Utah Criminal Jury Trial
- Salt Lake Defense Attorney
Opening Statements
Following the
jury
selection process and after the court has given
preliminary
instructions to the jury, both sides (prosecution and
defense) have an opportunity to make an opening statement to the jury.
Under Utah law, a defense attorney can elect to make the
defense opening statement either at the beginning of the trial (after
the prosecutor's opening statement and before the first prosecution
witness is called), or at the beginning of the defense case (after the
prosecutions case-in-chief is concluded and before the first defense
witness is called). A defense attorney may also elect not to
give any opening statement at all. But most of the best
criminal defense
attorneys agree that giving an opening statement at the
beginning of a trial is important. Although the judge may
instruct the jury to refrain from forming opinions until all evidence
has been presented, most jurors are unable to completely do this.
Thus, it is important to get the defense theory of the case
into the jurors' minds as soon as possible.

An opening
statement in a Utah criminal trial differs from closing argument.
In a closing argument, both the prosecutor and the defense
attorney have the opportunity to argue their positions to the jury, to
openly attempt to persuade the jury in their favor. But in an
opening statement, the attorneys are not permitted to engage in open
argument regarding the facts or the application of the law.
Instead, an opening statement is intended to consist of an
overview or statement of what evidence will be presented during the
course of the trial. The best criminal defense attorneys
still are able to find ways to craft the opening statement in a way
that begins the process of swaying the jury to their side.
NEXT: Prosecution's Presentation of Evidence and
Cross-Examination
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Preliminary Instructions to the Jury
As an experienced Utah
criminal defense lawyer
based in Salt Lake City, Stephen Howard has successfully handled cases
ranging from the most serious first-degree aggravated felonies to
misdemeanor DUI, and virtually everything in between. We
offer services to clients thoroughout Utah.
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