Reasonable Doubt
In the July issue of Litigation News published by the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association there appeared a short article on "reasonable doubt". In the article they quote Paul Mark Sandler of Baltimore on an effective way to describe reasonable doubt in a closing argument. The quote reads as follows:
"Let's assume we have a box, and in that box are a cat and a mouse. We put the lid on the box; we walk away. When we come back the mouse is gone. Is there any reasonable doubt on what happened to that mouse? But what if when we come back, we open the box and, lo and behold, there's a big hole in the side of the box. Is there now reasonable doubt of what happened to that mouse? Sure there is. Well, let's turn to the holes in the prosecution's case . . . "
Great one for criminal lawyers. I am still looking for one to describe "preponderance of the evidence" that is so compelling.
