The Rule-Out method of criminal defense, easily learned, gets most jurors to want to decide verdicts based solely on reasonable doubts -- which, perhaps unexpectedly, few jurors normally do on their own no matter how you explain it. Instead, most convictions result from burden shifting, the usual demand by jurors that the defense attorney prove innocence. Rule Out prevents this, teaches how to find plentiful reasonable doubts, and shows how to avoid the common practices that cause most convictions.

Table of Contents:

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Part 1: Concept and Principles

1. What is Rule Out?
2. Racism
3. The Warning
4. Burden Shifting and Lesser Included Defenses by Richard S. Jaff
5. The Art and Craft of Reasonable Doubts
6. Forensics and Junk Science
7. Reasonable Doubt and Law by Elliot Abrams

Part 2: Rule Out in Practice

8. Voir Dire
9. Opening Statement by Shannon Tucker
10. Direct Examination
11. Cross-Examination
12. Closing Argument
13. Focus Groups by Artemis Malekpour
14. Reasonable Doubts in Sex Crime Cases by Susan Seahorn

Bibliography

About the Author and Contributors

Index