Thank you for your service today, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, on this very important case.
You Mr. prosecutor didn’t face a threat that night. Your honor you didn’t face a threat that night, and the 12 of you didn’t face a threat that night. Only one person did. And that is my client Johnny. He did what he thought he did had to be done to save his friend Mr. Curtis. None of us had to make the split second decision that he did. And yet, we are all asked to second guess him today. People have to make split second decisions in exercising self-defense. Sometimes people in hindsight should have, or could have, handled the matter differently. But hindsight isn’t the measure we use when deciding a person's future. Rather we analyze what happened from the perspective of how things looked at the time to my client. …show more content…
Self-defense is not just the stuff of law books. Self-defense is a defense that nature herself recognizes, a recognition really that any living creature is going to act, or react a certain way when faced with a threat or witnessing a threat.
My client faces a serious offense. He is charged with voluntary manslaughter. . His life is on the line. You think the police would have done a more thorough job in the investigation. You really would. You would think my client would be entitled to a fair investigation before people would pass judgment on him because he is a juvenile delinquent. The police should have tried to find independent witnesses who were at the park that night. They did not. Instead the police relied on the word of the victims friends. And you know the kind of people they are. Is that the type of scant proof that can send a man to jail? Doesn’t my client deserve better? Don’t we all? Hold the state to its burden. A conviction in this case would be a travesty. Do the right
You Mr. prosecutor didn’t face a threat that night. Your honor you didn’t face a threat that night, and the 12 of you didn’t face a threat that night. Only one person did. And that is my client Johnny. He did what he thought he did had to be done to save his friend Mr. Curtis. None of us had to make the split second decision that he did. And yet, we are all asked to second guess him today. People have to make split second decisions in exercising self-defense. Sometimes people in hindsight should have, or could have, handled the matter differently. But hindsight isn’t the measure we use when deciding a person's future. Rather we analyze what happened from the perspective of how things looked at the time to my client. …show more content…
Self-defense is not just the stuff of law books. Self-defense is a defense that nature herself recognizes, a recognition really that any living creature is going to act, or react a certain way when faced with a threat or witnessing a threat.
My client faces a serious offense. He is charged with voluntary manslaughter. . His life is on the line. You think the police would have done a more thorough job in the investigation. You really would. You would think my client would be entitled to a fair investigation before people would pass judgment on him because he is a juvenile delinquent. The police should have tried to find independent witnesses who were at the park that night. They did not. Instead the police relied on the word of the victims friends. And you know the kind of people they are. Is that the type of scant proof that can send a man to jail? Doesn’t my client deserve better? Don’t we all? Hold the state to its burden. A conviction in this case would be a travesty. Do the right