Sean Brown – TLC ’11 Grad. TLC List Serve – March 2, 2012
This week I traveled down to Dillingham, Alaska, a small
fishing town in Southwest Alaska for a Felony DUI/OUI trial. The District Attorney dismissed a Vehicle
Theft prior to the jury being sworn.
Overview: An
officer spotted a pickup truck in the brush alongside the road, upon
investigation he spotted my client in the cab of the truck asleep/passed out on
the bench seat. My client confessed to
the initial investigating officer that he was driving, and later at the
hospital confessed to another officer that he was driving. My client’s BAC was .4. Five times the legal limit in Alaska.
My client’s history:
3 prior DUI convictions; 4 prior vehicle theft convictions; plus 11
other various convictions.
I based my voir dire on Gerry’s “Ugly Client /
Confession” and “Reasonable Doubt” voir
dire examples that are on CD/DVD I purchased at the ranch this summer. The jury let me know their thoughts on
confessions, and what they would need to know regarding whether to believe the
confession.
To address their concerns, during trial, I used a table
in the courtroom as a hospital bed where the most damning confession was
obtained, and I pulled witnesses off the stand to testify around it. Another important scene regarding who was
driving/operating the truck occurred at my client’s home. For that I pulled a witness off the stand and
I directed the scenes.
During the directed conversations, the DA repeatedly
objected on the basis of hearsay and counsel may not testify. Eventually the judge said he had enough of my
theatrics in his Courtroom.
At one point during my closing, I had my client stand
with me before the jury and I asked them to judge him with their heart.
The verdict: Not
Guilty.
Following the trail, the judge actually complimented the
style, and said he believed it helped the jury better understand the evidence.
No comments:
Post a Comment