Bringing a Missing Witness to Life
Have you ever had to present a deposition or interview transcript to the jury? How did you do it? Some time ago, I was asked to help a friend present the transcript of an interview in a murder case he was prosecuting. There were just a few problems with presenting the interview to the jury: The interview was conducted in Spanish, not English, so he couldn’t play the original audio recording. Not everything in the interview was relevant to the case, so the jury would only be...
Read MoreAvoiding Gunfights During Cross-Examination
If you were in the police academy, one of the most important things you would learn is how to keep safe when you’re out on the street. To stay safe, you’d want to learn how to prevent verbal confrontations from escalating into physical fights, and how to prevent physical fights from escalating into knifefights or gunfights. As it turns out, one of the easiest ways to prevent situations from escalating to the next level is by keeping your emotional level lower than the perp’s emotional...
Read MoreCross-Examining Your Client: You Play Like You Practice
One of the most important pre-trial preparation steps you will undertake is getting your client ready for cross-examination. You know that no matter how well you prepare the rest of your case, if your client falls apart during cross-examination, the case may be lost. Yet despite its importance, many trial lawyers’ client cross-examinations preparations are woefully inadequate. The reason their attempts fall short isn’t because the attorneys don’t know what topics to tackle, and...
Read MoreTrial Lawyers at the Scene of the Crime
It might be the back alley of a dive bar where a man was bludgeoned to death, the potato chip aisle at a local grocery store where the plaintiff claims he slipped and fell, or a tiled and antiseptic operating room where your client’s husband died during routine surgery. In each instance, regardless of whether the case is civil or criminal, the location is the same: it’s the “scene of the crime.” In your last case, how many times did you visit the “scene of the...
Read MoreSpeak Your Witness’s Language
When I think of horses, I typically think of Kentucky and the Kentucky Derby. But did you know that the official “Horse Capital of the World” isn’t located in Kentucky? Surprisingly, it’s located just an hour or two north of where I live, in Marion County, Florida. Marion County is filled with tall oaks, rolling hills, and LOTS of horses. In fact, according to census figures, there are more horses in this county than any other county in America. Earlier this week I...
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