模拟法庭

Discussion 1
Ron：（男律师，Tom）
If we can prove that she was killed on the island, then dragged to the beach and dumped in the water, will and Robert aren't the only murder suspects. Everyone on the island is a murder suspect, too. "She was killed on the island by someone else."
That's our story.
Look at whether there are people with criminal records who live on the island. Focus on those closest to the restaurant where our group had dinner
They're prime suspects.
讨论 2
Discussion 2
男律师：Kyle brown. Convicted murderer. Killed a woman 20 years ago. And dumped her body off of a ravine.
Tom: He lives on the island?
男律师：Yes. Since being paroled a year ago, works nights on the cleaning crew in a hotel near the restaurant where our group ate.
Ron: I love it. This guy’s a great murder suspect. We’re going to defend this with an empty chair.
Tom: we gonna blame this on someone who isn’t even in court, someone the police ever committed him?
Ron: why not? We’ll say Kyle brown killed Amanda. We’re going to say the police rushed to judgment because there were three people on the boat. They never even looked for anyone else.
Tom: Kyle brown does not gonna like being called a murderer.
Ron: Then he should stop killing people. Subpoena him. Let’s give him the chance to defend himself.
Tom: He's got a warrant on him now, Ron. You subpoena him, he’s gonna run.
Ron: We can only hope so. In the meantime, see this? It’s a motion to sequester the jury. I’m going to ask Reyes if he'll join me in filing it.
Tom: wait. You’re moving to sequester the jury? If that happens, the jury can't watch the news, read the papers or anything.
Ron: relax. 法官 will never grant my motion. The point is getting Reyes to oppose it.
Outside the court
D.A.: That's fine. Let’s talk this evening. Ron, not now. I’m busy. I don't care.
Ron: The sequestering motion is important to our case. The media reporting is killing us. It’s a matter of fairness.
D.A.: Forget it. I’m not gonna be responsible for sequestering 12 jurors to an economy
motel for two weeks with no TV and no family.
Ron: If we don't file it together, the jury will hate my clients for it.
D.A.: Yeah, I know. That’s my point. Go file your motion. I’m opposing it.
第一场
检方的第一名证人
Prosecution’s first witness
D.A：What did Amanda Bechtel's autopsy photos show?
第一证人：That she was severely beaten. The force and number of blows suggested her murder was committed in the heat of the moment that somebody was very angry.
D.A: She and her husband fought at the restaurant of the island.
第一证人：Yeah. Witnesses said it was bad. Will Bechtel and his wife were drinking.
He told her he was sick of how much of his money she was spending.
That's when she threw her wine in his face and left. Even the fact that Amanda
Bechtel was washed died to the beach two days later; we believe Will Bechtel
killed his wife in a drunken rage while they were at sea, and that his friends
Robert Jones also participated in the crime, and helped cover it up. D.A： Covered it up how?
第一证人：By lying. They didn't report Amanda Bechtel missing until they docked in L.A.the radio wasn't working on the boat. We tested the radio. It was working
fine.
D.A： Thank you. No further questions, your honor.
Tom: First of all, just to be absolutely clear, you don't have any real evidence that either one of these men killed Amanda Bechtel.
第一证人：I just give the evidence.
Tom: Well, that's not evidence. That's a theory. You don't have any evidence that Amanda Bechtel even boarded the yacht after leaving the restaurant, do you?
I mean, no one actually saw her get on the boat, right?
第一证人：no.
Tom: let me ask you about Kyle Brown. What did he say when you questioned him about Amanda Bechtel?
D.A： Objection，relevance.
Tom：I'm getting there. This is a cross-examination. My clients have the right to confront this witness about what he did or didn't do during the
investigation of this case.
法官: Objection overruled.
第一证人： I don't know a Kyle Brown.
Tom：You don't know Kyle Brown? The one convicted of bludgeoning a woman to death and dumping her body in a ravine? Kyle Brown, who lives on the island, you
never questioned him? .
第一证人： No, I didn't.
Tom：And you didn't know, up until this moment, and he works until night at the hotel that Amanda had to walk by on her way back to the yacht from the
restaurant?
第一证人： No.
Tom: Or that he had outstanding warrants for his arrest? I mean, he wasn't that hard to find. Our investigators found him, served him with a subpoena. He's
a convicted murderer. And yet, our clients are on trial for murder. Your
honor, our next witness is Kyle Brown.
But at this time, we would like to address the court outside the presence
of the jury.
法官: Very well.
第二场
D.A：This was a stunt.
Ron：Then why didn't you object?
D.A：Because you didn't put anything on the record, that's why. Everything was done
with hand signs and looks.
Ron：Your honor, we've got proof of service. We subpoenaed Kyle Brown.
D.A：You can't put a witness on the stand to claim the Fifth Amendment privilege it's
too prejudicial. The jury will think he committed this murder.
Ron：We're not putting Kyle Brown on the stand to take the fifth. We're not putting him on at all. That was what Mr. Nixon is trying to tell the court.Apparently, Kyle Brown fled the jurisdiction.
D.A：Your honor, they issued the subpoena knowing it would cause brown to flee.
Ron：What are we, fortune tellers? How would we know that? I had a good faith belief he would show. The law compelled him to.
D.A：And when we're done here, Mr. Rrott is gonna go out there and announce to the press
that Kyle Brown fled. He knows the jury will see it on tonight's news.
Ron：I resent the suggestion that I've engaged in gamesmanship. <i>i</i> was the one who requested that the jury be sequestered to start with. The prosecution opposed our motion.
How dare he accuse me of manipulation?
法官: Mr. Reyes, you may redirect your witness if you like.
第三场
反方重新诘问
Prosecution’s re-direct
D.A： Mr. Nicholson suggested that you mishandled the investigation. When did you
close the investigation?
第一证人：When Will Bechtel told us he believed Robert Jones had murdered his wife on the boat.
Tom: Objection，your honor.
D.A： What? I have a good faith belief that Mr. Trott and Mr. Nicholson opened the
door to this questioning when they suggested in court that detective luhan
had mishandled the investigation.
Tom: This is an improper line of questioning concerning things that may have been said during plea negotiations.
法官: Mr. Reyes.
D.A： I'll withdraw the question, your honor.
辩护策略
Defense strategy
男律师： The medical examiner determined that this bruising running along Amanda’s back was caused by blunt-force trauma--a beating.
Ron: Is there any way she could have fallen. And hit her back as she was going into the water?
男律师： I don't think so. The bruising pattern suggests she was beaten badly. But there's no evidence of foul play on the boat--no blood, no signs of struggle.
Ron: I love it. The D.A. has nothing.
男律师： the D.A.'s got two things going for him, Ron--the fight between will and Amanda at the restaurant, and the fact that will is rich. Juries hate rich people.
Ron: so? We’ve got two things going for us--no forensic evidence linking Amanda’s death to the boat.
男律师： what's the other thing we've got?
Ron: sharks.
男律师： sharks?
Ron: sharks.
男律师： sharks didn't kill her, Ron.
Ron: Yeah, but they ate half of her. We need someone to testify about sharks.
男律师： I don't see the relevance.
Ron: neither do I right now. Find a way to make it relevant.
男律师： why?
Ron: because people love sharks. So let's give the jury what they want—a good shark demonstration.
男律师： even if it's irrelevant?
Ron: a good trial lawyer can make anything relevant.
男律师： fine. I’ll call a top-notch criminalist.
第四场
法庭演示
In court demonstration
男律师：What do these photographs show?
演示者：The shark bite patterns indicate that the victim was killed on land and dumped near a shoreline. These first bites on the body were made by horn sharks. You
only find those sharks in shallow water.
男律师：Amanda Bechtel was last seen on the southwest part of Catalina. Can you explain how, if she was dumped and killed in that area, her body washed up miles away
on the southeast part of the island?
演示者： Yes. I believe tidal currents carried her body from one part of the island to the other. After she was dumped near the shore, a riptide could have carried
her out to sea, where tidal current most likely picked her up and deposited
her on the beach where she was found.
男律师: The prosecution is arguing that Amanda Bechtel was killed on a boat while out in the ocean. So we're clear, as an expert criminalist, you don't agree with
that?
演示者： No, I don't. It's not supported by the evidence. I believe that Amanda Bechtel was killed on the island.
男律师: Thank you. No further questions.
D.A： Sharks. Awesome. I just have one question. Even if Amanda Bechtel was killed
on the island, that doesn't clear these two defendants of the crime, does it?
I mean, they were on the island, too. No further questions, your honor.
法官: all right. Court is in recess.
第五场
被告证词
Verdict
Defendant’s testimony
Well: I didn't radio right away because I was still angry over what had happened in the restaurant. I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. What if
I'd radioed? Maybe she might still be with me.
Tom: Did you kill her?
Well: No. No, I didn't.
Tom: No further questions.
D.A： You're a liar.
Well： A liar? Yes. I am. I lied to the police about the radio not working because I was ashamed of what I did. And I also lied about who may involve in my wife's murder. I blamed my best friend because I was scared. I failed him, and I failed my wife. But I didn't kill her... and neither did Robert.
第六场
裁决
法官: "on the single count of murder "in the first degree, "as to defendant Robert Jones, we the jury find the defendant not guilty."
"On the single count of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the
defendant not guilty."。