Down a Great Closing Argument — Mock Trial Film Sessions

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Welcome into Mock Trial Masterclass, your guide to controlling the courtroom. I'm Luke and I want you to be a mock trial master. Let's talk about how you can make that happen. In this video, we're going to be taking a look at a really, really strong closing argument and we're going to be pausing as we watch it to talk about what is making it so good. That way, you can see what it looks like to give a really good closing and you can also get some tips from this closing on what you can apply to your closing arguments to make them maybe just as good as this one. We're actually going to be watching a former teammate of mine who competed alongside me in high school. We sat at council table together at nationals back in 2018 and this is one of her best closing arguments in my opinion. For a little bit of context, this is the defense closing argument in a murder trial. The defendant is being accused of shooting her best friend to death and what the defense's primary argument is, is that actually it was an accident and it wasn't murder. So, let's see what Ella has to say in her closing argument. [00:01:09] Ella: Imagine you're buying a car. You find one that you really like and you're pretty much sold on it. So, you say, "Mr. Salesman, I like this one. Mind if I take it for a test drive?" Then he says, "Oh, no, let's just skip that part. Here, sign the paperwork." Would that actually happen? Would you honestly expect the salesperson to tell you that you couldn't test drive that car before buying it? Of course not, and that's because even though that test drive, in that test drive, it only may take you a couple minutes if not seconds to know if that's the car that you really want to buy, those are the seconds that really matter. Now, as absurd as that sounds, that's exactly what the government's been doing in their entire investigation. They're trying to talk you back to the jury room and tell you, "Oh, no, don't put this case to the test." Here, sign the verdict form. Members of the jury, when it comes down to it, this case is simple. I agree with counsel. It's a simple case. And the question is this, what happened in those three seconds before the gun went off? [00:02:21] Speaker 1: So, I'm going to pause for just a second here, because what Ella just did is a perfect example of a topic that I cover in another one of my videos about how you need to start every one of your closing arguments. And you need to start it just like this, with a story, like a metaphor or a parable, that relates to your theme. So, a theme is basically just a slogan that gets to the heart of your case, the main argument your side of the case is trying to make, that is really, really memorable. And what you need to do in your closing arguments as you start them, is tell a story like Ella did that illustrates that theme. Now, it's different than an opening statement, because in an opening, you're telling the literal story of the case. Harry killed Sally, Julie breached the contract. Right here, again, we're talking about a story that relates to your theme, a metaphor, a parable, if you will, that illustrates it for the jury. And Ella did such a good job of that here. And when you can open your closing argument like that, it gives the jury something to latch onto. Because the thing about public speaking in any context is you need to give your audience a reason to listen to you, right? We've all heard bad sermons, presentations, lectures that caused us to almost fall asleep very, very quickly, and we need to make sure that when we're speaking to an audience, we don't put them in that same position. And starting your closing argument with a story like this, it's interesting, that gets you to think maybe they do actually have a point that they're trying to make, or maybe even gets them to have the reaction of like, "Oh, I see the point they're trying to make." Right, that's exactly what a story like the used car salesman story here can do for you in your closing argument. I'll leave a link in the description for my other video about this idea that explains it a little bit more deeply, but this is a great example of that in action. [00:04:15] Ella: Now, before I go any further, let me make one thing absolutely clear to all of y'all. It is not now, and it has never been, all responsibility to prove that what happened that night was an accident. Members of the jury, it was their responsibility to prove that it wasn't. Not just to prove it, to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, it was their burden. [00:04:38] Speaker 1: So, I'm going to pause right here because I want to really highlight the fact that Ella is touching the other team's counsel table. If you've ever listened to my podcast or watched my videos or read my book, you know that I think really all of mock trial comes down to how well you control the courtroom. A jury member's impression of you as an attorney is, how well do you control the courtroom? Well, let me ask you this rhetorical question, okay? If I, as an attorney, am willing to walk over to the other team's table and put my hand on it and politely invade their space, who's in control of the courtroom? Right. This little maneuver that Ella makes right here is so simple, but it's also really, really profound because she is demonstrating to the jury by putting her hand on that table, I am in control of this courtroom and no one else is. It's a power play. It's a great thing to do if you're a defense attorney in a criminal case. Absolutely love this. Just be polite about it like she is, right? We're not moving their binders around. We're not making it look like we're sifting through their papers or anything. Just one little hand like she did here can have a huge impact on the jury's perception of you as an attorney. [00:05:49] Ella: Rule out every single reasonable possibility that it could have been an accident and they didn't do it. Let's walk through what actually happened that night. Today, the government has been desperately hinging their case on the fact that Ms. Patterson was emotional that night. She had been arguing and yes, she was drinking. They point to these things as evidence that the shooting was intentional. Think about that. Those things just make it all the more likely that Ms. Patterson would have tripped and fallen in the parking lot that night. [00:06:22] Speaker 1: So this is the first of what I imagine will be many examples in this closing argument of Ella actually arguing because a big mistake that I see a lot of times in closing arguments is that it just sort of becomes opening statement number two in the past tense. Your opening statement is a preview of the trial. We expect this to happen. Your closing argument should not simply be, well, this happened and we're just recapping the trial, right? It's not a recap. It's an argument. You're tying together the loose ends. You're saying, here's what you heard and here's why it matters. Here's why the things that these witnesses said today point to the fact that in this case, my client is not guilty. So already, Ella is diving into argument. She's connecting those dots. She's not just, you know, throwing the dots out there or reminding the jury of the dots. She's actually connecting them in an argumentative tone. This is really, really good stuff. [00:07:15] Ella: Not even the government's own crime scene investigator was able to walk there without tripping and falling. She wasn't emotional. We sure hope she hadn't been drinking. No, she was attentively and cautiously focusing on her surroundings. And what's more, she even brought lights into the parking lot that night to help her see. And she still tripped and stumbled over the cracks and potholes in that parking lot, not once, but multiple times members of the jury. That alone is reasonable doubt, but there's much more. We know from a gun expert that the gun was prone to accidental discharge. [00:07:51] Speaker 1: So just a quick, just a quick note there. She said we know from a gun expert. I think that's effective because in a mock trial round, when there's all these names getting thrown out there, they're not real names to begin with. And the jury is coming into the round with no real background in this case. It's a lot more effective sometimes to use titles like the gun expert, the defendant's best friend, you know, the counselor, or whatever role someone has in the case. That way the jury's not getting jumbled up on names. They immediately know who you're talking about. [00:08:20] Ella: Eyewitness who literally watched as Miss Patterson got stuck and tripped in the parking lot that night. Now those two witnesses, they tell us exactly what happened in the three seconds before the gun went off. But the government never bothered questioning either of them. At least until today. And why not? It's not like they didn't have access. Miss Franklin literally lives in the same two-story condominium right down the hall from the government's own witness, Miss Anderson. And the gun expert literally works for the government in law enforcement. Now even though the government didn't show you, didn't choose to investigate those three most important seconds in this case, you'd think that at least they'd want to show you what they did investigate. But members of the jury, they didn't even do this. We know that the crime scene investigator photographed over two dozen different areas and took who knows how many pictures. Why didn't the government want you to see these? [00:09:25] Speaker 1: Again, just more examples of she's arguing. She's not just recapping the case. She's making these conclusions. You know, why didn't they show you these pictures? Why didn't this happen? Really, really effective stuff. [00:09:35] Ella: What would these pictures have shown you? Just how far from the car or the body was the gun? Just how dark was that parking lot that night? How many of those potholes were right next to where the car was parked? In just a few minutes, Judge Clark is going to take you back and explain to you that your verdict cannot be guilty unless your mind rests easily as to the certainty of guilt in members of the jury. If you're wondering what even one of those photographs would have shown you, then your mind is not resting easily and that is reasonable doubt. This is exactly the kind of case that should make us thankful for the American justice system. [00:10:22] Speaker 1: Do you see how she's varying her tone, right? She's starting up and she's going down. It's not all loud. It's not all quiet. It's not all passionate. It's not all boring. It's kind of all over the place, but it's intentionally all over the place. It's not random. It makes her interesting to listen to. When you're giving a speech and you're just doing the same thing over and over again to the same volume, the same tone of voice, it gets really old very, very quickly and monotonous. But the vocal variety that she's employing here is really, really effective. I feel like I just keep saying really, really effective. But that's because that's exactly what this is. It's a fantastic closing argument. [00:10:59] Ella: Because the government didn't do its job and they chose not to investigate what mattered most in this case, which is the three seconds before the gun actually went off, we did. And so can you. You now have a chance to make right what the government got wrong. And for all these reasons, we ask that you find Peyton Patterson not guilty. Thank you. [00:11:28] Speaker 1: So if there were anything I would change about that closing, I don't think it was quite responsive enough to the case. I always talk about how your closing arguments need to have an element or two of being responsive to the case that just happened. Maybe you use an exact quote from a witness. Maybe you flip the other side's theme if you have the opportunity to do that. But other than that, just really, really stellar stuff. I mean, that's kind of nitpicky. This is a nine or 10 closing argument. Really, really easy. And I know that if you can take some of these things we've talked about and apply it to your closing arguments, man, they're going to shoot through the roof. And if you want more tips on how to give a great closing argument, I put just about everything I know about closing arguments into my book, Mock Trial Masterclass. We talk about presentation. We talk about content. I mentioned theme flip a second ago. If you don't know what that is, we dive into that in the book. Everything you need to know about giving a great closing argument and all sorts of other information about mock trial is in this book. So if you want to pick up a copy on Amazon, you can click the link in the description on YouTube or the show notes on podcast platforms. Otherwise, I'm so glad you tuned into this video. I can't wait to hear about how your closing arguments are going to be dominating and are going to be super, super great and are going to be at the level of a Mock Trial Master.