They may then outline their own case. They may comment on why what the State told them is not so certain as they have made it sound, and they may tell the jury what they will hear from defense witnesses and remind them that those witnesses will not be heard until the State has put on it’s case. They may remind the jury of things like “the whole truth” and “the whole story” and ask them to not settle on a verdict before they’ve heard the whole story, just as they would want their own story to be heard if it was them being accused. They often end by saying they believe that once they have heard it all. They often acknowledge that the jury members are missing work and that this is not where they would rather be but that they are the most important people in the room.
If it’s a matter of what actually happened or that there is a different view of things than the State will present, they may speak about. They will try to get across that it is the State that must prove the case, and the defense need not say anything if the case isn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but that they will put on witnesses, because they believe they can tell their story without fear.
What they cannot do it tell the jury what “beyond a reasonable doubt” means, and they can’t tell the jury what the law is. Even the judge can no longer define “reasonable doubt” for them. Sometimes, they talk about that and about how important it is to think about it for themselves.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is ____ and I represent Mr. ______ Thank you each for being here. I am not here to waste your time.
Today we will try to find the truth and we wish to get to that point sooner than later.
[then sit down and look at the judge]