Episode 2 - Make It Easy to Understand

The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece

The is a case concerning a sleepwalking murder.  A family gets together at their ranch outside of town to discuss business.  The stepbrothers disagree on how to handle things. They decide to sleep on it. Then two of the men swap rooms.  When one of the stepbrothers is found murdered the next morning, the other, who happens to be a sleepwalker, is charged with killing him with a carving knife.

 

 

The accused has an ex-wife who is after alimony, and a business-partner that is trying to cheat him. The young, attractive niece is also a sleepwalker, but very sweet and has a hunky boyfriend, who might be alittle too helpful.  In this episode we meet District Attorney, Hamilton Burger.

In Chapter 16, Paul Drake says to Perry Mason

A hell of a case,” he said. “The facts dovetail together and yet they don’t mean anything after they’ve been dovetailed. It’s a crazy case any way you want to look at it.

This sums up the difficulty of following the plot line.  It is a convoluted story. It took the last chapter of the book for Perry to summarize what had happened and how he figured it out, and then I had to read that 2 times! Most readers are willing to suspend disbelief if the story is told well,  but with Judges and Juries you get a very small window of opportunity to grab their attention and win their mind.

Jury studies reveal that most juries form their impression of the case within four minutes of listening to opening statements. A study from the University of Chicago in jury behavior concluded that 80% of jurors form opinions following the opening statements and do not change those opinions after hearing the evidence.  This can only mean one thing for a trial lawyer.  Make your story compelling and easy to understand, and then do not confuse the jury.

I consider the Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece a FAIL for a trial lawyer.  There were too many red herrings and there was no way to figure it out given the clues.  Perry just had to make a guess at killer's identity and how he did it and hope that the killer would confess at the arraignment under a withering cross-examination.  Most arraignments don't end like this.

The moral to Episode 2 is this: Win your audience with the best story, and then keep it simple and easy to understand from there.  If you are able to do that, you might prevail in as much as 80% of your cases.  Thats is, unless your client confesses in open court.

Episode 1 - Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins!

The Case of the Restless Redhead

Air date: 9-21-1957

As a series and character, Perry Mason hit the ground running.  The studio assumed that by 1957, most people tuning in were familiar with the most successful fictional trial lawyer in history through the novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner who is credited by the Guiness Books of World Records as being the #1 best read author of all time.  When the first episode aired Perry, Paul Drake, Della Street, Hamilton Burger (Hamburger - get it?) and Lt. Tragg needed no introduction.  Raymond Burr lost 80 pounds to star in the role.  This was a big budget TV show.  Each episode required 6 days of shooting and imposed a rigorous schedule on the actors. 

Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, and demanded authenticity and realism in the courtroom scenes and in Perry's handling of cross-examination.  Gardner practiced law in Ventura, California and Perry Mason's office on the TV show was patterned after Gardner's real office.  Della Street was modeled after Gardner's wife.  Gardner wrote 4,000 words a day on average, and considered speed, situation, suspense, and pace to be more important than characterization. This forumla kept the reader and viewer engaged in the story. Trial lawyers and Litigators should take heed of this formula.  Do not bore the Judge and Jury with either your pleadings or your presentation. You will lose the case if you lose their interest. 

The lesson of the first episode of Perry Mason is this:  The Power of Story is Paramount.  Control the Narrative through speed, pace, and suspense.  One of the greatest defense attorneys to ever grace a courtroom is Gerry Spence from Wyoming,  recently inducted into the Trial Lawyer's Hall of Fame and the founder of the Trial Lawyers College.   Gerry summed it all up when he once wrote,

 "Lawyers must be storytellers. That is what the art of advocacy comes down to - the telling of the true story of one's case."