Posts Tagged ‘Draft’
How to Make Offers of Proof
31
May
| From the Jurisdictionary Evidence Tutorial …
If you begin to offer evidence and, before you can get it before the court, the other side objects and the court sustains the objection, you must move the court to allow you to make clear on the record what the evidence was. This is called an offer of proof. If you don’t get your evidence in and don’t offer the proof, you’ll have nothing to appeal if the court rules against you. You won’t be able to win on appeal, because the record for the appellate court to review will not show what the evidence would have been! Therefore, when your attempt to get evidence in is prevented by the court’s sustaining the other side’s objection, be sure to make an offer of proof stating what the evidence would have been and what you intended to prove by it. Then, if an appeal must be taken to the higher court on the basis that you were not allowed to get the evidence in, you’ll have a record to show what the evidence was (or would have been) and be able to argue that “but for” the excluded evidence you would have won … or, at least, that you should be given another chance on remand to the trial court with instructions from the appellate court! In jury trials, offers of proof should be made outside the hearing of the jury. In some cases an offer of proof may be made at the bench, but if you make your offer of proof at the bench, make certain the court reporter comes over to the bench along with his or her recording device to take down every word you, the judge, and other side say! No record = no appeal possible. No appeal possible = judge free to rule as he chooses! Not good.
To learn more about offers of proof, evidence, motions, hearings, pleadings, witness testimony, and other essential know-how you must have to win in court (with or without a lawyer), discover the easy-to-learn methods I teach in my affordable step-by-step official Jurisdictionary self-help course). I’ve been working 25 years as a case-winning lawyer. Accept no substitutes!
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What Were/Are We Fighting For ?
30
May
| What are we asked to remember on Memorial Day?
I have a T-shirt that says, “Freedom is not Free!” It’s true! But! Can blood alone purchase liberty for us? Does war promote peace by war alone? Surely those who gave their lives (or arms and legs and eyes and more) in the struggle of violence to overcome all enemies of individual rights should be remembered today! Had those we honor today not valiantly opposed others hell-bent on ruling the world with “another vision”, we’d be living in an entirely different world … probably without any of the liberties you and I enjoy today. But! What were/are we fighting for if it is not for a system of law-and-order that protects the innocent and honors the rights of us “individuals”versus a so-called “public policy” that twists Justice to favor the demands of money and corrupt political influence? Surely we are not so naive as to believe we can enjoy the blessings of liberty without a system of law-and-order that protects us all … right down to “the least of these”, as Jesus said it long ago! The “least of these” was His way of asking us to care for those who have no money or political influence. I mention “the least of these” not in a “religious sense”, but as a mind-jolter for us to remember why those killed and wounded fought and why some continue to fight! It was not to preserve our flag, but for what our flag is supposed to stand for! It was not to overcome an armed foe, but to protect us from a system of government rule that would ignore “due process and the Rule of Law”. It was not to defeat tyranny, but to protect a nation of ideas and legal principles where The People come first! Oh, my dear friends. You’ve been so faithful to us these past 14 years since we launched Jurisdictionary. My words can never tell how much we appreciate your encouraging calls and emails when the small effort we’ve made for you has turned to your advantage in your warfare of lawsuits and other courtroom battles where Liberty ultimately must be preserved by LAW. Pray the Great Architect of this Universe protect those in harm’s way for our sakes … but pray, too, for that way of life in which each of you have great power to demand Justice in our courts, to overcome money and political influence by a method given to you by those who suffered and died for you, to perpetuate a wonderful way of life for your children and future generations threatened by their own lack of knowledge about their power in courthouses that must be made to work hand-in-hand with the power of our military might! My wife Kathryn and I and our entire family wish you and yours the very most pleasant Memorial Day this year and ask only that youremember what we are fighting for and that blood alone cannot preserve our Liberties. I call on each of you to teach as many as you can that INK wisely used must honor the spilled BLOOD! Please, dear friends. Consider what I say to you today! Without the wise use of words, ideas, rules of justice, and law that protects the innocent, vast oceans of blood can never secure for us a world of peace, prosperity, and personal liberty. I call on YOU to urge everyone to learn what the ones we honor today freely gave their sacrifice to protect! Learn how to use your own ink to truly honor the blood they spilled for you and me! Learn the principles and practices of Justice! Demand that your leaders honor the maxims of our traditional principles of common law! Demand that your judges and lawyers obey the law that makes your Liberty possible! And, please don’t imagine for a moment that sending out thousands of emails or parading in the streets will save the system of law that must in the long run protect us all. YOU MUST LEARN THE RULES OF JUSTICE IF THEY ARE TO BE PROTECTED FROM THE RICH AND POWERFUL WHO WISH TO TWIST THOSE RULES FOR THEIR OWN GAIN ! Only by getting involved in the honorable fight with words can we hope to protect the peace and secure Liberty and Justice for ALL ! Politics has its place … but it is not enough! Military force has its place … but it is not enough! YOU HAVE POWER TO COMMAND GOVERNMENT BY USE OF OUR COURT SYSTEM! Learn how to use YOUR power in the fight for truth! You have power to control your neighbors, big business, even the ever-increasing annoyance of splinter groups who whine and complain about non-essentials at the expense of the rest of us rank-and-file Americans! Remember and honor those who gave so much so you could enjoy this day in peace and liberty. But! Do not forget what they fought for and continue to fight for on foreign soil and here at home! Ink and Blood. Blood and Ink. Our peace cannot endure without them both. If you are not called this day to the field of honor, to be in harm’s way for the sake of others, then do your part by learning how to USE YOUR INK TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE! Together, with wisdom and mercy on our side, we can keep the Lamp burning as long as the earth stands! And, who knows? Perhaps future generations will look back to what YOU did to make the world safer for them! … Dr. Frederick D. Graves, JD ======================= |
You will lose your case if you don’t cite “legal authority!”
The only opinions that count in court are the written opinions of appellate court justices who stand in judgment of trial level judges and have power to reverse them if they disagree with appellate decisions in any way!
Your opinions (no matter how clever or persuasive) count for nothing in court.
You must clearly show the judge on the record by citing official legal authorities from appellate decisions, exactly what will happen if the judge rules against you!
This is how smart lawyers win in court.
Stupid lawyers are afraid of judges, afraid to threaten appeal, so they lose … routinely!
Clever argument is not enough.
Knowing the law is not enough.
Even having all the evidence is not enough!
Controlling judges is what wins lawsuits!
You control judges by making clear on the record what higher level appellate courts have ruled in the past, what opinions those higher courts have passed down, and why the higher courts will reverse the trial judge’s orders if he rules contrary to what the appellate courts require.
Read the testimonials ⇒
You must provide citations to official legal authority in motions, memoranda, objections, and verbal arguments at hearings and at trial (if you don’t win before trial using the easy-to-learn methods we teach in my affordable step-by-step official Jurisdictionary course).
You must tell the judge why you should win – by citing official legal authorities the judge is required to obey:
- court rules,
- constitutional provisions,
- statutes,
- codes, and
- most importantly the opinions of higher courts that clarify what those rules, constitutional provisions, statutes, and codes really mean!
What you think they mean doesn’t count!
Trust me! I’ve been at this for 25 years!
How you choose to read and interpret the law doesn’t count a bit … not even a tiny bit!
The only thing that counts is how the appellate courts read and interpret the law, and what they say the law means in regard to the facts of your case.
The other side will cite legal authorities for their case.
You must do the same … if you want to win.
If you’ve wandered through a law library in search of legal authority, you were probably amazed to find crowded shelves stuffed with volumes of similar-looking books, differing only by the mysterious numbers printed on their spines. Books that give no hint which one might hide the key to unlock the judge’s favor in your case. In a well-stocked law library there are thousands of books.
You cannot possibly read them all to find what you seek, and even the indexes, appendices, and annotations are a complex nightmare that requires years of experience to master.
On the other hand, on-line legal research is easy.
We show you how to do it in our official course.
Learn how to use on-line legal research and how to cite case-winning legal authority in my affordable step-by-step 24-hour official Jurisdictionary self-help course!
Know how to control the judge – or you will lose!
These “Tips & Tactics” newsletters are only the very tip of the iceberg of lawsuit knowledge you need to win. If you don’t already have my 24-hour step-by-step self-help course, go to my website and order now!
Learn how to research and cite … so you can WIN!
Dr. Frederick David Graves, JD
