Comments on: Reptiles Revisited: Lizards Don’t Label [updated]

By: Brendan Lupetin

Brendan Lupetin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:41:14 +0000

How do they mention the strategy called Reptile and link it to Keenan’s closing without discussing a whole lot of irrelevant information? Any way you slice this it sounds like the defense attorneys, clever as they were, swung well outside the scope of the trial record in discussing these issues in their closing.

By: Lee Stonum

Lee Stonum — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:12:19 +0000

I had missed the prior post. I like the idea of calling it out, going to use this in my next gang trial.

By: Jeff Gamso

Jeff Gamso — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:12:56 +0000

Good grief! It’s an insurance defense blog that forced me to put my name in the title of mine?

I suppose I can’t sue on the basis of that they’re devaluing my name, can I? Especially since they were using it first.

By: Mark Bennett

Mark Bennett — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:58:11 +0000

It seems to me that in the criminal defense context, prosecutors have long recognized (though not identified) the reptile brain as a motivator of juries. They commonly imply or express that the defendant must be put away as a danger to the victim and to the community as a whole.

You mean “Prosecutors use something like it in every jury trial—make the jurors afraid, then give them a way to be safer—though probably without realizing that they [are] appealing to the reptile brain.”?

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

By: Bob Torp

Bob Torp — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:50:31 +0000

It seems to me that in the criminal defense context, prosecutors have long recognized (though not identified) the reptile brain as a motivator of juries. They commonly imply or express that the defendant must be put away as a danger to the victim and to the community as a whole. However, we can point out to the repilillan brain of the jurors that they are in danger of being accused by the government and put away themselves by over charging and shaky evidence. Granted that is not as persuasive as “put him in jail or you and your family will die” – it is something. I think there is a certian level of fear of the government among the public that we can use to our advantage. The Constitution was created based on a legitimate fear of a overly strong and oppressive government. Interestingly, it seems that those that cry “freedom” the loudest are often the very same people that want a strong oppressive government to deal with everyone but them. Just some thouhts.