Going to Trial God Forbid Artifacts Trial Notebooks

Going to Trial, God Forbid! Artifacts, Trial Notebooks and Witness Prep Kirsty Davis kirsty@gracelaw. org April 2011

Master. Memos • What is a Master. Memo? • A Master. Memo is a memo that combines all the interviews conducted of one witness into one document and organizes by topic. • At the end of the Master. Memo you note all the things to be cautious of – contradictions, witness is crazy, etc… • Purpose is to have all the info a witness could testify to in one document.

Witness Directs • Once you create Master. Memos and decide to who to use as witness , create Directs for each witness. • This is basically a role play scenario of how testimony could play out. • Then the attorney can use this document when preparing the witness for testifying. • Make any edits – remove questions that don’t want, change answers etc… • NEVER show the witness this document – this could lead to it being discoverable, as something used to refresh the witnesses memory.

Trial Notebooks • Binders on almost EVERYTHING. – Defense Lay Witnesses. – Experts – Defense & State. – State Witnesses. – Relevant Records. • How many binders? – As many as you need! We can have as many as a couple of dozen binders if we go to trial.

Defense Lay Witnesses • So what do you put in your binder? • For every witness: – Interviews – Memos or Master. Memos. – Copy of the Direct. – Relevant records to them – school records, criminal/civil history records, medical records, psychiatric records, etc…

Experts – Defense & State • So what do you put in your binder? • For every expert: – Resume/CV – Articles they have published – Media – Prior testimony in this case – Prior testimony in other cases – Any reports

State Witnesses • So what do you put in your binder? • For every potential state witness: – We cover everyone subpoenaed. On first day of trial gave witness list, considerably smaller so changed binders. – Interviews – Memos or Master. Memos. – Relevant records to them – school records, criminal/civil history records, medical records, psychiatric records, etc… – Prior testimony. – If witness is a police officer – include any police report they are mentioned in as well as their personnel files.

Relevant Records • So what do you put in your binder? • Every record relevant to the client’s and the case: – Statements to law enforcement. – School records. – Medical records. – Autopsy report. – Crime scene photos/diagrams.

Artifacts • Artifacts of a life: Photos, ribbons, art, yearbooks, certificates, trophies, etc. • Demonstrative Evidence – Current photos of the client's ram shackled home, neighborhood, school, community, etc. ; Videos; family trees • Need to figure out in witness prep who can identify and exhibit the artifact.

Witness Prep