Looking at it from the point of view of the prisoner's
counsel, it is obvious that it is quite as efficacious to free
your client on a point of law, without having the case go to
the jury at all, as to secure an acquittal at their hands.
At the conclusion of the evidence introduced in behalf of the
State there is always a motion made to dismiss the case on the
ground of alleged insufficiency in the proof. This has
usually been made the subject of the most exhaustive study by
the lawyers for the defence, and requires equal preparation on
the part of the prosecutor. The writer recalls trying a
bankrupt, charged with fraud, where the lawyer for the
defendant had written a brief of some three hundred pages upon
the points of law which he proposed to argue to the court upon
his motion to acquit. But, unfortunately, his client pleaded
guilty and the volume was never brought into play.
But a mastery of the law, a thorough knowledge and control of
the evidence, a careful preparation for the opening and
closing addresses, and an intimate acquaintance with the panel
from which the jury is to be drawn are by no means the only
elements in the preparation for a great legal battle.
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