Chapter 14
Every lawyer has their own style when it comes to opening arguments.
Some try to be conversational with the jury.
Others take a more formal, professorial stance.
Many try to strike a balance in between.
For me, I’ve always viewed opening statements as an opportunity for me to tell a story.
To introduce the jury to my client in a way that feels approachable.
Sitting before them is a human being. A flawed one, of course.
But someone whose fate they hold in their hands.
I understand the system. The protections we have in place that are meant to ensure all of us are afforded equal rights.
I understand that means defense lawyers very often must represent clients who actually committed the crimes they’re accused of.
And for that, we are viewed as the enemy, or morally bankrupt.
And I am lucky. I have reached a certain level of success in my life that allows me to pick and choose whom I represent. I have to believe in my clients.
As Katy sat beside me, swallowed by her crisp blue suit that no longer fit her due to the weight she’d lost in jail, I did not know what to believe. I only knew what I wanted to believe. And I knew that her fate was so intrinsically tied to the people I love that none of it mattered.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Addison Quick began.
He’d come freshly shaved from the barber in the courthouse basement.
He was handsome. Not physically intimidating.
He was only an inch or two taller than I was, but solid and compact.
He moved like a boxer or a wrestler. Light on his feet.
Rod-straight posture. A properly tailored suit.
He had a cleanly shaven head and a deep tan.
“I want to introduce you to Tom Loomis,” he began.
“Some of you already know who he was. You’ve seen his face on the local news.
A good-looking, charming man who wasn’t from Delphi, but fit right in.
He was building a life here. He had a nice house in a quiet neighborhood.
He married the woman he thought was the love of his life. And that’s when the problems began.
“Tom was a good man. But he was by no means perfect.
His moral failings were big. He became involved with his wife, the defendant, Katy Loomis, while she was still very much married to her first husband.
But he fell in love with her. And he believed her when she told him her marriage was all but over.
“That was his first mistake. The Big Lie Katy told him. The one their entire marriage was based on. Because by the time of their first anniversary, Katy was back with her first husband while still married to Tom.
“But the evidence will show he forgave her for that. He believed her when she told him it was over. That it was a fleeting weakness. That she was committed to their marriage. He believed her because he loved her so much. She was everything to him.
“But the evidence will show that Katy was still lying to Tom. She hated him. She had second thoughts about leaving her first husband throughout their entire marriage. But Tom gave her something her first husband couldn’t.
A comfortable, affluent lifestyle. One more, in keeping with the way she was raised.
But she was fickle. Despite all of Tom’s attempts to make her happy, Katy ultimately wanted out.
She told her friends how badly she wanted out.
You’ll see text after text. You’ll hear testimony from some of her friends.
How much of her communication with her friends centered on her dissatisfaction in her marriage and resentment for Tom.
“They fought. Their neighbors will tell you. Their fights were loud and violent. Volatile. There are many unknowns in this case. The defense will try to capitalize on them. But once you see the evidence in this case, you’ll understand the things we do know.
The things that are incontrovertible. Leave no doubt as to what ultimately happened in the early morning of Friday, March 14th.
“Because we have an eyewitness. We have physical evidence at the scene.
There is no other plausible explanation for what happened.
Katy Loomis committed murder. She brutally slaughtered her husband in their marital bed while he slept.
He had no chance to defend himself. He may never have known what was coming.
“But for reasons we’ll never understand, Katy Loomis took a knife and slashed her husband’s throat.
She watched him bleed out. She watched the life drain out of him.
She stood over him while he lay helpless and dying.
And for that, after you hear the evidence, I trust you’ll deliver the justice that Tom Loomis deserves.
You’ll find Katy Loomis guilty of first degree murder.
“We can’t bring Tom back. A good man has been taken from this earth before his time. In a manner he didn’t deserve. That none of us deserve. So the best we can do is bring him justice. The best we can do is to hold the woman who did this to him accountable.
“It is a great responsibility you bear. I want to personally thank you for agreeing to take it on. For being Tom Loomis’s voice since he no longer has one. Thank you.”
He paused for a moment, as if he were going to say something else. Then he turned, shook his head, and walked back to his table.
Judge Castor gave me a silent nod. Katy white-knuckled my arm. I had to gently place my hand over hers to get her to let me go.
“I’m not who he says I am,” she whispered, but loud enough her voice carried. Judge Castor gave me a stern look.
“Not now,” I said to her. I put my finger to my lips.
Katy didn’t look like herself. Her color was gray.
I gestured to the small water bottle in front of her.
Lord, I thought. Please don’t let her pass out on me.
I shot a look at Jeanie. She was on Katy’s other side.
Jeanie reached for the water and unscrewed the cap for her.
I turned away, trusting Jeanie to keep Katy upright in her seat. We’d get a break after I delivered my opening. I just needed Katy to hang on.
“Thank you,” I said. “For giving your valuable time over to this. I agree with Mr. Quick that you have an unenviable task. Actually, I agree with a lot of things Mr. Quick had to say.
“Katy Loomis did things we might find unconscionable. Yes. She cheated on her first husband. You already know the truth about that. She was married to my brother. Though it’s irrelevant to this case.”
The jury had already been briefed on it. They’d been admonished not to let my relationship with one of the potential witnesses in this case factor into their opinions or decisions in any way.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Jeanie pat Katy on the back. Her color looked a little better and I took that as a good sign.
“I also agree with Mr. Quick that you’ll see and hear a lot of disturbing things in this case.
I agree that what happened to Tom Loomis was horrific.
Brutal. Barbaric. He died with his throat cut.
He was attacked while he was sleeping in his own bed.
I agree that Katy and Tom had a troubled marriage.
That is all true. But none of it makes Katy a murderer.
“Mr. Quick wants you to take certain facts as given. But that’s not how this works.
Our system of justice requires you to make your decisions giving Katy Loomis the benefit of reasonable doubt.
Mr. Quick must prove certain facts to you beyond a reasonable doubt.
He must prove that it was Katy Loomis who drew that blade across Tom’s throat.
He must prove that she did so intentionally, not by accident.
When you hear the evidence in this case, I want you to ask yourselves something.
“Is this an incontrovertible fact, as Mr. Quick described it? Or is there another interpretation that could also reasonably be true?
“You will be instructed from time to time that you are not allowed to assume any facts that aren’t in evidence. You’re not allowed to cut corners or fill in the blanks, so to speak, for the things Mr. Quick cannot prove. Just because something might look one way, doesn’t mean it is that way.
“I think that’s what you’ll find with regard to some major issues in this case. Much of it requires you to assume something happened based on a partial account or a half-truth. The moment it does, there’s doubt.”
I paused. Katy sat with her head buried in her hands. I didn’t like it. She drew attention to herself, and not necessarily in a good way. Would the jury think she wasn’t capable of facing any of this? If so, why? Was it guilt? Remorse?
“Mr. Quick has made you some promises. Pretty big ones actually. He promised you an eyewitness. He promised you physical evidence. He promised you there would be no other plausible explanation for what might have happened that night. That’s a pretty tall order.
And it’s one he will not be able to deliver. That I can promise you.
“So when you hear from this so-called eyewitness, make sure you pay attention to what she actually saw.
Pay attention to what the physical evidence shows.
If there is more than one reasonable way to account for it, you must choose the path that leads to a not guilty verdict.
That is the law. It is the law that protects all of us.
“Katy Loomis isn’t just one thing. She isn’t the villainess Mr. Quick wants you to believe she is. Nor is she a saint. She made some very bad choices in her life. I don’t think there’s any denying that. But she did not kill her husband. He was the man she loved and continues to love to this day.
“So that’s what I leave you with. My respectful request for your full attention.
Ask yourselves, what did this witness really see?
Exactly. What does this so-called physical evidence really prove?
You cannot fill in the blanks. You cannot make assumptions.
And that’s what I think the prosecution’s case comes down to.
He will present a series of assumptions that built upon each other, could lead you to question the defendant’s innocence.
However, that is the very definition of reasonable doubt.
“I submit to you that Mr. Quick has no real evidence that Katy Loomis killed her husband. None. He only has assumptions and innuendos. You’ll see it too. I’m confident of that. And when you do, you’ll know that the only possible verdict you can render in this case is not guilty. Thank you.”
I went back to my seat. Katy had gone robot. I didn’t like that either, but it was better than having her fall apart.
“Mr. Quick,” Judge Castor said. “You may call your first witness.”
Quick rose. “The state calls Jenna Rodney to the stand.”
There it was. The crux of Quick’s whole case. The eyewitness.