Defending People

the tao of criminal-defense trial lawyering

Reciprocal Discovery, Anyone?

David Sklansky’s fun­da­men­tal the­o­rem of poker:

Every time you play a hand dif­fer­ently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your oppo­nents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose. Con­versely, every time oppo­nents play their hands dif­fer­ently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose.

There are two ways to help your oppo­nents play their hands dif­fer­ently than they would if they had com­plete infor­ma­tion: 1) keep them from hav­ing com­plete infor­ma­tion; and 2) make them believe that the infor­ma­tion they do have is incomplete.

In crim­i­nal defense prac­tice, a Nasty Lit­tle Sur­prise (NLS) helps with both of these goals: it keeps the adver­sary from hav­ing com­plete infor­ma­tion in this case, and it makes the adver­sary doubt in the next case whether the infor­ma­tion he has is complete.

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About The Author

Mark Bennett got his letter of marque from the Supreme Court of Texas in May 1995. He is famous for having no sense of humor when it comes to totalitarianism.

Comments

2 Responses to “Reciprocal Discovery, Anyone?”

  1. That’s an excel­lent book and his fun­da­men­tal the­o­rem is applic­a­ble in many arenas.

  2. I will have to get the book and see what other ideas are dis­cussed. Thanks again.

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