Notes on going to trial

Why Trump's attorneys should be afraid

If you want to know what causes a jury to find someone guilty in a criminal trial, just ask them.

“The defendant looked angry”

“The defendant looked guilty when critical evidence was introduced (or when an important witness testified)”

“I did not like the the defendant’s facial expression (or body language)”

No matter how upset you might have been after the O.J. Simpson verdict or the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict or the Casey Anthony split verdict (she was acquitted of murder and related charges but found guilty of making false statements), you really can’t appreciate that those verdicts to came about, in a significant way, with their attorneys telling them how to behave in court. How to sit, where their hands should be, and most importantly the proper game face for trial.

Dr. Phil, before becoming an annoying talk show guy, was a trial consultant. And why much of his work was about picking the right jury members, the counter-intuitive to that was he made defendants, civil or criminal, likeable. While not every defendant can afford a Dr. Phil; most criminal defense lawyers advise their clients to not draw negative attention to themselves with weird facial expressions, vocal outbursts, or bad body language.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Enter Donald Trump.

Most people go to attorneys to get legal advice or counsel — Donald Trump uses lawyers like caporegimes to carry out his orders. He tells his lawyers what to do and now, having lost the delay game and the dismissal gambits (he’ll try a few more), his tactics at trial will be to step across the Mason-Dixon line of contemptible conduct.

Unfortunately for Donald Trump, Judge Juan Merchan has made it clear that none of it will work.

Beginning a week from Monday, Donald Trump will sit with his attorneys 4 days a week (he’s getting Wednesday off to golf or fundraise or simple to try new ways to avoid a verdict) at a criminal trial that is expected to last 6-8 weeks.

Do yourself a favor, sit in a standard wooden chair or a captains chair. Pull it about a foot from your kitchen table. Now sit still for 2 hours. Don’t cross arms across your chest and don’t fiddle with your hands. Keep your head cocked at an angle to your body as if you are listening intently to someone talk, but show no expression outside of “I am listening to something important.” Now, take a 40 minutes break and do another 2 hours. Now take a 10 minutes break and do another 2 hours.

The above is the reality for the criminally accused at trial…trying to seem engaged but non-emotional lest it lead to an extended stay at the Graybar Motel.

Oh wait, I forgot to include an important part of your sitting in the chair at the kitchen table carefully watching your body language and facial demeanor…you don’t get to decide when to take a break, get lunch, or whatever. Someone else does and that person will accommodate you only to a point.¹ If they think you’re just trying to waste time or pull a fast one (like go complain about having to sit in the chair for hours and days on end), they will order you to sit down.

That’s what Donald Trump faces about 7 hours a day every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday until likely the end of May 2024.

Donald Trump barely made it through a day of testimony before Judge Arthur Engoron, before he stormed out and held an impromptu press conference. And that case, a civil business fraud matter, had no jury.

The Manhattan hush money case does and faces like these will lead to a guilty verdict

Yeah, his lawyers should be real worried.

1. The only people who get accommadated at trial are the jury members.