The Trial Exhibit Can Make All The Difference
Michael Babboni
Car Accidents
The trial and the theatrics of the courtroom are something that many of us are familiar with at least through the entertainment industry. Unless you’re a lawyer, or participating in a court case yourself, many people have little personal experience with what actually happens during a trial. But thanks to the fascination that American culture has with the judicial process, there’s plenty of coverage about trial activities both in the fiction of films, books and dramas, as well we news coverage and reality TV shows that document actual trial events.A trial has many different aspects that are critical to its resolution and a final verdict. The one that we’re going to look at today has had many changes over the decades, and some might argue that it’s importance has grown at the same rapid pace as the technologies used for it, and that is the trial exhibit.
Show & Tell
A trial exhibit is more of technique or a method than a specific technology. It is a way to demonstrate to a jury a certain point, so that they have the information they need in order to come to a verdict. Exhibits are essentially educational tools, distilling important concepts in a way that is easier to process. Some infamous trial exhibits have been used in criminal cases for murder in courts, but they play a useful role in civil personal injury cases as well.
For example, in a slip and fall case that happened in a hotel bathroom, a recreation of the toilet, floor and shower stall may be constructed and brought into the court to show the jury the exact circumstances behind how a person could fall and injure themselves in the bathroom. This full, life size recreation of the area in question no longer requires a jury to imagine how such an injury could be sustained but lets them see with their own eyes the exact circumstances.
In other cases, such as reconstructing a car accident, it’s both not helpful and financially unfeasible to recreate a car and the accident in a court. Instead, experts in accident reconstruction work closely with computer animators to create a computer generated video that can, once again, educate a jury. By creating this animation, a jury can virtually “relive” an accident, with helpful commentary from experts that point out the exact circumstances that led to the accident and the subsequent injuries.
This is far simpler, and more dramatic way of presenting facts such as injuries, movement of cars and the forces involved. It makes it much easier for a jury to understand what kind of factors were important and can simply illustrate why certain people are or aren’t at fault for the reasons behind an accident.
Proper Trial Preparation
This is just one of the many reasons why it’s important to get a good personal injury lawyer when you decide to take someone to court. An experienced attorney already knows the people to contact in order to set the wheels in motion for creating the kind of trial exhibits that quickly and effectively communicate to a jury exactly what you have suffered. Hearing a story, facts or statistics is one thing. But seeing a video or some other recreation often makes a big difference.