Start Your Criminal Trial Off Right With Opening Statements

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  The past is a foreign country.  Call me Ishmael.  The first line of a book is often the most memorable part.  Who can forget the opening line of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, convoluted as its exact wording may be, in which a nebbish called Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover that he has turned into a huge cockroach?  As it is with books, so it is with criminal trials.  No matter what surprising and horrifying things the jury sees and hears during the trial, they will interpret them in light of the first sentences they heard spoken by the prosecutors and defense lawyers when the trial began.  This is the role of opening statements in a criminal trial.  A Tampa criminal defense lawyer can help you get acquitted by presenting opening statements at your trial that set the tone for establishing reasonable doubt about your guilt.

Opening Statements Are the Abstract of Your Defense at Trial

In a criminal trial, an opening statement is a brief speech made by an attorney representing the prosecution or the defendant.  After the jury is sworn in, the opening statements are the next thing to happen.  The prosecutor makes the first opening statement, since the prosecution bears the burden of proof in a criminal case.  The prosecutor outlines the charges the defendant is facing and briefly describes the events that lead the state to believe that the defendant is guilty of these charges.  The prosecutor’s opening statement also lists the witnesses that the prosecution will summon and describes each one’s relationship to the case.

Next, the defense lawyer makes an opening statement.  Since the jury already knows what the defendant is being accused of doing, the defense can get straight to the point of why the charges do not apply.  In other words, the defense lawyer’s opening statement contains the thesis statement of the defendant’s defense strategy.  The defense lawyer also enumerates the defense witnesses and each one’s role in establishing reasonable doubt.

In other words, the opening statements function as a table of contents for the trial.  They contain only the barest details about what each witness will say.  Opening statements do not contain any spoilers; even though the jurors generally know what to expect from each witness, they cannot truly make up their minds about whether there is doubt about the defendant’s guilt until they hear the testimony in full.  Most importantly, nothing in the closing arguments should contradict the opening statements, or else it will look like you do not have a clear defense strategy.  Therefore, opening statements are the last part of the case your lawyer writes, just like you cannot write the table of contents of a book until the book is already complete.

Contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Bryant Scriven

A criminal defense lawyer can help you present your case at a fair trial that includes concise opening statements.  Contact Scriven Law in Tampa, Florida to schedule a consultation.

Sources:

law.cornell.edu/wex/opening_statement

uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/differences