Sustained investigation can harden rather than erode an advocate’s belief in their case

Evidence

“Cheeseman doesn’t want to believe that this is a legitimate case,” Schlichtmann said after Levin’s deposition. “He wants to believe that I’m a charlatan. But I believe these people have been injured, and the more I find out, the more I believe that. I believe these chemicals can cause harm. I don’t want any of them in my body.” — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1446

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does Schlichtmann’s conviction come from evidence accumulating, or from sunk-cost identification with his own experts? Worth watching across chapters.
• XREF: connects to: Adversarial trials let each side’s attorneys shape evidence presentation to serve their clients. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 790; Effective trial advocacy rests on narrative persuasion rather than legal argument alone — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots: My Fight with Harvard…, 774; Expert witnesses can undermine their credibility through selective memory during trials. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1679 (+22 more)

Broader Connections

• Disconfirming evidence can strengthen rather than weaken committed beliefs. #corroborates (1.00) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97
• Confrontation with contrary evidence can intensify rather than weaken firm belief. #corroborates (1.00) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 97
• Effective trial advocacy rests on narrative persuasion rather than legal argument alone #expands (0.85) — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 774
• Expert witnesses can undermine their credibility through selective memory during trials. #complicates (0.75) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1679
• Selective evidence can mislead juries about the case’s credibility. #complicates (0.75) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 2644
• Oral argument functions as sustained judicial questioning that tests an attorney’s legal position #complicates (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1550
• Deconstruction questions the investigator’s authority without disabling action #complicates (0.70) — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 1738
• Accusations of suppressed evidence provoke fury in the accused rather than contrition #complicates (0.70) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2931
• Plea bargaining persists even when caseload and evidence cannot explain it #complicates (0.70) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1773
• Conflicted investigators rationalize narrow inquiries to avoid harm to themselves #complicates (0.70) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1442
• Contradictory police testimonies in the same case can undermine rather than support a cover-up #complicates (0.70) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1747
• Changed perception during investigation counts as valid evidence, not bias. #complicates (0.70) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 307
• Relaxing evidence rules shifts their burden from protection to exposure depending on one’s position #complicates (0.70) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 4840
• A critic’s argument can be structured as a detective story #complicates (0.70) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 817
• Even committed purveyors of false claims eventually yield to evidence #contradicts (0.70) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 110