As we've been working our way through the narrative of this case, we have touched upon

the fact that the best trial attorneys are at their core storytellers. Granted, they

are storytellers that have a firm grasp on the rules of evidence, which gives them the

ability to know what they can and cannot say during a trial, especially in a jury trial.

But know this, it's not a free for all in the courtroom, and nearly every fictionalized

court-related TV show and movie that you see is a gross misrepresentation of what actually

goes on and is allowable within the courtroom itself. You see, the entertainment industry

concerns itself mostly with high drama for effect when drafting a script. Now I'm sure

that many of your favorite shows use an attorney consultant that tells the writers what actually

can happen in a courtroom and what can't. The writers then give the lawyers a hearty

handshake or a pat on the back and then proceed to ignore nearly everything that they

were just told, and they write their script the way they see fit, the way that they believe

will create the most dramatic effect. They call it creative license. The odd thing is that

real trials often constitute the most dramatic events of the participant's lives, and this

fact cannot be duplicated. It can be imitated, but it will always lack the one thing that makes

a trial one of the most nerve-wracking and dramatic experiences for everyone involved

in our society. And that thing is consequences. Now I cannot impress upon you enough, the

amount of pressure that is felt by the attorneys that are fighting in that courtroom, whether

they are fighting up behalf of the victims and their families to try and bring them justice,

or they are fighting to defend their client, who claims that they are innocent. The

pressure is felt by the victims' families who sit in the courtroom, helpless, left only

to observe as they watch people they don't really know, advocating a behalf of their loved

...