Change Pop culture, Change the Courtroom

After a trial I lost, I remembered swiping the mahogany table with my finger, and wondering how could I change this invisible undercurrent I was fighting against? The one that turns reasonable doubt into an impossible standard to meet, especially if my victim wasn’t “perfect.” News flash: most victims are purposely selected as low hanging fruit. But don’t let me digress. There’s a scene in the movie City of Angels where Meg Ryan looks up at Nicholas Cage and says something like, “he’s not going anywhere” as she pumps the dying patient’s heart in her hands. That’s how prosecutors feel or at least I did.

A voice inside my head said, “Someone has to change pop culture.” I blew off the thought at the time, but it never left. In fact, that message became louder every time I stepped foot in the courtroom. For example, prosecutors deal with what’s called the “CSI effect.” We have to ask questions in jury selection to manage juror expectations that the government won’t have fancy schmancy forensic evidence. Sometimes, there’s no physical evidence at all. I mean, duh, if you were going to commit a crime wouldn't you want to pick someone weaker than you, less believable, under the influence, etc.? Pick a woman with a skanky skirt who knows how to flirt and boom, you've got a perfect candidate for a sexual assault. That's how defense attorneys think. What would you think if you were in deliberations? You'd be battling that stigma too, although maybe no one would say it out loud.

While I don’t necessarily lean towards prosecution as much anymore, I hope you can read my books and gain some insight into what the inside baseball (is that the right metaphor?) of a courtroom looks like. Don’t ever doubt that a jury trial is absolutely a battle for life and death. For everyone, not just the parties. If we want to see lasting change, we need to pay more attention to what goes on there.