When my brother used to talk about transitioning from corporate law into trial work, he would talk about how he loved to tell the story of the case – and that it was the story that you told, within all the rules and guidelines, it was the story that would win the day. The way facts weaved in, and what elements chosen to be left out — the story was not necessarily a representation of “objective truth.” He explained that even video evidence and eyewitnesses are not always reliable, as they are just seeing things from one angle, and eyewitnesses can make errors or memory lapses…. All of the “facts” and evidence are just part of a larger story. And it’s the story that the jury bases their decisions on.
I’ve remembered that over the years, as I love watching legal movies and sometimes follow cases on LawTube and find it fascinating how the trial lawyers have to adjust their stories to account for evidence being ruled out, or portions not allowed. It’s compelling to watch how lawyers have to think on their feet and adjust to the changing tides – and still tell a compelling story..
Growing up, our family of 6 – mom, dad, two girls and then two boys, kids all 3 years apart – Irish Catholic! would watch baseball together in the summers. I knew all the stats on the Yankees and the Red Sox – even the Mets! I knew all the rules of the game. But when football season came, I wasn’t interested – it seemed so brutish, just guys ramming into each other, so it was just my dad and brothers monopolizing the TV and I never watched.
But when I got to high school, boys were talking about football, and we had a football team, and I suddenly had a reason to learn the basics of the game.
With that in mind, I asked my brother one day while they were watching a game if he could give me the overview.
“Sure,” he said, appearing to want to help. “So the goal of the game is to get the football into the other team’s end zone and score a touchdown. You have four chances to do that, and they are called ‘downs.’ When you get to the 50 yard line, you get four more ‘downs’ to get to the end zone.”
Most will see the issue there, but I accepted that explanation and began to watch. Over the course of a few plays, it wasn’t adding up, and I had questions.
“Well, wait a minute, you said there were 4 downs that reset at the 50 yard line – but they are at the 35 yard line and it is saying 1st down?” I queried.
He answered without hesitation. “Well, that’s because the other team was penalized 15 yards, there was a flag on the play….”
There was always an explanation as to why it wasn’t lining up … and I wasn’t watching for more than a few minutes at a time.
Then at Christmas that year, one of the boys got an electronic football game, a little hand held game where the little red blip on the screen – the quarterback – would run down the field – and every 10 yards there was a 1st down!
I began to watch the games on TV more closely and came to the realization that what he had told me was not true.
I confronted him. “John, why did you lie about this? They get a 1st down EVERY 10 yards!”
There was an impish grin on his face when he replied.
“Well, it wasn’t really a lie. YOU BELIEVED IT, so it was kind of true.”
Spoken like a future trial lawyer….?