We talk about a criminal trial as if it was a single event, but of course that's not entirely true.

A trial is made up of multiple parts, starting with jury selection and going all the way to the delivery of a verdict.

Not all of those stages of a trial always get attention, but each of them can be tremendously important.

In fact, some attorneys claim that a trial can be one or

lost in the jury selection process, and that, of course, happens before any case is made to that jury.

And in other instances, emotion in limine can change everything for a case, while emotion to suppress

can get an entire case thrown out.

But if you're not an attorney, it can get confusing trying to understand these various stages of a trial,

and exactly why each is a crucial part of the process.

That's why we have decided to launch a brand new occasional series we are calling Anatomy of a trial. In each segment, we will

talk to an experienced trial lawyer who will go in depth with us about a particular piece of a trial.

Our expert today is Alexander Silvert. You heard him speak on an earlier episode we did about a scandal

that toppled the police chief of Honolulu as well as the top

prosecutor from that city. He is the author of the mailbox conspiracy, which details that case,

and the crucial part he played in it. Check out that book. We will include a link to it in our

show notes. Alexander also has years of trial experience as a federal public defender.

We will be speaking with him about two topics that are somewhat linked, motions in limine and motions to suppress.

We're going to learn what's the difference between these two types of motions.

What sorts of issues can you file these

motions regarding? And how can motions that might be doomed to fail still help attorneys in a trial?

My name is Anya Kane. I'm a journalist. And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney.

And this is The Murder Sheet. We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases.

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