Mongol Trial Day 6 (1/12/14)

Today, I am continuing to revise my opening statement and follow my Aunt's suggestions and mark-ups (see last post...).  She suggested that I include some analytical paragraphs/aspects to my statement.  For example, she told me that it would help to include a paragraph that predicted what the defense would bas their argument around and how we would combat it.  She sent a PDF to me with the corrections I could make to improve my opening statement.  Here are some of the main ideas that I added to my opening statement to improve it:

• The defense is going to argue that the actions of the mongols were justified and that they did not break any laws. The Mongols NEEDED to carry out these actions in order to stabilize and unite their empire.  
• To combat this, we are going to provide evidence from our six witnesses (2 Chinese peasants, a Persian Citizen, an Abbasid Caliph, Pope Innocent IV, and an European Night).  They will give their account of their experiences with the Mongols. 
• After hearing this information, it will be obvious that the defense's argument makes no absolutely no sense an has been rendered invalid.  

After I revised and came up with a final Opening Statement, I continued to start practicing an reciting it.  Though there were many parts of the opening statement which required sheer memorization, I found that memorizing a page-and-a-half wasn't as difficult as I had imagined it to be.  After reading it numerous times over and over again, the opening statement engrained itself into the frontal lobe of my brain.  The opening statement followed a logical progression, and so it was easier for me to follow a single thought process.  Another factor which helped in my preparation was that there was no set boundaries for my statement - as long as I conveyed the same idea to the jury as I had written for my opening statement, there was no difference.  I continued to practice sporadically throughout the day until it was solidified in my head....

Tomorrow, I plan on wearing a suit and tie to simulate the actions and apparel of an actual lawyer.  I hope my preparation pays off tomorrow and we send the Mongol Defendants back to the steppes of central Asia!