Evidence

EVIDENCE: SKILLS, STRATEGIES, AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRETRIAL AND TRIAL (WITH THE FRECK POINT CASE)

Evidence: Skills, Strategies, and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial (with the Freck Point Case) presents an excellent conceptual and practical foundation for evidence skills and strategies.  The book provides models for how to think and act as a successful advocate with a firm grasp of how evidence law works in a real world practice. The skills covered include: writing and arguing motions; making a trial record;  making and meeting objections laying evidentiary foundations for testimony and utilizing the latest technological developments for managing, introducing and displaying exhibits. Checklists for each skill are included at the end of each chapter. Ethical Considerations based on ABA Model Rules appear throughout the text.

The book contains 49 criminal and civil assignments with discussion questions. The assignments are based on one fact pattern for a civil wrongful death and criminal homicide case, State v. Samuel Griffith and Brenneman v. Griffith. The assignments take students through the pretrial litigation and trial process in the context of both criminal and civil cases, which arise from the same event. The assignments are intended for role play in professional workshops and legal education advocacy classes.

Supplemental Content

The Case Files for Evidence: Skills, Strategies and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial provide factual and legal information for the 22 criminal and civil assignments with a total of 49 evidence experiences. The Evidence: Skills and Strategies Assignments are based on two fictitious cases – State v. Griffith and Brenneman v. Griffith.

The Case Files contain documents for State v. Griffith and Brenneman v. Griffith. such as witness statements, expert reports, deposition excerpts and photographs, scene diagrams, and more. Also, the Case Files contain statutes, court rules, and research memoranda. The research memoranda are a special feature; they are composed of fictional cases from the fictional jurisdiction, the State of Major.

The memos provide the research that students or practitioners need to deal with the multitude of evidence issues in the Assignments. Evidentiary law and model evidentiary foundations can be found in Chapter 6, which is Morgan’s Evidence Foundations (Courtroom Handbook for State of Major Trial Lawyers). The Major Rules of Evidence are identical to the Federal Rules of Evidence, except they have been modified to become state rules. Case File Entry 1 includes the text of the State of Major Rules of Evidence. Of course, an instructor may prefer that students or practitioners instead research and use appropriate cases and statutes from your jurisdiction.

To print or download, use your access code on one of these pages:

Access for Professors
 
Access for Others

To acquire an access code, you need to have purchased the book. Students, please contact your professor to obtain an access code.

Buy Now

Evidence: Skills, Strategies and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial contains an Introduction and a full movie of The Freck Point Trial movie accompanying this text that can be streamed on this website.

The Freck Point movie is a trial demonstration movie presenting experienced lawyers demonstrating trial advocacy skills in the Freck case, a hypothetical wrongful death case.

The Freck case movie, introduced by Ann Rule, who explains how the Freck case was inspired by a real case and became the subject of her true crime thriller, A Rose for Her Grave (True Crime Files) by Ann Rule.

The attorney demonstrations provide an experience of seeing how evidentiary matters arise in a trial conducted from beginning to end. The movie includes scenes selection in which the trial lawyers explain his or her trial strategy.

To access these movies, use your access code on one of these pages:

Access for Professors
 
Access for Others

To acquire an access code, you need to have purchased the book. Students, please contact your professor to obtain an access code.

Buy Now

THE TEACHER’S MANUAL FOR EVIDENCE: SKILLS, STRATEGIES AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR PRETRIAL AND TRIAL (WITH THE FRECK POINT CASE) IS FOR PROFESSORS ONLY.

The Teacher’s Manual is password protected for Professors and contains pointers on ways to plan for and to teach an Evidence Skills and Strategies course or a professional development series of workshops. The Evidence: Skills, Strategies and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial (With The Freck Point Case) manual includes teaching notes for each Assignment. We include sample syllabi for a 4 and 2 credit stand-alone Evidence course.

To print or download, use your access code on this page:

Access for Professors

To acquire an access code, you need to have purchased the book. Professors only.

Buy Now
The Actors’ Guide (Professors Only) contains confidential factual material for role-playing by the students or other witnesses and attorneys who are the focus of the pretrial Assignments. For example, a student can be assigned to the role of an attorney who is objecting to testimony introduced by another student on the grounds of hearsay and physician-patient privilege. The Actors’ Guide contains instructions on how to play the assigned role.

A FEW POINTS CONCERNING THE PRETRIAL ACTORS’ GUIDE (Professors Only)

The Actors’ Guide is a companion to the criminal and civil hypothetical cases for State v. Samuel Griffith and Brenneman v. Griffith, which are the subject of the Assignments found in the Evidence: Skills, Strategies, and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial. The Guide consists of materials describing the witnesses and providing confidential instructions for student attorneys. The Actors’ Guide materials immerse students in role plays which are realistic in detail, yet crafted to raise specific issues appropriate to the skill which is being performed.

SUMMARY OF WITNESS INFORMATION FOR TRIAL.

The Summary of Witness Information section summarizes what the witnesses will say for each Assignment. GENERAL WITNESS INSTRUCTIONS explain the actor’s general responsibilities when role-playing a witness.

ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS provide special, confidential instructions for the person who will role play a particular Assignment.

CONFIDENTIAL WITNESS INFORMATION (CWI) instructions contain all the information an actor needs to perform a particular role-play.

To print or download, use your access code on this page:

Access for Professors

To acquire an access code, you need to have purchased the book. Professors only.

Buy Now

To print or download, use your access code on one of these pages:

Access for Professors
 
Access for Others

To acquire an access code, you need to have purchased the book. Students, please contact your professor to obtain an access code.

Buy Now

Table of Contents for Evidence: Skills, Strategies, and Assignments for Pretrial and Trial (with the Freck Point Case)

Chapter 1.   Introduction to the Book, DVD, and Website

Chapter 2.   Objections: Making and Meeting Them

Chapter 3.   Motions: Making and Responding to Them

Chapter 4.   Exhibits: Introducing and Displaying Them

Chapter 5.   The Assignments

Chapter 6.   Morgan’s Evidence Handbook (for State of Major Trial Lawyers)

Buy Now