Litigators fear sympathetic victim testimony more than any legal argument

Evidence

Nesson’s plan incorporated Facher’s greatest fear. Ever since hearing Richard Aufiero tell the story of his son’s death, more than a year ago now, Facher had been vowing—to himself and even once aloud to Schlichtmann—that no jury would ever hear the families’ stories. He had tried several times to make good on this vow. He had offered Schlichtmann a million dollars to drop Beatrice from the case; he’d gotten the judge to take Schlichtmann out to the Woodshed; and then he’d tried to postpone the trial in the hopes that a long postponement would leave Schlichtmann too much in debt to proceed. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1665

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ‘complaints about immodesty’ thread on social-control repertoire — here the repertoire is procedural, not moral: buy off, discipline via the judge, and financially starve the opponent. — connects to: Jury verdicts turn on sympathy for the accused more than case facts — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 886; Sympathetic testimony can win a case regardless of legal merit. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 761; Lawyers strike mothers from juries fearing emotion over evidence — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 1631 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Jurors decide cases based on personal sympathy rather than facts #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1451