The "Anatomy of a Successful Trial" was on display Nov.12 during the 10th annual The Jacksonville Bar Association Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy seminar.
The program began nine years ago to honor former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raymond Ehrlich, who worked as an attorney in Jacksonville from 1946 until his appointment to the court in 1981. After Ehrlich reached mandatory retirement age for the court, he returned to Jacksonville and practiced law as a partner at Holland & Knight. He died in 2005.
The 10th annual seminar featured information on jury selection from Richard Waites, chief trial psychologist, jury and trial consultant from "The Advocates-Trial and Advocacy Sciences."
Other features were an opening statement by former The Florida Bar President Howard Coker, direct examination by former The JBA President Michael Freed; cross-examination by attorney Robert Spohrer of Spohrer & Dodd, "Technology- From your Office to the Courtroom" by Ray Reid of Pajcic & Pajcic; a closing argument by former The Florida Bar President Hank Coxe; preserving error by 1st District Court of Appeal Judge James Wolf;
It also included a judicial panel of 5th District Court of Appeal Judge Wendy Berger, 4th Circuit Judge Mack Crenshaw Jr., 4th Circuit Judge Virginia Norton, 4th Circuit Judge Jack Schemer and 4th Circuit Judge Brad Stetson.
Tips offered during the panel included peremptory challenges during jury selection and when to address the weakness in a case.
The judges said though each attorney may have a set number of peremptory challenges during jury selection, they can always ask for more.
"You might not get it, but you should always ask," said Schemer.
Stetson shared his experiences with former State Attorney Ed Austin when talking about dealing with the weakness in an attorney's case.
"Ed Austin used to say be the first one to bring it out. Some try to cover it up by objecting throughout the trial and that's not a good thing to do to the jury," said Stetson, who was an assistant state attorney under Austin.
Norton talked about the use of humor during trial.
"Be careful with humor. Your idea of humor may be different from those sitting in a jury. Those trying criminal cases on a regular basis can get desensitized to what is and isn't acceptable as humor in the courtroom," said Norton.
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