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Welcome to my blog where I re-post interesting legal news and share a few of my own opinions on some stuff as well.
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Know of an Awesome Lawyer? If you know of an awesome attorney who goes above and beyond that you think deserves some recognition, let me know about them and what makes them so unique and I may just add them to my "AMAZING ATTORNEYS" category in this blog.
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You will find links to FREE resources for child custody and support, as well as information on Parental Alienation and how to fight it.
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Welcome to my blog where I re-post interesting legal news and share a few of my own opinions on some stuff as well.

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Friday, April 8, 2016

Youtube Discussion on Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson



the brain

 commented on a video on YouTube.
Shared publicly  -  Mar 1, 2016
This woman is guilty. Where's Forensic Files when you need it? After decomposition the tape was applied? Retarded. Partying and new tattoo . She seems like a drug-head, maybe ecstasy. In previous video I said trial was Simpsonlike.
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ohwell94's profile photoOlivia Westbrook's profile photoTodd Dunham's profile photo
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bunny fish
Mar 8, 2016
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+the brain that jury was as dumb as OJ's we need pro jurys,people who understand dna,blood testing,and real evidence,not a bunch of dopes and morons

the brain
Mar 8, 2016
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+bunny fish exactly.

bunny fish
Mar 9, 2016

+the brain I heard 3 of the black women who were on the oj case,dumb as rocks..how do they find their way home 

the brain
Mar 9, 2016
+bunny fish repetition, structured days,landmarks, living in same neighborhood a lifetime. I've been up for jury duty a few times, they never pick me. I'd keep the group on track and looking at what truly is the case, no matter how long it takes.
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bunny fish
Mar 9, 2016
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the fact that we can get the dumbest of the dumb on a jury scares me,that a murder case can be made into a national debate on race relations is wrong,and sad

the brain
Mar 9, 2016

+bunny fish Anyone in a position to pass judgement should be worldly (been there,done that or know what it's about) enough to discern nonsense from truth. people who have lived a completely clean life have no idea what the word is about. I would rather have a councilor that was recovering from the thing I was suffering (recovering addict) than someone that never touched anything in their life.(Just an example)
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bunny fish
Mar 9, 2016
+the brain look at the schooling a judge and lawyer must have to work in a court room...the most important part is the jury,they can be dumb as a box of rocks ...why not have pro jurys,people trained some in law,evidence,blood work,dna...people who will focus on the facts ,not racism,or the person is famous..the rich get away with crimes with the aid of slick lawyers,smoke and mirrors...even lawyers say the facts don't matter in court any more
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the brain
Mar 9, 2016

+bunny fish I know. Makes the courtroom (whole system of justice) weaker. Cases go down in the books and are referred to in the future.Total corruption of the system.

bunny fish
Mar 9, 2016

+the brain it just seems so crazy...a guy can get yrs for a couple joints in texas ..scam us out of millions of dollars,nothing happens,murder,you go free

Olivia Westbrook
Apr 5, 2016
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+bunny fish I like your description, "dumb as a box of rocks". This could be said for many of the people leaving comments about this case.
Regarding your idea about having juries made up of forensic experts, it would have made no difference in the Anthony case. This is due to the fact that there was zero forensic evidence connecting Ms. Anthony to the death of her daughter.
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bunny fish
Apr 5, 2016
+Olivia Westbrook I think in the Anthony case she was over charged,my friends and I talked about this b-4 the trial began...not only murder,but the death penalty too...I heard trial experts say they could have put her away for 20 yrs,by stringing different charges together...child abandonment,child indangerment,child neglect,lying to police,fraud [passing bad checks],providing false statements to police...the only links I know of are the duct tape [match for the roll found in the Anthony home],and the heart stickers[sheet with missing hearts found in the baby's room...the few death banded hairs,and decomp,smell,all from the trunk of Casey's car....that's a hard sell to put someone to death over...I don't think I would have voted death
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Olivia Westbrook
Apr 5, 2016

+bunny fish The sticker accusation was found to be bogus and eliminated by the FBI. There was only one 'banded' hair. This was also dismissed because the science is new and does not account for other causes. The decomposition smell is too subjective to be actual evidence and there was no chemical evidence of decomposition found in the trunk. One decomposition fly was found and that was in the decomposing meat in the garbage bag. If there had been a body in the trunk long enough to create the smell, it would have been full of flies, eggs or larvae. The skull had been tampered with on numerous occasions leaving the positioning presented by the prosecution completely unreliable. There was none of Ms. Anthony's or Caylee's DNA on the duct tape. Considering duct tape adhesive is extremely good at retaining DNA it was considered impossible for the tape to have been on the child's flesh prior to decomposition.
This lack of evidence is why Ms. Anthony wasn't convicted. One cannot condemn someone because 'they might have done it'.
I have no idea if Ms. Anthony was responsible for her daughter's death and, for sure, the general public don't know either. They can only speculate and speculation is just guessing.
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bunny fish
Apr 5, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook the fact that mom and dad saw her walk out the front door,the day after fathers day [or grand dad's BD],and lie,and not be able to produce the child for 31 days,is child neglect/endangerment of some sort... mom and dad would know the smell of death cop/nurse...I was in the service,i know that smell,you know the 1st time you smell it,just what it is
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Olivia Westbrook
Apr 5, 2016

+bunny fish As I've said, I don't know if Ms. Anthony was responsible for her daughter's death. But, I also don't know the veracity of her parent's testimonies. They are both proven liars.
The smell is still subjective. There were people who didn't think it was human decomposition. Did you know that the cadaver dogs did not alert anywhere on the second run?
The problem with this case is most people seemed to have formed a prejudiced position based on what the media have fed them. The media only reported the prosecution's leaks, which were designed to prejudice a jury prior to selection, and report what they considered the most sensational parts of the trial once in session. Consequently, it is very hard to decipher fact from fiction.
The prosecution knew they had no evidence, so they built a case based on conjecture and character assassination. The jury didn't buy it. And that, unfortunately, is the end of the matter until someone can come up with some real evidence of guilt or innocence.
Also, bear in mind, that everything you see and hear has a backstory which often reverses what you think it means.
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bunny fish
Apr 5, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook I find it hard to believe the dad & Casey found the child dead in the pool,and lauched some massive cover up...why...so many things don't add up...I think mom and dad walked on egg shells with Casey,for fear she's leave with the child...they had to know all she did was lie 24/7   365...where was the child all day and all night,did dhe drug the kid several times a day,then one day too much...that's what I think happened...the decom,the smell and hair...Casey will never say,and why believe what she's say anyways,right?..I think she was overcharge,and that could be proved at all...should have gone for multi lesser charges...are you watching the people voj simpson,last episode 2 night
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Olivia Westbrook
Apr 5, 2016

+bunny fish Did you know Ms. Anthony was offered a lesser charge?
She vehemently refused it and wanted to prove her innocence.
As far as what you think - you only have fragments of information. It is impossible for you to know what happened. I have a mountain of evidence compared to you and I don't know what happened.
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bunny fish
Apr 5, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook I heard of a plea deal,i'm not sure I remember what it was...well oj didn't take the stand,neither did she...if I was charged with a murder [or crime]I didn't do i'd take the stand

Olivia Westbrook
Apr 5, 2016
+bunny fish Taking the stand is not as simple as you seem to think. The reason Ms. Anthony didn't take the stand was due to the prosecution's lack of evidence. Since the prosecution had zero forensic evidence they hung their case on speculation together with the assassination of Ms. Anthony's character. If Ms. Anthony had taken the stand they would have a field day. They would have repeated over and over her behavioural faux pas in order to influence and prejudice the jury. The defense, obviously, would not give them this freedom. So, they sacrificed Ms. Anthony's right to speak for herself. They, the defense lawyers, understandably, found this to be a difficult choice but, as it turned out, the right one.
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bunny fish
Apr 6, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook OJ and Anthony,would have both been destroyed on the stand...how is taking the cops to your fake job helping find you child...why tell the cops 4 tales of how you cut your hand...proven lies mattered in the Peterson case
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Olivia Westbrook
Apr 6, 2016

+bunny fish 1) This is not the Peterson or the Simpson case. 2) Did you actually read and understand my previous reply to you?
The state could not prove its case against Ms. Anthony.
If you have any new valid evidence I would be interested in hearing it, but I'm not interested in your ideas of what may have happened. I probably have more ideas of my own, based on more actual evidence than you seem to have. Having said that, I still don't know what actually happened because I wasn't there and, as I've already said, I'm not interested in guessing and speculation.
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bunny fish
Apr 6, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook you don't know what casey would have said on the stand ...I said from the get go she was over charged...state child laws vary,i'm sure they could have brought about some sort of neglect or endangerment charge,or even lesser type charges
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Olivia Westbrook
Apr 6, 2016
+bunny fish Once again, there was no evidence of neglect. In fact, all the evidence was to the contrary.
Please, please, I'm trying to be polite, but you don't seem to understand what I'm saying to you and you keep repeating the same speculation over and over.
I don't know what actually happened because I wasn't there and nor were you, as I've already said, I'm not interested in guessing and speculation.
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bunny fish
Apr 6, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook you know all of fla's laws about child protection

Olivia Westbrook
Apr 6, 2016

+bunny fish Since there was no evidence of child abuse (for the hundredth and one time), Florida's child protection laws and my knowledge of them are irrelevant.

bunny fish
Apr 6, 2016

+Olivia Westbrook you're a expert on fla child protection laws now...the fla laws are "irrelevant"...PRICELESS...bye

ohwell94
Apr 6, 2016
+bunny fish I also thought that 1st degree was gonna be close to impossible to prove but not guilty on child neglect?how is not calling 911 when you find your child facedown in a pool not neglect? She nor George(giving the defense the benefit of the doubt) were not qualified to pronounce Caylee was dead...and I for one can't see George building a playhouse for Caylee yet fling her body in a swamp for animals to get at(just a personal opinion)
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ohwell94
Apr 6, 2016
+Olivia Westbrook she didn't "sacrifice" her right to take the stand...its her Constitutional right not too...her lawyers could had strongly advised her not to but that final choice was gets!

ohwell94
Apr 6, 2016
+Olivia Westbrook are you seriously going to stand there and tell me that if someone finds a body facedown in their pool and you don't call 911 and take care of it either yourself or have someone do it for you that that is not a crime????
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ohwell94
Apr 6, 2016
+Olivia Westbrook and before you start on your "not interested in speculation and guessing" bs may I remind you that this was the theory brought forth by the defense in court...that Caylee drowned in her family swimming pool that Casey found her dead and that George and her were involved in this great cover up...that's public record and available on any videoclip on YT and the internet should you chose to see it:)
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Truther Chick
Apr 6, 2016
+ohwell94 I don't think anyone is saying it wasn't a crime, but it was a crime she wasn't charged with (ie, improper disposal of a dead body).

ohwell94
Yesterday 12:16 AM
+Truther Chick NOT calling 911 when a child has been seriously injured and needs medical attention is child neglect..unless you get into that whole very complicated religious aspect of being Amish or Christen Scientist, neither of which the Anthony's were.
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Truther Chick
Yesterday 1:03 AM
+ohwell94 I see your point. But the prosecution never tried proving that was what happened. on the contrary, they were trying to convince the jury that the whole story of Caylee drowning was bull shit.

ohwell94
Yesterday 1:21 AM
+Truther Chick they couldn't charge her with improper disposal of a body cause they couldn't prove she disposed of Caylees body...the defense said George disposed of Caylee(I just can't see that myself)

Truther Chick
Yesterday 1:26 AM
+ohwell94 true.

ohwell94
Yesterday 1:39 AM
+Truther Chick I'll play devils advocate here for a sec
just suppose that it went down the way the prosecution says it did(personally? I think she's guilty as hell)then I'd have to say Casey had time on her side and she was the luckiest person I had ever seen...that coupled with a master of smoke and mirrors lawyer(omg I hated Jose Baez on sight for me he was the perfect example of an ambulance chaser shyster lawyer!)
he played it beautifully...most ppl would rather accept his theory of drowning and a highly dysfunctional family than admit that a young pretty middle class girl can be capable of this right?
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Truther Chick
Yesterday 3:46 AM
+ohwell94 possibly, but for me, all I can say is I started off with my mind made up... she was guilty! but by the end of the trial, I felt that there was reasonable doubt. what can i say... Jose Bias may be a lot of things, but he did one hell of a job defending this case. almost like a Hispanic Johnnie Cochran lol  
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ohwell94
Yesterday 4:01 AM
+Truther Chick me2
I have to say I also had my mind made up and that hasn't really changed..Casey is somehow responsible maybe not murder but somehow
.the only thing I just cannot buy is Georges involvement..I believe he had the affair but I just cannot see this man putting his granddaughters body into bags and dumping it into a swamp knowing animals would get at it...I can see Casey doing that cause that wouldnt have crossed her mind you know what I mean?
Jose Baez I'm sorry I just cannot stand him but yeah he did a really good dance lol
the one thing I am positive of? is that family is kooky!
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ohwell94
Yesterday 4:11 AM
+Truther Chick and BTW lol?
Johnny Cochran had style!

Olivia Westbrook
Yesterday 5:24 AM
+Truther Chick Would I be right in presuming your mind was initially made up by media reports?
If this is the case, you'll probably be interested to know that those reports were leaked to the media by the prosecution in order to prejudice the public and therefore anyone selected for the jury. This is a particularly despicable and immoral act on the prosecution's part. It also gives an insight into the veracity of any of the prosecution's subsequent claims and activities.
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Truther Chick
2:44 AM
+Olivia Westbrook Yes it was all of the media reports that made me start out convinced of her guilt. I think it can be easy for us (as a society) to accept what the mainstream media tells us as gospel. But in reality, we're lied to daily by the media. Many of us have grown up with TV being damn near our second baby sitter, every day since birth. So we are conditioned to trust what the TV tells us as a result.
I honestly don't know what happened to this sweet beautiful little child. That whole family seems to live in a world of fantasy and lies, so anything they try to say is the "truth" is suspect. I mean, their credibility is shot.
Just "thinking" a person is guilty of a crime is not enough. It must be proven to you beyond a reasonable doubt, from only the evidence that was presented to you in the court. No matter how much of a piece of shit that person might be, EVERYONE has that right. If we start saying it's ok to "cherry pick" who's rights are protected, then none of our rights are safe.
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Truther Chick
2:49 AM
+Todd Dunham I'm just a little confused by your post here... are you trying to say that Olivia is really "Catfish" Casey Anthony or something?

ohwell94
3:06 AM
+Truther Chick that I agree with...have you ever seen the movie Network? watch it there's a scene that really hits home about how important TV(these days the internet) has become to ppl!
and yes ill venture to say that theres a whole lot of ppl who arent interested in justice they just want someone to pay...I still say she had something to do with Caylees death but we will never know what and I will admit that I was and am still angry about the case...at the very least she should had been found guilty on the child neglect that's what I'm most angry about now
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ohwell94
3:09 AM
+Truther Chick yup that's what's being said...a bold assumption I think
I'm not her biggest fan but I'm not going to start accusing,name calling and throwing around threats of bodily harm to a faceless alias...that's pretty dumb
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+Truther Chick Nice post, Truther. I think we're of the same mind on all this.

Truther Chick
3:17 AM
+ohwell94 Yes, I have seen the movie Network. Very good movie! I love Faye Dunaway. She played a very convincing Joan Crawford in the movie "Mommy Dearest" too.

ohwell94
3:19 AM
+Truther Chick :)

Truther Chick
3:38 AM
+ohwell94 Oh and I totally understand being upset at a person who I believe is guilty of a crime, being acquitted. But I think it's unfair to fault a jury or defense attorney for just doing their jobs (I'm not implying that's what you are doing btw). The burden of proof is on the prosecution, and they have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and do it "playing by the rules". Sometimes it's not always the prosecution's fault though. The detectives can screw things up before it even gets to court, as I believe this to be the case in the OJ trial. I highly doubt that any of the detectives "planted" any evidence in the Simpson case (actually, they gave OJ special treatment), but given the LAPD's long time reputation for corruption and brutality, especially towards people of color, I understand why that jury was going to vote the way they did.
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ohwell94
3:49 AM
+Truther Chick oh yeah I agree the OJ case was a screw up from the word go from the cops the lab technicians the prosecution ....now again I believe 100% he's guilty but the jury was instructed to weigh the evidence only presented in court and that was it...they had no choice but to vote not guilty!
here however its different...JB got up in court and admitted that Casey knew Caylee was dead knew cause she was found in the pool and did nothing about it...she was reviewed by 2 psychiatrists that stated she didn't suffer from any mental illness and was competent so she actually admitted she was guilty of neglect but the jury still aquited her of that charge smh!
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ohwell94
3:52 AM
 
Reply
+Truther Chick they couldn't prove George was part of this that he found the body that he disposed of the body but Casey did admit she was there and did zip...and her being the primary caregiver too?

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Nevada’s Brothels: Legalization Serves The Man

by BELLA MANSFIELD, ESQ. on APRIL 22, 2014 · 37 COMMENTS
via Flickr user Craig Walkowicz
One of the many questions OkCupid users can answer to determine compatibility with potential mates is “Should prostitution be legal?” The answer options are:
  1. Yes, absolutely
  2. Yes, only if it were regulated
  3. I don’t think so
  4. ABSOLUTELY NOT (emphasis theirs)
In my four years of using the site, I’ve noticed that those who choose answer “2” frequently add something in the comments about regulations being necessary to protect workers from harm. Somewhat less frequently someone comments that regulations protect the health and general well-being of the public. My sample size is, of course, limited, but that thinking isn’t all that different from members of the general public who support legalization. Legalization, the thinking goes, would protect the public from the perceived health risks associated with prostitution by mandating testing, provide states with tax money (which relies on the false assumption that sex workers don’t currently pay taxes) and would control when and where sex work could be done. And, if prostitution was legal, sex workers would be safer because they would feel more comfortable utilizing the criminal legal system.
What they forget is that we have an example of legal prostitution in the United States: regulated, licensed brothels in the state of Nevada. While legalization provides benefits to the state, the workers are still treated as second-class citizens. Nevada has been home to brothels since the late 1800s, and the first licensed brothel opened there in 1971. Currently, there is no statute explicitly stating that prostitution is legal, but under state law, counties in Nevada with populations under 400,000 can allow brothels. These brothels are the only places in the United States where one can engage in legal prostitution, and the people doing this work are governed by three different sets of regulations: state laws, county laws and brothel rules.1 While the state laws are easy to access and review, county laws are less so, and brothel rules are not available to the public. The small size of the counties and towns that the brothels are in means that rules frequently change depending on the mood of the sheriff. This form of legalization is a combination of modern business law and Wild West attitudes.
Nevada state laws are the framework under which the counties containing brothels operate. They dictate where brothels (or “houses of ill fame” as the law describes them) can be located, the steps counties must follow in order to have legal brothels, advertising restrictions, and health regulations. They not only establish behavioral and structural regulations, but also include statutes requiring workers to be tested weekly for gonorrhea and chlamydia (through a cervical sample) and monthly for HIV and syphilis (through a blood test). A positive test result for any of these mean that the worker must quit working in a legal brothel. If a worker tests positive for HIV and continues working, they can be charged with a class B felony, and if the brothel owner knows of their test results they are liable if anyone contracts HIV from that worker. While it can vary by county, the fees for the tests are usually paid for by the worker. Condoms are mandatory for oral sex and intercourse. In order to further protect the health of clients, some counties place restrictions on how long a worker can be gone from a brothel before she has to be re-tested or require a chaperone if a worker goes out at night, lest she work independently and choose to not use a condom.
There are also strict laws regarding pandering beyond the typical “pimping” statutes that might come to mind. Living off the proceeds of prostitution is pandering, so workers’ spouses and partners better have their own employment! Providing transportation so that someone can engage in prostitution is also illegal. The transportation statute essentially prohibits anyone from providing a worker with a ride to work, as it finds that anyone transporting a worker with the intent to encourage them in engaging in prostitution is guilty of pandering. This is an interesting contrast to the policies that some brothels have of giving a fee to cab drivers who bring clients to their establishments or providing free limo service to clients coming from Las Vegas. While workers either have to drive themselves to work or find a ride with someone who doesn’t know what they do, clients can arrive in business-sponsored cars. Few things show intent to encourage someone to hire a prostitute more than sending a complimentary limo to whisk them away to a brothel.
State law also restricts advertising for both legal brothels and illegal prostitution. Brothels can only advertise in the counties where prostitution is legal. It’s also illegal to prepare or print an advertisement for illegal prostitution, which means that graphic designers, handbill printers and producers of small newsprint ad catalogs are now included in the category of people who are affected by the prohibition of sex work. The penalty for illegal advertising can include jail time and fees.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Kathleen Zellner is My New Favorite Person

When Kathleen Zellner was little she had a friend across the street who kept a pet duck. Toothbrush was a peaceful soul who liked to eat wasps and paddle around a backyard kiddie pool in their neighborhood in small-town Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in the late 1950s. Zellner was definitely not a peaceful soul—she ordered martial arts guides out of comic books, then hid them behind the covers off her doll books so she could study judo and jujitsu moves without her mother noticing. Zellner regularly put those punches and kicks to practical use. One day, a mean teenage boy grabbed Toothbrush and threw him to hunting dogs penned in a neighbor’s yard. Zellner, about 8 at the time, was furious. “Kathleen was so mad she went over and beat him up. She was fierce,” says her brother, John Hall Thomas, a defense attorney in New Orleans, who remembers the boy’s nose bleeding as an adult pulled his sister off the boy. “Nobody messed with Kathleen after that, I’m telling you.”
Zellner says that same feeling of righteous protection still motivates her: “What drives me is the abuse of power—the bullying and the victim. I have such a strong reaction when I see people who can’t defend themselves.”
The wiry girl who meted out street justice over a dead duck grew up to become a defense attorney who has secured the exoneration of 17 men and won almost $90 million from wrongful conviction and medical malpractice lawsuits. Zellner has also dropped a headless lamb into a creek to investigate the rape and murder of a child, coaxed 21 confessions from a serial killer and seen it reported that Jessica Biel would play her in a movie. An attorney said facing her at trial was “worse than my divorce.”
The bullies Zellner will face next, she says, are the Wisconsin police and prosecutors who locked up Steve Avery, who became a national phenomenon with the December release of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer. The doc, which led a lot of viewers to believe Avery was framed, opens with his wrongful conviction and then 18 years in prison for a 1985 rape in Manitowoc County; it then digs deep into his arrest and conviction for the 2005 murder in the same county of Teresa Halbach, a photographer killed after driving to the Avery family’s auto salvage yard on Halloween to take a picture of a van for Auto Tradermagazine. Avery’s low-IQ nephew Brendan Dassey, 16 at the time, confessed he helped his uncle rape and kill Halbach in what is either the reluctant admission of a horrific crime or an example of persistent detectives leading and prodding a dimwitted teen to agree with the story they want. Dassey was found guilty in a separate trial. Zellner watched the series in her 3,000-square-foot home theater, where she does jury prep and screens her favorite Coen brothers movies. “When I watched the Avery case, I felt that the attitude toward him by the prosecutors and the state was that he was disposable. It was almost like a class thing. [His family] didn’t matter, they had no power,” Zellner says. “The longer I watched it, the more angry I got.”

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Learning from others' Mistakes & Successes


Watching the new hit TV show American Crime Story; The People Vs. O.J. Simpson has brought back a lot of memories. It also got me wondering how all of the lawyers involved in the case look back on that time in hindsight. I think there are definitely some lessons to be learned from how both the criminal and civil cases were handled from both sides.
I came across a well written article comparing the opening statements from both the criminal and civil case that I want to share. Elliott Wilcox publishes Trial Tips Newsletter. Sign up today for your free subscription and a copy of his special reports: “How to Successfully Make & Meet Objections” and“The Ten Critical Mistakes Trial Lawyers Make (and how to avoid them)” at www.TrialTheater.com.

Opening Statement Trial Advocacy Articles

Punch Your Jurors in the
Mouth During Opening Statement

by Elliott Wilcox
For trial lawyers, the first 30 seconds of your opening statement may be the most important time during your entire jury trial, because the is the time when the jurors are most willing to listen to you.  Unfortunately, this may be the only time that you'll have the jury's complete and undivided attention.  If you squander the first 30 seconds of your opening statement, you're wasting the most valuable time in your entire jury trial.  In this trial advocacy article, you'll learn some valuable tips for getting the most out of your opening statement and how to make your opening more persuasive.

Whether you like it or not, jurors will judge you based upon their first impressions.  Your first impression determines whether the jurors will listen to you, how much they’ll like you, and whether or not they’ll find you credible.  A bad first impression isn’t necessarily set in stone, but it will take a tremendous amount of effort to overcome their initial “gut reactions,” so that means a negative first impression can taint every other interaction you’ll have with jurors.
So, if first impressions are so important, why do so many attorneys present such lousy first impressions during opening statement?!?  Think about the last 10 opening statements you heard.  Out of those openings, how many times did you hear the lawyer take advantage of the power of “primacy” to create a powerful first impression?  Probably not many, right?  In most cases, attorneys completelywaste the first moments of their opening statements.