What are good questions for a murder trial?

Question

Im doing a pretend trila and Im the defense attorney. I would like to know some good questions to ask my witnesses. Its a boat murder and the killers ate the guy( gross). Im trying to prove then innocent.(kinda hard) So I need some help.Thanks.
ps. if you need more information just put it in your answer.

Answer 1

Your my client pleads not guilty bt reason of insanity, JUDGE, okay councelor, your sickos are hereby confined to a state mental hospital for the criminally insane. End of case.

Answer 2

if your client has a good sounding alibi, that is a start.
Where were you at the time of these events? who are your witnesses?

How do you feel about cannibalism ( if your client is a good actor?)

What was your relationship to the victims?
Were their any arguments, problems between you and the victims?

i might explore the possibility that the client was either so drunk he was in a blackout or had been given some drug that hurt memory or behavior - like that one where people drive to work when asleep or binge eat?
it might be Ambien. Anyway, going for diminished capacity
and then using many witnesses to demonstrate that the client would NEVER do something like that could be the best approach - getting him/her a reduced sentence or a sentence in a mental hospital.


One real benefit of this approach would be that in your summation, you would be able to say ( truthfully) that horrible as this crime is, in the same circumstances ANY of the jurors might find themselves in the same place as the defendant.

Answer 3

You don't need to prove innocence to win, you only need to create "reasonable doubt". Some strategies you can use are impugning the credibility of the opposing witnesses, i.e., catching them in contradictions, finding and exploiting weak points in their testiomony.

You could also try the "Plan B" or "SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It)" defense. If you can convince the jury that there's a possibility that someone other than your client is responsible for the crime, you should win your case.

Answer 4

What will the witnesses say when the prosecution questions them? Your job is basically to cast doubt on what they say. Did the actually see what they claim to have seen? Could they have seen someone else commit the crime? Under US law, you don't have to prove they an not guilty, just prevent the prosecution from proving they are guilty.

Answer 5

What did you witness and what were you doing at the time the crime was commited.

Answer 6

You're defending the cannibles???