When is a picture worth more than a thousand words?
Posted by Rick Sader on February 12, 2010 at 2:33 pmWhen it’s worth twelve votes….. in the courtroom, that is. To a trial lawyer, getting your point across to the jury is absolutely critical. And most people understand and remember info better when it is presented to them visually. I think we’ve all experienced this in our lives. Can you remember when you tried to explain something verbally to someone? And maybe it just wasn’t sinking in? And then you drew them a picture or showed them a diagram. Sometimes the response you get back is “Oh, NOW I SEE!”
Not convinced? Here’s an example. I’ll describe a traffic accident scene to you and see if you can picture it in your mind. Or maybe even try to sketch it out. Here we go:
“There was a three-car pileup on an icy road. A small, black car skidded on the ice and was then rear-ended by a red car. That car was then rear-ended by a white van which left long skid marks on the road before coming to a rest. There were no injuries but the left lane was partially blocked for about an hour.”
OK…. how’d you do? Pretty easy to get an image in your mind, right? But was the image you conjured up exactly like the real accident scene? At what angles were your cars positioned? What portion of each car got hit? As you can imagine, conveying the actual events to a jury in court (and having them remember all that in the deliberation room) can mean the difference between a conviction and an acquittal.
Here’s an illustration of the scene created by a graphic designer from a sketch and photos provided by the officer responding to the scene. This illustration leaves very little open to interpretation and is much easier for the jury to remember & discuss.
Courtroom graphics can be a valuable resource in the courtroom. Got the picture?