Opening Statements In the Casey Anthony Trial

Opening statements in the Casey Anthony trial will start tomorrow.  The prosecution will go first and present an outline of their case.  The defense will have a crucial decision to make right from the start.  Do they want to make an opening statement now or defer till the end of the prosecutions case?

This strategy of waiting can be helpful to the defense since they will not have to give away any of their defenses.  It also allows them to develop more defenses as the case goes on.  Additionally, by not doing an opening statement in the beginning of the case, they keep their options open and can change their defense to fit the prosecution since they have not committed themselves to any issues.

The downside is that the state will have presented a lengthy opening statement with overwhelming evidence that is not answered right away by the defense.  Therefore the jury will have only been exposed to one side of the case for many weeks before the defense responds.

Deferring opening statement is a crucial strategy decision that has to be made sometime tomorrow morning.