My truth is no better than your truth

Scott’s post today about the “loser truth” reminded me of some wise words I heard last week, which I figure I’d share. We must always remember that our truth is not the same as our client’s truth, which may or may not be the same as the jury’s truth.

We are all a product of our experiences (yes, I know there’s a raging debate) and those experiences shape our perspective of the events around us. My experiences are different than yours and, let’s be honest, those of the majority of our clients.

It is incumbent upon us to investigate the truth according to the client, no matter how foreign it seems. Dismissing outright the client’s version of the truth leads only distrust. If we investigate and find that there is nothing to corroborate the client’s version, then we can lay that out in front of the client and say: “Look, we investigated what you told us and this is why it’s complete bullshit.” At that point, one of two things might happen. The client might relent (in part, I suspect, because he will start to trust you) or he might stick to his story, in which case, a competency eval might become an option.

Or what might happen is that some pieces of the client’s story start to fall in place. Just because your experience tells you that something isn’t possible, doesn’t mean it isn’t.

The same thing with juries. More often than not, your jury will not be packed with people that have had the same experiences as your client. They will not relate and will not understand. In their world, things such as the client’s version just don’t happen. That is where we come in. As Samuel L. Jackson’s character says to Matthew McConaughey’s, prior to closing argument, in “A Time to Kill“:

Jake Tyler Brigance: It’s not me, we’re not the same, Carl Lee. The jury has to identify with the defendant. They see you, they see a yardworker; they see me, they see an attorney. I live in town, you live in the hill.
Carl Lee Hailey: Well, you are white and I’m black. See Jake, you think just like them, that’s why I picked you; you are one of them , don’t you see?. Oh, you think you ain’t because you eat in Claude’s and you are out there trying to get me off on TV talking about black and white, but the fact is you are just like all the rest of them. When you look at me, you don’t see a man, you see a black man.
Jake Tyler Brigance: Carl Lee, I’m your friend.
Carl Lee Hailey: We ain’t no friends, Jake. We are on different sides of the line, I ain’t never seen you in my part of town. I bet you don’t even know where I live. Our daughters, Jake; they ain’t never gonna play together.
Jake Tyler Brigance: What are you talking about?
Carl Lee Hailey: America is a wall and you are on the other side. How’s a black man ever going to get a fair trial with the enemy on the bench and in the jury box?. My life in white hands? You Jake, that’s how. You are my secret weapon because you are one of the bad guys. You don’t mean to be but you are. It’s how you was raised. Nigger, negro, black, African-american, no matter how you see me, you see me different, you see me like that jury sees me, you are them. Now throw out your points of law Jake. If you was on that jury, what would it take to convince you to set me free? That’s how you save my ass. That’s how you save us both.

And that’s just it. What is it about the client’s story that would convince you that he was telling the truth? That’s how you convince the jury.