hi hi I'm Michelle and I'll be representing you tomorrow in court this week on challenge accepted I'm going to see what it's like to be a defense lawyer in a simulated murder trial we're going to in one day teach her what a criminal trial lawyer needs to do in a murder case my first question is how does the law work what we've set up is basically a liveaction courtroom video game we have 12 jurors we have a real Superior Court Judge we have actors playing all of the witnesses and our two players are me and my opposition a seasoned State prosecutor with Decades of experience he was angry and he killed Mr Tucker I'm a state prosecutor in the Pacific Northwest and I'm here to take Michelle down so this is what I say objection it is impossible to quantify the level of adversarialness you don't need that so Ral your honor I'm happy to rephrase wait that's too much okay what happened to being apathetic you're looking at me like I'm the lawyer take me out of this court in the criminal justice system the people are usually represented by real actual lawyers today it's a YouTuber pretending to be one this is her story thank you guys so much for being here today I am so excited to learn everything about the law the only thing that I know about the law is what I have seen in Legally Blonde better call SA and A Few Good Men you want answers I think I'm entitled you want answers I want the truth you can't handle the truth I wait do I get to say that the best trial lawyers have literally Decades of experience before they're heading straight into trial well we have one day we have one day to prepare for a murder trial my name is Devon Stone I am a practicing trial lawyer on YouTube I run the channel legal eagle which is one of the biggest Law related YouTube channels on the internet this is the man that I learned everything from UCLA's head mock trial coach Gonzalo gracious one of my my passions is I have been coaching the mck TR team at UCLA for over 25 years um proud to have five national championships under our belt and we're here to give you a crash course in becoming a tri lawyer the case you're going to see is the case of the State versus Ash Thornhill this is a criminal case based on a real case that students all across the United States competed in 2001 through the American mock trial Association and tomorrow we'll be going against a real district attorney Spencer yes I know he wants to win really badly but I want to win really badly too and so do we we're not we're not in the business of losing trials well why don't we take a look at the evidence and see what we're dealing with so that we can help you defend your client on the night of October 15th 2024 Wendell Tucker was murdered in the admin building of the Cobb County Zoo our client Ash Thornhill he's accused of shooting his boss Wendell Tucker because of a dispute that they had Michelle your job is going to be to defend our client Ash Thornhill so for this trial I am going to play the role of a defense attorney for ash Thornhill who is on trial for the murder of his boss I'm Michelle and I'll be representing you tomorrow in court I'm Ash now for the purpose of this exercise we couldn't actually have Michelle defend a an accused murderer that would be uh malpractice so we're using some professional actors I know that he's an actor playing a character but this whole thing is just insane who are you talking to I need to get as much information as I can so I can make the best case possible okay maybe you can just start by telling me what happened yeah well I'm the the head zookeeper for mammals at the cob County Zoo on the night that wendle Tucker was killed I was uh they're working late my boss Wendell called me into his office we got an argument about the conditions of the animals I decide to leave I I get up to leave and he grabed me I pushed him off he stumbles back a little but he doesn't fall down or anything that was it I went home went to bed and then I found out the next day been uh shot some time after I left but on top of all of that our client actually has a really good Alibi he claims that he was watching a baseball game with his friend/roommate Drew during the time of the murder and you said you guys were watching a baseball game yeah it was Dodgers game I was sat there with him had a beer probably I think I went to bed around 9:30 wait is this like looking good for us well there's some very favorable aspects there's some damaging aspects but I think there's some favorable aspects and that leads us to talking about how are you're going to present this in your opening statement yeah so monologue if you've ever watched a trial on TV here is how it's actually structured opening statements presentation of evidence through Witnesses closing arguments then the jury will deliberate and present a verdict so I've got to start with the opening statement the point of an opening statement is to tell the jury what they're going to hear and see during trial now interestingly psychological Studies have shown that 2third of all jurors make up their minds about the case after hearing the opening statements before they've heard a shred of evidence so the opening is super important okay so I wrote an opening statement based on the movies and TV shows that I've seen because that's all I know about the lot at this point for this opening statement I'm channeling Part El woods part Kim Wexler and part Tom Cruz I'm a really big fan of Tom Cruz and I would love to get a selfie with him one day and so I have a secret mission over the past couple years yall know we have been doing bigger and bigger videos and stunts and this year I have a goal of accomplishing Tom Cruz's deadliest stunts if you want to support us in that mission impossible be sure to subscribe Tom if you're watching hit me up go for it all right ladies and gentlemen of the jury today you are here to consider the fate of Ash Thornhill this is a man who has been a devoted zookeeper for over a decade known for his Relentless passion for Animal Welfare the prosecution is going going to come in and paint a story of escalating tensions between Ash and wendle a disrespect to this man's Legacy and the animals in his care like and the animals in his care like [Music] Selena Judy and Kiku at the end of this trial after hearing the full evidence you will find that there is only one verdict here not guilty and simply a man of Mother Nature thank you I'm trying to win the jury with the cute animal photos oh yeah we'll talk about that that's not allowed if it's going to come into evidence this is the evidence this has to go into evidence for me to yeah everything that you talk about has to come you have to have Ash come on D it yeah you can't look at this and say this man's a murderer right uh okay okay no animal photos got it uh so it was a little all over the place we need to sit down and say okay what are the five things that we have that's our strongest evidence and then let's walk through those five things in the opening so that you can plant the seeds what I'm thinking will potentially be our best Avenue in is to really press on the fact that gch did not do a lengthy or detailed enough investigation Sergeant gerch is the investigating officer and the first police officer to arrive on the scene the night of the murder it's insane to me that fingerprints weren't taken at this that's what I'm saying and I think your point about nobody else was investigated is very strange to me is there any reason why someone other than our client might have had a motive to commit this murder do you remember anything specific specific about your interaction with Mr Tucker oh you know what I did notice is he has this watch that he would always wear big flashy gold Rolex it was right there in my face when he grabbed me and I saw no mention of it in the the case briefing oh a robbery because the watch is gone so it's it's possible that this was just a routine burglary gone wrong so we just have to prove as the defense that they don't have enough evidence to prove that it was that's our guy we don't have to prove that it was someone else we just have to say hey you don't have enough evidence to prove that it's we don't even have to prove that yeah so what are we doing well it's the prosecution that bears the burden of proof they have to prove their case Beyond a reasonable doubt we don't have to prove who did it we just have to prove that there's reasonable doubt that you you did it that you didn't do it we have to create doubt we have to make everyone reasonably doubt I doubt that he did it I doubt that the evidence against Ash is circumstantial incomplete with inconclusive evidence I assure you that the burden of the proof of guilt is not met don't use the word circumstantial cuz that would be okay circumstantial evidence can convict somebody at some point you used another word which I liked much better the evidence is inconclusive at best what's the single strongest piece of evidence that we have Ash's Alibi absolutely that is absolutely I'm just going to try something yeah you know say you know um there's a problem with what we just heard they're pointing the finger at the wrong person and that's what this case is about you see ladies and gentlemen today you're going to hear about this nice guy who was home having a beer and watching a Dodger game with his friend at the exact time of the murder there's a presentational aspect about this in terms of doing certain kinds of delivery and techniques and gestures and movement and voice inflection and all of this has to be put together to have a interesting powerful and persuasive presentation and then there's certain Customs for example whenever you address the judge you have to stand up out of respect on TV we often see gross violations of real life decorum where people are just kind of running around the courtroom and in fact there's a Court rule that when you refer to the judge you always refer to them as your honor not judge even that is a violation of the the decorum and etiquette Beyond learning the scope of the law there are so many details that the lawyer needs to be fantastic at your honor may I your honor your honor uh yes your honor yes your honor may I approach the bench there is the qualitative component about rapport with the jury tone voice body language do you ever put your hands behind your back no you should try to paralyzed arm what's that you paralyze one of your arms and you speak with the other one you Harris does this yeah Hillary Clinton does it too I thought they were just like grabbing their jacket and looking nice doing it you only get a first impression one time and this is my first impression with the jury so it's currently 5:00 p.m. the trial is tomorrow I've just learned how a trial works I wish I had months to prepare I guess that's why there are usually months why challenge accepted you know yeah where you are now compared to where you started in the beginning of the day is night and day already and now I got to stay up as late as I can to really make sure I show up professionally tomorrow and not only say the right things but sound confident doing it too and that's a really unique thing about this profession your job is to represent the client with so much conviction and give them the best chance but you might not actually know the truth Ash did you kill Windle Tucker [Music] all rise in the presence of the flag of the United States emblem of the Constitution and of freedom and justice for all department number 137 of the superior court of the State of California for the county of Cobb is now in session The Honorable Benny Osorio judge presiding please be seated all right good morning everyone good morning welcome to Department 137 we are here in the matter of the State of California versus Ash Thornhill I will ask the attorneys and their client to stand and introduce themselves to you Spencer G for the state my name is Spencer I'm a state prosecutor in the Pacific Northwest and I'm here to take Michelle down I'm going to be relying on my skills as a trial attorney I'm going to be trying to use all the powers and tricks that I know to try and get the jury to go my way I like to win good morning your honor Devin Stone and I along with my co-counsel Michelle K represent Ash Thornhill the defendant in this matter my role during this trial is largely moral support I am there as a resource to teach Michelle some of the tactics and strategies but after that I've got to let this little legal baby bird leave the nest all right members of the jur perod you have now been sworn as jurors in this case I want to impress upon you the seriousness and the importance of serving on a jury so we will now begin with opening statements Council for the state are you ready to proceed yes your honor thank you so my plan for attack for this trial is I am going to be focusing as much as possible on making Ash Thornhill a angry resentful man who had every opportunity and motive to commit this murder love greed anger those are the three most common motives for murder this case is about anger it's about the defendant's anger towards his boss Wendell Tucker he saw the welfare of the animals that he was taken care of as endangered and this set him on a course that lasted frankly months his anger rising and rising and Rising until it finally snapped as I'm hearing Spencer's opening statement I'm realizing oh my God this is about to go down well you're going to hear there was another veterinarian working at the zoo that night she heard arguing arguing between the defendant and Mr Tucker you're going to hear from Dr Monarch about the results of his autopsy you're going to hear that the defendant's DNA was found under Mr Tucker's fingernails you're also going to hear from sergeant gch that the defendant himself had previously owned a 9mm pistol and that it was a 9 mm bullet that killed Mr Tucker he is so good that even I am beginning to think that my own client is guilty and if I'm thinking that the jury is definitely thinking that at the end of this case I am going to urge you that the only reasonable conclusion in this case is that the defendant is guilty thank you thank you Council all right Council for Mr Thornhill are you ready to present your opening statement your honor yes I am when I would work with my students on the opening statement we spent more time crafting the first sentence and we did the entire rest of the opening statement that's how important it is it's got to be a grabber is there is there a zoo pun don't Point don't I mean like kangaroo you yeah I know but boy you don't want to make fun of it you don't want to make light of it cuz it's trag I like the idea you said what about something about like mother nature no okay okay in the wild jungle it's often the softest animal that gets harmed first in this case a dedicated zookeeper who has spent his life life caring for endangered species finds himself in the role of the vulnerable as the first and most convenient suspect you will hear no evidence of a murder weapon you will hear no physical proof tying Mr Thornhill to this crime no fingerprints no gunpowder residue and you will hear no explanation of what happened to the victim's expensive gold Rolex which at the scene of the crime was reported absent from his body these are critical gaps because the prosecution has focused on my client rather than conducting a thorough investigation the truth is on October 15th while a real tragedy unfolded at the Cobb County Zoo my client was home watching the Dodgers lose to the Mets the prosecution has failed to explore all potential suspects or motives despite clear evidence that robbery not anger led to this outcome and like the quietest animal in the jungle he does not deserve to be hunted down for a crime he did not commit thank you all right thank you Miss kry all right at this time we will be taking our recess when we are ready to call you back into the courtroom we will let you know oh my God wait that was crazy I mean how so intense how do you feel about it so far I think spiter scared of us I think he is too I was like shaking underneath the table before I had to go for my opening statement I was like oh my God Spencer doesn't have any notes and his suit is actually tailored do you want to know a secret about my suit I had a safety P it cuz the sleeves were to I got this on Amazon like last week yeah me too oh my God what is this Gucci it's yeah customade now the next part of the trial is what I'm most excited about witness examination and we're talking about a big variety of witnesses from police officers to forensic Pathologists to eyewitnesses but before that we have just a few words from our sponsors are you a victim of bad business software clunky accounting tools or a website that looks like it was made in 1998 well you may be entitled to the sponsor of today's episode Odo Odo is the all-in-one business management software that streamlines your workflow no more juggling dozens of different apps with ODU you can handle accounting inventory sales and build a website all in one place in just a few clicks you can use odu's website builder to create a Sleek professional site it's fast simple and free plus it comes with a custom domain for the entire year still not convinced I'll let my satisfied clients do the talking thanks to ODU my business is thriving and I'm no longer being crushed by the insufferable weight of inefficient business management tools and as a special offer I'm throwing in some exclusive deleted scenes from challenge accepted you can find them on our super secret Odo belt website below so don't wait click the link in the description and try ODU for free for 14 days no credit card no hidden fees only Justice thanks OD for sponsoring this portion of the video and for making episodes like this one [Music] possible all right the uh court is back in session at this time we will now proceed with the first witness yes the state call Sergeant Terry gch this phase of the trial is all about getting evidence in through the witnesses Spencer's job is to call witnesses to the stand that help build his case and effectively make Ash look bad my job is to play defense and do a little bit of damage control so all of the evidence we're bringing in has been approved not necessarily oh um you're going to have to fight to keep some of that out and Spencer May fight you on keeping some of your evidence out so one of the things we're going to be doing is teaching you the basics of the Rules of Evidence so that you can object and know how to respond to an objection this what I say objection yes you got to say objection Spencer may try to get in some pieces of evidence that he wouldn't normally try to get in during trial to try to stack the deck in his favor I would not trust him to play it straight in this trial you saw swear that all the testimony you're about to give before this court is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God I do may be se you sir what is your name uh Sergeant Terry gerch sir how are you employed with the cob County Police Department 16 years and were you employed before you were a police officer I was a Marine Corps for 8 years out of high school okay how'd you get involved in this case Sergeant A call came over on dispatch at 8:55 on October 15th of this year to go to the cob County Zoo where at the zoo did you actually arrive to the main entrance there's a security Hub there where I was met by Miss Brook Hills we went to the admin building to investigate when you got to that office what did you see I saw a man face down on a desk in a pool of blood I I didn't touch anything except to check his pulse and he was indeed deceased there will be occasions where you and Spencer might have to have an objection battle how do I object there's this a collection of objections that are actually very likely to come up and they're all sort of related to each other um one is proper Foundation or lack of foundation the other is speculation and the other's improper opinion okay witnesses can only testify to things they saw with their own eyes or heard with their own ears yeah unless you have an expert yeah like for example if I was to testify Maddie is now at Starbucks by buying coffee for us did I OB lack of foundation okay CU am I there do I see Maddie doing that I haven't seen that with my own eyes so I can't I can't talk about that Maddie said she was going to Starbucks that's heay so basically my understanding of hearsay is you can't bring gossip to court boring what that means is you can't be on the stand and be like I heard somebody said this that's a moment where you can say a objection here say now having investigated yourself um are you familiar with the cob County Zoo's security system uh the SS informed me what what had happened objection here say effect on the listener your honor goes to his next investigative step overr she absolutely objected correctly but didn't quite put the muscle into it judge went my way how do you understand that security system to work a card correlates to an employee an employee has access to a particular area of the building based on a specific key card so an important aspect of this case is the zoo's security system controlled by key cards think of it like Hotel keys right I have a personalized key card but for guests or visitor they have generic key cards these ones are all the same they don't have a specialized code this one has a specialized code that is tied to me here's where things get confusing at 8:30 p.m. Ash swiped his card into the garage to leave but 8 minutes later a generic key card was swiped into the admin building assumedly Mr Tucker's murderer did you obtain a search warrant for the defendant's apartment yes sir what did you find during the search in in one of his kitchen drawers I found a generic key card so he had his employee ID when he was arrested his employee card but you found this generic card in a drawer in his kitchen exactly yes no further questions your honor you have a generic key card in your drawer yeah they're going to say that this is the same generic key card used by the murderer I know it looks bad but I didn't do it so like that should win out right defense are you ready for cross- examination yes your honor ooh all right let's talk about cross examination deon's getting all excited cross examination is my favorite yes it is it yeah cuz cross is more aggressive and that's sort of more natural these prosecution witnesses might be hostile now when you say that these four Witnesses are hostile what are we talking here like are they going to be mean to me they might we should probably assume that these Witnesses believe in their heart of hearts that our clients committed this murder when should you be aggressive in your tone with Witnesses and when should you not with somebody like officer gch you're going after them you're attacking that they did a shoddy investigation they jump to conclusions without looking at alternative subjects and they did not conduct all of the forensic tests our plan with surgeon gch is to discredit him in front of the jury really press in on why he didn't do a thorough investigation and we're going to try and blame all of that on G's prior history with Brook SS the head of security at the Cobb County Zoo we're going to highlight the fact that this prior negative relationship clouded his judgment and his ability to do a thorough investigation officer gch when you arrived on scene on October 15th you knew Brooks Hills the director of security correct yes and on the night you showed up this prior relationship impacted how you felt arriving to the scene and seeing that Brook cils was a part of this conflict that you had to investigate no I disagree with that see that's the question you can't ask cuz he's never going to concede that in fact detective the two of you really didn't see eye to eye on things back when you were Marines I would never see eye to eye with a substandard marine like that nevertheless this information that you put in your report from this witness who you knew previously during your Marine Service that you did not see eye to eye in with yes or no that's correct try I I know no no no no I you know it's it's hard this is hard I felt I felt trapped in those questions like halfway through I like damn it I really you knew where I was going it's I but okay if all you get out from him is nevertheless when you were serving in the military you did not see eye to eye with Brook seals yes or no and then move on officer gerch you know Brook Sills another witness in this case that's correct you have a history together we served in the military together and during the 8 years that you served alongside Miss sils did you have any disagreements objection you're on irrelevance overrule so officer gch we were just talking about your relationship with Miss SS were there times when you didn't see eye to eye yeah we we didn't particularly see eye to eye on things and these feelings they clearly impacted your work that evening did did they impact your work that evening I don't understand the question when you met Miss Brook sils with whom you did not see eye to eye this impacted your ability to do a thorough investigation no you're claiming it did not emotionally impact your judgment absolutely not you're claiming that you would have run this investigation like you would any other location of course it's a profession so yes so no fingerprint analysis no gunpowder analysis not to my knowledge no you also said you didn't meaningfully pursue any other suspects we there was no there we we everyone was interviewed all the potential witnesses that we wanted to interview were interviewed and you never meaningfully pursued any of the contractors who also had generic key cards their stories all corroborated each other's story no further questions thank you councel nice job then the judge is going to ask redirect counselor and he may feel he wants to ask us some additional questions to to clear up something that came up during your cross-examination that is redirect any redirect yes your honor Sant gch now in this case where you have an office in an admin building where people come and go would you expect to find the defendant fingerprints in that admin building naturally yes we felt there was no need to do fingerprint analysis at that time thank you no further questions um your honor I would just like to ask a few more questions two questions all right I'll allow it thank you your honor officer gch you said that you didn't do a fingerprint analysis because you didn't deem it necessary however we don't know if there are other unidentified fingerprints at the scene correct yes or no we will never know if there are other fingerprints at the scene that's correct no further questions all right thank you all right thank you sergeant you look scar cuz you're being scary what happened to being empathetic that's all right Mr G you ready to call your next witness yes your honor of the state calls Dr Carol Wilson now that night did anything catch your attention as you were leaving the admin building I overheard an argument I recognized the voices it was Wendel Tucka and Ash Thornhill how loud was the argument it was loud I screamed at him I told him he was a scumbag but a million people hatte Wendell Tucker Mr Wendell had several strange relationships correct yeah would you agree that he had strained relationships with the staff including yourself yes doctor you said that some staff members had more adversarial relationships with Mr Tucker than others yes who was the most adversarial with him objection speculation you honor I'm just following up on a question and response that Council made during examination and how do you respond to that I respond that it is impossible to quantify the level of adversarialness of an individual person and furthermore potentially hearsay on this individual's interpretation of that vital furthermore she is not a professional psychologist or psychiatrist to make that assessment it's lay opinion testor right you don't need that so overrule okay up that was you can answer the question Doctor Who was the most adversarial with him uh uh Ash Thornhill did the defendant say something to you about his feelings towards Mr Tucker yes he said he hated him and he said that what he was doing to the place was unforgivable thank you your honor no further questions of the state calls Brook Sills ma'am how are you employed I am the security supervisor at Cobb County Zoo how did you first get involved in this case Dr Carol Wilson had come to me she said that she had heard a loud sound that sounded like a gunshot we have surveillance footage of car Wilson when she heard the gun sound sir can you please State your full name for the record uh yes uh Dr Lawrence Monarch did you conduct an autopsy of Mr Tucker yes what findings did you make the bone entrance defect through the front of the skull suggests the size of the bullet would have to have been 9 mm or smaller what if any connection is there between this bullet and Ash Thornhill Ash is a registered gun owner of a firearm that does shoot 9 mm bullets however the firearm was reported stolen 8 months ago you are a registered gun owner I am yeah of a 9mm handgun which is the same size bullet of the firearm that killed Windle Tucker it was stolen from my car did you conduct any DNA analysis we ran DNA on the skin cells that were found under the fingernail of the deceased probably the single worst fact is that the DNA of our client is found under the fingernails of the murder victim I mean it must be from when he he grabbed me okay Dr moner you mentioned earlier that there was DNA found underneath the fingernails correct in fact there were three separate DNA sequences found one was the victims mhm one was Mr thornhills and one was from a third party correct an unidentified third party yes so you have no idea who that person is no we don't when you were there did you find any jewelry on the victim no so you specifically did not find a gold Rolex watch correct so do you think this was a burglary I think it could have been all I know is he was wearing his watch I saw it it was right there in my face when he grabbed me Dr Monarch you didn't find any watch or other jewelry you did find a money clip with $320 in cash is that right correct you also found a wallet with two credit cards correct I made a mistake I made a mistake I totally missed that detail during my prep this really hurts our case that it was a robbery because who would take a gold watch but leave $320 behind State rests your honor okay while the state having arrested at this point in time we will now begin with the defense presentation of their evidence and Miss carar are you ready to proceed yes your honor we are call your first witness the defense would like to call Ash Thornhill to the stand thank you very much Mr Thornhill please take the stand in real life it's unusual for the criminal defendant to actually take the stand there's so much that can go wrong and a good prosecutor can do a really good job of tripping that person up and asking some really debilitating questions it's a risk and Michelle is going to have to navigate those risks but it makes sense for her to build that Bond and to strengthen the defense I think with the direct examination of Drew and Ash I want to paint the picture that Ash's Alibi is correct true and he was nowhere near the scene when the murder happened the thing that you said that I really like the the most was that you wanted to paint a picture direct examination is all about letting your Witnesses tell their story Mr Thornhill would you state your name for the record Ash Thornhill Mr Thornhill where do you currently work at the cob County Zoo I am the head zookeeper for mammals what inspired you to pursue this job I was always a an animal lover I guess I uh I got a a scholarship to college for conservation studies uh post College I I worked at two different uh wildlife sanctuaries uh until I found myself uh in the employee of of the cob County Zoo it's always been a passion of mine and given your passion what are your hours like at this position uh extensive I regularly work a 70 hour work weeks it's not an not a paid overtime position but um I feel that if you know I don't know that many other people around me in the workplace have The Animals best interests that are the way that I I do um so if I don't look after them who who will when you are asking the direct examination questions you are not allowed to lead and a leading question is one that implies the answer in it this is probably one of the hardest things for somebody that's never done this before to do correctly so I'm going to stand up and ask you a couple questions okay uh just to show you the difference so if I say um you're wearing a plum colored bler aren't you yes that's a leading question if this was a trial Devon would in fact be objection objection objection leading leading cuz I suggested the answer so the the proper way to ask that what color is your Blazer H now those could elicit the exact same information but how you are perceived and potentially the type of information that's coming out could be completely different okay here we go all right Mr thorell you work at the cob County Zoo correct I do on the objection leading okay right there okayed okay Mr Thornhill where do you work at the Cobb County Zoo I'm the head zookeeper of mammals tell me about some of the Keystone projects you worked on as a part of this position objection lacks foundation so can I just rephrase that yeah so you can say your honor I'll rephrase your honor I'll rephrase okay suain um oh also like put a little spite into that like that's a really ticky tacky objection that I made so your honor I'll rephrase the question you're say have attitude this freaking guy you okay okay your honor I'm happy to rephrase sorry let me add more to that your honor I'm happy to rephrase wait that's too much okay your honor in those your honor I'm happy to rephrase good good good Mr Thornhill how has this construction expansion impacted your working hours objection relevance your honor I intend to discuss with Mr Thornhill how this particular project impacted his working hour specifically on the night of October 15th okay all right overruled good job good but I won't do that tomorrow celebrate now let's go back to when you met Mr Tucker what happened at the end of your shift when you met with him I turned to Leaf I I I I I turned to leave him there and he grabbed me by the wrist uh I shoved his wrist away left him standing there and exited the uh the office when he grabbed your wrist did you notice any jewelry on his wrist yes I did he he was wearing a big gold Rolex he always wears he loves to flash it around the zoo um I've rarely seen him without it it was clearly in my field of vision when he grabbed my wrist and this is a memorable piece of this character yeah you wouldn't foret objection leading over to to re askk it was a piece of jewelry that you wouldn't uh forget that he often uh would almost intentionally Flash in people's faces Mr Thornhill would you please tell the members of our jury did you kill Mr Tucker I did not kill Mr Tucker I had nothing to do with that no further questions thank you Mr G cross examination thank your honor great job so Mr Thornhill your testimony here that he had a Rolex watch on and yet you're the only person who's testified about a Rolex watch you're aware of that I am aware of that yeah and you're also aware because you previously reviewed it prior to trial that in the autopsy report there was no Rolex watch there was no jewelry at all isn't that right I am aware of that you had previously seen that autopsy report prior to coming in here today and testifying about a Rolex watch isn't that right yes that's accurate there was also a generic key card in your kitchen isn't that right yes that's true yeah where'd that come from it's from months ago my personal key card uh failed to work I had to get a replacement I quite simply I forgot about it you also did previously own a pistol a 9mm pistol right Glock 17 yes all right 8 months prior to the incident we're discussing here in this trial you reported it stolen to to the police department yes and you didn't buy a replacement no I did not just let it be filed your report and went on with your life while I was hoping it would be found okay Spencer flips into a completely different character during cross-examination his body language he has his arm crossed he's got this smug look on his face which I don't appreciate by the way so that night October 15th you went into Mr Tucker's office now now interestingly when you were answering questions from your attorney what you didn't mention is that you raised your voices isn't that true I didn't mention volume at all I don't think well I mean it's kind of important don't you think that it wasn't just a casual conversation but you in fact were yelling at each other well I answered the questions that were asked to me were you in fact yelling at each other yes you were infuriated at how he ran the zoo yes you were upset that Bongos and the copies were going to be kept in their pen permanent right absolutely and you weren't going to stand for it there wasn't much I could do I I certainly let him know what I thought about it you hated Mr Tucker I disliked him so right now your testimony is you didn't hate him I don't think he had the interests of the animals of the zoo uh at all in his mind so you're drawing a real careful distinction here between strongly dislike and hate is that an important distinction to you or did you just hate it objection argumentative over Ru I haven't uh considered the the difference between hate and dislike in relation to Mr Tucker until this moment Ash did you hate Wendell Tucker yes I hated Wendell Tucker but a million people hate Wendell Tucker did you hate Mr Tucker I strongly disliked him okay no further questions Miss SC your next witness yes your honor the defense would like to call Drew Mercer to the stand does Drew know you hate Wendell I've complained about Wendell to Drew a couple times in a pretty you know I hate my boss type way I think he was wondering why I I was in such a bad mood the night of the incident the night of the incident yes Drew is our key witness because he coporates Ash's Alibi that he was home watching a baseball game when this murder happened if the jury believes him to be a trustworthy person we can basically win the case Mr Mercer how do you know Mr Thornhill uh Ash and I we uh we grew up together and then uh we reconnected when I moved back into town okay yeah and on the night of October 15th did you encounter him at any point yeah yeah he got home uh like 8:40 so do you currently live together yeah yeah and when he got home at 8:40 yeah was anything unusual with his demeanor no I mean nothing seemed like a just like a Tuesday so nothing seemed out of the ordinary I tossed him a beer he sat down uh he got up went to bed I had another beer cleaned [Music] up I cannot believe that during my star witness examination that the jury is falling asleep what do you do when you're doing a trial and the jury is falling asleep which actually happens a lot you have to sort of do something to grab their attention there is a technique for creating suspense to really Drive something home that maybe you say once maybe twice during the examination what is that Mr Mercer could you tell the members of the jury if at any time between 8:30 and 9:30 you ever saw Ash Thornhill leave the property no I never did that was so dramatic oh my gosh so exciting your ears perk up that's the kind of stuff you have to do to create interest build suspense that is just as important as good legal technique Mr Mercer please tell the members of the jury between 8:45 and 9:30 p.m. did you ever see Mr Thornhill leave the living room or the property in any capacity no he no he came home um and hung out with me just watching the game till it ended then he got up and went to bed thank you no further questions all right thank you cross examination the last thing that I really need to do is I need to attack Drew merer he is the single most important witness for the defense he is The Alibi witness I have to do whatever I can to destroy his credibility so that the jury does not believe a word that he says and Mr mercel you are a felon is that right I objection relevance all right please approach the prosecution at some point is going to try to show that this guy was not to be believed because he's a felon you have three grounds for keeping it out one over 10 years ago you got it two he was a juvenile and three he was charged but not convicted Ching you in your honor the prosecution is using improper character to to falsify Mr Mercer's claim which is unfair to him given his past that has nothing to do with his case all right and why are you offering it it's impeachment by conviction your honor okay you have response to that for rule 609 your honor it has been over 10 years and he was a juvenile and he was not convicted your honor he was an accessory to an armed robbery and he falsified to protect the people who are actually conducting the armed robbery in other words it matches up perfectly how does it match up perfectly he is again covering up for someone else's crime in that initial case when he was 17 okay but are you going to get into the facts of the prior conviction or are you just bringing up the prior conviction to impeach him on credibility I can't get into the specific facts under it however the court can take those into consideration the statute does require that I find that the evidence of substantially outweighs its prejudicial effect I don't find it it's over 10 years uh I believe at this time uh that it does isn't align perfectly so at this time the court will sustain the objection thank you your honor and members of the jury remember the questions are not evidence so the question regarding any felony shall not be considered by you you are to disregard that question if evidence comes out that shouldn't you can't unring that Bell the jury has heard it and the judge would give a limiting instruction to the jury to tell them to ignore it to pretend they never saw it but they did Mr Mercer I want to direct your attention to the night of October 15th of this year when you saw him that night he was tense and clammy wasn't that right I mean he had been saying that work has been like hard because of the sir just to be very clear I was asking about how he appeared to you he appeared to you tenser than usual and clammy is that right he had he appeared like he had a rough a rough day Mr Mercer is a yes or no question question he appeared tenser than usual and clammmy is that right yes thank you Mr Mercer all right at this time we will be proceeding with the closing arguments from Council and Mr G are you ready for your summation yes your honor the closing argument is interesting because you don't write the whole thing ahead of time while the trial is going on I'm taking notes on everything that Spencer is bringing up so that I can make sure to fold it into my closing argument and rebut any last minute things he tries to throw in our Direction he was angry he was angry and he killed Mr Tucker we know it because his DNA was under the fingernail of our victim we know it because we know that he is at least once in his life fairly recently possessed a firearm that shoots 9mm rounds we know it because the defendant had a generic key card it was in the bottom of his junk drawer in his kitchen the defendant hated Mr Tucker whether he was willing to say it on the stand or not he hated him the problem with the robbery Theory Mr Tucker still had $350 in cash in a money clip Not only would this be a robbery but it would be a very specific specific robbery for a very specific thing the defense will be asking you to believe Mr Mercer because he is the key to the defense's case but you shouldn't the defendant was angry he was infuriated he was upset the burden on the state is to prove this case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt based on the facts based on reason based on the evidence I'm asking you ladies and gentlemen to find the defendant guilty thank you all right thank you Council so Michelle's about to do her closing argument she's going to have to really hone in on the key pieces of evidence that favor the defense if she hits home just those key things I think she'll be in good shape to cast Reasonable Doubt which is all she needs to do to win the case we're going to have to weave in a couple of key pieces of new information okay let's do it all right go oh my God legal eagle legal EET and the legal iglet Miss car are you ready to present your closing argument yes your honor ladies and gentlemen of the jury in the game of baseball it's three strikes and you're out I urge you to recall three items missing from the prosecution story three things cast Reasonable Doubt on the prosecution's case first Terry G's investigation of this matter was factually incomplete he failed to do fingerprint analysis he failed to do gunpowder analysis and most of all he failed this court system by focusing in on only Mr Thorn Hill this is strike one second Dr Wilson's testimony confirmed that there were multiple parties who disliked Mr Tucker the victim this is strike two third the eyewitness testimony from Mr Thor Hill's longtime friend Drew Mercer showed at the exact time of the murder he was at home winding down from a long day at work watching the Mets beat the Dodgers in the second game of The League the prosecution has to prove their case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and I hope you see just like I do there's plenty to doubt here I urge you to do the right thing and let this innocent man walk home not guilty all right thank you Miss Cari all right ladies and gentlemen of the jury at this time I will go through the closing instructions uh to prepare you for your deliberations in this matter when you go to the Jury Room the first thing you should do is is choose a for person well everyone thank you so much for being attentive all day so I think the prosecution's case suffers because the investigation itself was kind of BOS I'm really struggling with the lack of evidence to convict the suspect did the state do its job Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and no I feel that they Zone in on the defendant from the get-go because dislikes Mr Tucker I dislike a lot of people I'm not going to kill them but what he said if if it was a robbery a third person you know there was still money in Mr Tucker's wallet I'm struggling with the roommate I don't I'm not sure like is he telling the truth like the friend said when he came into the house it was a normal day they watched the game and then when they really started to question him he went back on what he said and he started to say like oh yeah he he was upset he did told me that he had a bad day he seemed clammy like what is the Chan that somebody comes and Rob him the same day that he's having an argument right our job is not to find who is the cul we can only assume so many motives and everything it's that's the tough thing all the assumptions you don't have to swipe the case is not on all right back on the record on the matter of State versus Thornhill all the attorneys are present the defendant is present and all the jurors are present juror number one I've been informed by the court bayth that you are the for person has the jury reached the verdict yes we have can you please give the form over to the court bayth thank you the jury in this above entitled matter finds the defendant not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of MPC 210 point2 let's go Mr Thornhill you are free to go your honor may we [Laughter] [Applause] celebrate you're I am like man I I really thought I was going to jail there thank you guys thank you so much by and large she was amazing she actually learned how to do all of this hand I'll be honest the verdict does not surpris me she did a really effective job and what I'm seeing is a lot of adaptability that is frankly pretty surprising to me for someone who's had 24 hours of experience in the law last but not least AR I'm honestly really impressed with the way that Michelle has improved I'm particularly proud that I think Michelle understands what hearsay is which is something that gives even law students and lawyers trouble does this mean I'm a partner now H we'll discuss that later yeah