If you ever wondered just how important the jurors’ first
impressions of your client and witnesses are, here’s a mind-boggling social experiment,
posted on Facebook.
It shows people walking right past well-known and loved
family members, not recognizing a single one of them, when the family members
were dressed as homeless individuals, sitting as the homeless often do, on the
sidewalk by a building.
Now, if dress and body posture can fool a daughter into not
recognizing her mother, or parents into not recognizing their own children,
imagine how critical the attire and body language of your client and witnesses
are. The jurors can easily be misled as to the credibility and sincerity of
your witnesses, strangers as they all are, at the beginning of trial.
In jury debriefings, it was found, for example, that a
neurosurgeon who wore a black shirt under his expensive dark suit, was labeled
“Mafia Doc” by the jurors when nothing could have been farther from the truth.
A handsome thirty-year-old CPA, who persisted in running his hand through his
stylish somewhat long locks, was dubbed “Player” by the jurors, and his
testimony deemed suspect: “Nobody who looks like that could ever be serious.”
First impressions matter. From the moment your
client/witness steps into the courtroom, all juror eyes are upon them. And
jurors judge everything they see according to stereotyped definitions which
unfortunately hold great power. Even as the trial unfolds, failure to attend to
your witnesses’ self-presentation can mar otherwise competent testimony.
