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Example of Final Argument – Enron Related Matter | Houston Criminal Law

Dan Cogdell | 1018 Views | 09/02/2015

Final Argument Example

A criminal trial shouldn’t be a giant car wash where if your car wash is paid for by the quarters of the government all your sins get washed away. It shouldn’t be a rig game where if you have the right color jersey on and you testify for the government that all your sins getting dissolve. It shouldn’t be a rigged game it should be fair. Yesterday, one of the last witnesses that the government put on was a fellow by the name of Michael Copper.

If you recall Michael Copper cooperated, testified for the government and in-exchange for his testimony among other things, his domestic partner got to keep $9,000,000 while he went off to prison for a couple of years. Let’s think about that. He came in here and said the right things on behalf of the government and his partner kept $9,000,000. Pull back. How much money has the government shown that my client made through these trades or through this – this conspiracy? Zero, not a penny not one thin dime. Let’s repeat, the government’s witnesses get to keep– or their partner get to keep $9,000,000 and my client gets faced with mandatory confinement. Does that sound like fairness to you? Does that sound like justice to you? Does that sound like anything coming close to the right result, sounds like to you? It doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t sound fair to me either. It sounds like to me a two-word verdict, a two-word verdict of not guilty.

Final Argument Explanation

That was a sample of final argument that I gave an Enron related matter where my client was acquitted. She should have been found not guilty and she was, she was acquitted. But what I was trying to do was paint on the one hand the ridiculousness of the government’s position and allowing one of their witnesses to keep $9,000,000 while at the same time that testimony would incarcerate my client for a mandatory conviction where the evidence was undisputed. She got no money whatsoever. So did those things equate at all? They don’t, that was the point. The point was the government’s theory in that case was so lap-sided, it was so one-sided. That night became day, that day became night. That fiction became truth. And it was all about not what happened or what didn’t happened, what should happen or what shouldn’t happen but what the government was telling the jury to believe simply not adding up with the reality that they experienced. That’s what that was all about. Why am I telling you this? If you’re charged in state court or in federal court in this state or any other state don’t expect things to be a fair fight. Don’t expect things to be leveled.

Don’t expect things to be an even playing field. Expect there to be blood. Just make sure it’s not yours. If you have questions about what to expect, if you have concerns about what to expect, if want to talk about a criminal case that your charged with or suspected of, call us we’re happy to help. We’ve literally been there before. We’ve seen it before and we successfully defended it before. Thank you for listening.

By: Dan Cogdell

Example of Final Argument – Enron Related Matter | Houston Criminal Law

Final Argument Example

A criminal trial shouldn’t be a giant car wash where if your car wash is paid for by the quarters of the government all your sins get washed away. It shouldn’t be a rig game where if you have the right color jersey on and you testify for the government that all your sins getting dissolve. It shouldn’t be a rigged game it should be fair. Yesterday, one of the last witnesses that the government put on was a fellow by the name of Michael Copper.

If you recall Michael Copper cooperated, testified for the government and in-exchange for his testimony among other things, his domestic partner got to keep $9,000,000 while he went off to prison for a couple of years. Let’s think about that. He came in here and said the right things on behalf of the government and his partner kept $9,000,000. Pull back. How much money has the government shown that my client made through these trades or through this – this conspiracy? Zero, not a penny not one thin dime. Let’s repeat, the government’s witnesses get to keep– or their partner get to keep $9,000,000 and my client gets faced with mandatory confinement. Does that sound like fairness to you? Does that sound like justice to you? Does that sound like anything coming close to the right result, sounds like to you? It doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t sound fair to me either. It sounds like to me a two-word verdict, a two-word verdict of not guilty.

Final Argument Explanation

That was a sample of final argument that I gave an Enron related matter where my client was acquitted. She should have been found not guilty and she was, she was acquitted. But what I was trying to do was paint on the one hand the ridiculousness of the government’s position and allowing one of their witnesses to keep $9,000,000 while at the same time that testimony would incarcerate my client for a mandatory conviction where the evidence was undisputed. She got no money whatsoever. So did those things equate at all? They don’t, that was the point. The point was the government’s theory in that case was so lap-sided, it was so one-sided. That night became day, that day became night. That fiction became truth. And it was all about not what happened or what didn’t happened, what should happen or what shouldn’t happen but what the government was telling the jury to believe simply not adding up with the reality that they experienced. That’s what that was all about. Why am I telling you this? If you’re charged in state court or in federal court in this state or any other state don’t expect things to be a fair fight. Don’t expect things to be leveled.

Don’t expect things to be an even playing field. Expect there to be blood. Just make sure it’s not yours. If you have questions about what to expect, if you have concerns about what to expect, if want to talk about a criminal case that your charged with or suspected of, call us we’re happy to help. We’ve literally been there before. We’ve seen it before and we successfully defended it before. Thank you for listening.

By: Dan Cogdell