Plea Negotiation Presentations

During the pretrial phase, defense may wish to present evidence that exonerates the client, or lessens the client’s culpability. The goal at this stage may be to induce the prosecution to decline to prosecute, or to reduce the charges, or to enter into a plea agreement on mutually agreeable terms.

During this stage, after evidence is collected and a strategy determined, we typically create a 15-20 minute narratived multimedia “briefing-style” presentation which is pre-recorded The information provided in the presentation is clearly labeled as “Plea Discussion Document Pursuant to Federal Rules of Evidence 410 or California Code 1153” which ensures that it is not admissible against the defendant at trial. A typical format for a plea negotiation presentation might include:

Introduction: Usually a brief, one minute neutral synopsis of the case and factual introduction of the defendant.
Personal History of the Defendant: In a plea discussion presentation, this section usually lasts no more than 3-4 minutes, and provides a narrated summary of the personal history, accompanied by photographs and other relevant imagery.
Case Analysis: This section presents the evidence regarding the nature and circumstances of he offense that the defense believes the prosecution should consider in reaching a decision as to its position. Depending on the case — evidence presented can be exculpatory, or mitigating, keeping in mind that all evidence presented is protected. During this section, depending on the nature of the offense, we produce chars, graphs, graphics, animation, as well as make use of bodycam, security cam, and other evidence that may be helpful.
Conclusion: This section presents a short conclusion and summation of the information presented.
Proposed Resolution: Some attorneys prefer to offer the proposed resolution verbally after the presentation concludes; others include i within he body of he presentation.

Afterwards, both sides discuss the contents of the presentation, and the case more generally. Pretrial presentations account for almost half of all presentations we create.1