Martha Stewart v. Michael Jackson: Fearless and Fruitless Opening Statements!

Dave Sugden of ‪@evidenceattrial‬ explains how master trial lawyers deliver persuasive opening statements. By examining the opening statements from the Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart trials, you'll see examples of effective (and ineffective) opening statements.
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[@salikmohammad9779]

Excellent analysis of different approaches adopted by different lawyers in opening statements; and with conclusion what is the right approach. Regards

[@evidenceattrial]

Thank you!

[@stephenbyfield4870]

It's not exactly fair to compare openings of defense attorneys when they have different cases/facts/evidence.
If you as a defense attorney start making promises to prove something, you better back it up and prove it. If you don't, then you come off as a liar or a shyster, and that opening that might have sounded great to start will now come back to haunt the defense attorney at the end of the trial if they didn't follow through with their claims to prove something.
Thus, It's a lot easier for a defense attorney to say they are going to prove something in their opening when they actually have evidence to prove something or contradict or disprove some of the States evidence and or entire case. But if the States case is pretty solid and defense has nothing to work with, then the defense attorney isn't going to make all these bold claims that might sound great in a opening but that the defense attorney can't actually prove.