"Beyond A Reasonable Doubt"

MWELA members Lynne Bernabei and Elaine Charlson Bredehoft have published essays in the new book, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (2006, Phoenix Books, ISBN 1-59777-503-7, xxii + 463 pages).

This book is authored by a select group of lawyers and others, edited and with a foreword by Larry King.

Elaine’s essay is titled "Trial by Jury: America’s Tried and True Political Orthodoxy," and discusses the importance of retaining the jury system, as opposed to bench trials. She aptly writes that, in contrast to a bench trial, "A juror, however, must answer to their fellow jurors if attempting to apply prejudice or flawed reasoning. A jury’s strength in numbers reflects an internal check and balance system." She also notes that "In the judicial system, jury selection motivates an individual to apply fairness and reason to redress a wrong."

Lynne’s essay is titled "New Age Cross-Examination," and discusses the need to "communicate on a level with the witness where he will want to tell you exactly why he did the things he did, which often reveals the illegality of his actions." This essay includes excerpts from the deposition of a former high-ranking D.C. government official (and frequent expert witness in criminal and civil proceedings), who candidly admitted that although he graduated in the bottom third of his medical school class, on his government personnel application (which had a perjury warning), he wrote that he was in the top 50% of his class, because he wanted to bolster his self-esteem. Lynne also discusses a deposition in another discrimination case, in which the supervisor candidly admitted that he stole commissions from an employee who was HIV-positive, because he would rather use the money to grow his business, and not have it go into the employee’s estate.

Alan R. Kabat, The Bernabei Law Firm PLLC