Mark Bennett | September 8, 2010
Defending people should be personal. A human being has put his future in your hands, and someone is trying to take that future away. “Don’t take it personally” is lousy advice; it may not be necessary to care about the human being you’re defending, but it helps—when a lawyer cares about his client, the jury […]
Mark Bennett | March 3, 2010
David Ball, co-author of Reptile, is asking criminal lawyers to help him develop a list of “reasons we lose criminal defense cases.” He wants to hear from lawyers in the trenches who deal with these problems all the time. The list will help him and his team develop the use of Reptilian advocacy for criminal […]
Mark Bennett | January 21, 2010
I’ve said before that I would choose a lawyer who sometimes loses over one who always wins. But today I was reminded how much losing a criminal trial sucks. The case: a “DWI-first no test no accident” in the argot. That is, a driving while intoxicated case, which was my client’s first, and in which she […]
Mark Bennett | December 3, 2009
In The Ethics of Pathos, Part I I discussed Walter Olson’s ethical question, “Should lawyers trying cases make an appeal to jurors’ reptile brains?” While writing that post I came to the conclusion that it’s not unethical to use even the darkest of persuasive arts (I’m a student of hypnosis and other trial technologies) to […]
Mark Bennett | November 30, 2009
Personal injury lawyer Paul Luvera has written about Applying Reptile Concepts in Trial—describing how plaintiffs’ lawyers should appeal to jurors’ reptile brains. The reptile brain is the core of the human brain, sitting right at the top of the spine surrounded by the later-developing dog brain and ape brain. The reptile brain is a survival […]
Mark Bennett | April 3, 2009
When I sat on a jury panel this week, one thing that jumped to my attention was the behavior of the accused. He, a non-English speaker wearing headphones to listen to the simultaneous translation of the proceedings, had his head down, chin against his chest, for — as far as I could tell — the […]
Mark Bennett | March 5, 2009
Prompted by this WSJ article noting that some critics of peremptory challenges in jury selection would like to see peremptories limited to three per side, Walter Olson of Overlawyered (@WalterOlson) and Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice (@ScottGreenfield) have been engaged this morning in a twitter conversation about peremptory challenges (and, not incidentally, clever lawyers). They’ve […]
Mark Bennett | January 20, 2009
A rookie lawyer mistake that I see even experienced lawyers on both sides of the criminal bar make is this: confusing “legally sufficient evidence” with “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”. The prosecutor points to a case saying that similar evidence was legally sufficient as proof that the accused will be convicted; the defense lawyer acquiesces […]
Mark Bennett | January 14, 2009
If you’re not already on Twitter, here’s a good reason to dip your toe into the twitterstream: jury consultant Dennis Elias (twitter name @JuryVox) tweets frequent links to the latest jury research. For example: The Crime Victim’s Right to Confer with Prosecutors. Reflections on why we de-humanize our fellow humans. Implications for jury trial. Advice […]
Mark Bennett | October 22, 2008
I’d much rather be in trial than waiting to go to trial — a good day in trial is better than just about anything else you’d care to name. This is my sixth jury trial in twelve months. It’s an aggravated assault charge — CW got glass in his eye, needs money, blames D. In […]
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