The Lady In The Lake

In the opinion of Wah,  here is a case of the Defendant's own Expert Witness providing the "smoking gun" that did him in. 

Young Writers are often implored to "Show, Don't Tell". 

But, a Legendary Public Defender once told me that a Defense Lawyer's mantra should be:  
Tell, Don't Show! 

If the scenario is handed to the Jury on a silver platter, Jurors are no longer personally committed to making it plausible.   The mind can imagine a version of the truth. The eyes don't lie. 

 Once you have set your eyes upon this visualization of the Theory of Defense, would you have any hesitation in rendering the Verdict of Guilty of Murder In The First Degree? 

Once the jurors accepted that Flo had been alive on the pavement for an hour and a half, they say the defense team’s computer animations made no sense. 

David, juror: The animated picture showed that ... hit the ground, rolled over several times—had a seizure, drowned; many things, instantly.  And it just was too hard to believe.

Lucy, juror: Bodies don’t bounce, I don’t care what they say, on cement. 

Pertaining to the Defense of Mark Unger, accused and subsequently convicted. Video Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/dateline/16441697/#16441697

Jodi Arias Jury Cuts To The Chase

In Arizona's Maricopa County-- a place that prides itself on a Rugged Individuality proved in wilder days--  a Judge will often grant the Jury an opportunity to pose questions directly to a Witness.

Today, with accused boyfriend-killer Jodi Arias on the Witness Stand, the Jury wasted no time in getting to the heart of the matter:

Appropriate Reaction: Beating the Rap

One might think the vanishingly rare experience of being acquitted of Murder In The First Degree by a Jury of Esteemed Peers would yield unpredictable and varied immediate reactions, depending on the circumstances and the personalities involved.

Yet, perhaps because of the un-practiced nature of the moment, the response pattern is astonishingly predictable.  Not the leaping for joy, the wide smile, the athlete's triumphant fist pump.

 No, this victory is marked by its own peculiar expression:

(In the examples above,  it might be fair to note a caveat-- this expression may be specific perhaps to the experience of being found innocent for an act one knows one did commit.  But, setting that aside, for now... )

LET US OBSERVE: 

1.  The eyes turn down immediately, the face is turned slightly off-axis with the body. 

2. The brow is drawn in and up, initially, for a fleeting moment, the furrow of  aggression. 

2. The Jaw is clenched, the chin stuck out.  A surge of confidence in this undefended stance. 

3. The lips drawn thin, and pressed together, fighting back a sob. 

4. Moments later the eyeballs rise to face the jury, head is still askance-- The eyes look up from under a brow pulled out and over, like a pitcher looking in at the catcher from under the brim of a cap. This signals a moment of private and intimate communication with the jury. 

5. Next, the brow is relaxed a bit and pinched up at the front. A communication of truce and allegiance to the jury, while the chin remains protruded, pride restored, ego intact. 

Well, these just the observations of a simple Wah. What else this means, and if it holds, is not for Wah to know, but for the experts and the peers.