Friday, March 20, 2015

Statement Analysis of Defense Attorneys : Audrey Thomas

We often get denials from defense attorneys which show, via the lens of Statement Analysis:

The lawyer does not believe in the client's innocence.

This proves the principle that most lying (90% and north) comes from editing out information.  Even a sociopath does not like to lie outright, due to the internal stress it causes.  Now, I am not comparing defense attorneys to sociopaths, even though this sentence is in the negative.

When we listen to what a defense attorney says, we may know if the attorney believes his or her own words.

Here comes the attorney for the McDonald's vicious and savage assault who says her client wasn't even there, even though we see her on the video.

Does she believe her own assertion?

Statement Analysis is added to this NY Daily News article, with emphasis added to the quotes:

Lawyer of teen in Brooklyn McDonald's brawl proclaims girl's innocence: 'The video helps our defense that she wasn't a participant'


Attorney Audrey Thomas (l.) with her 17-year-old client Tilani Marshall, who Thomas said was innocent and that she didn’t take part in the McDonald’s fight.Christie M. Farriella for New York Daily News
A lawyer for one of the teens charged in the brutal caught-on-camera beatdown in a Brooklyn McDonald’s proclaimed her client’s innocence Thursday as the sixth and final suspect waited to see a judge.

The video helps our defense that she wasn’t a participant,” Audrey Thomas, who represents Tilani Marshall, 17, said of the widely viewed footage depicting the wild assault in the Flatbush fast-food joint.
Thomas did not go into details how the footage shows Marshall’s innocence.

If the video did not have her client, would it "prove" her client's innocence, or "help" it?  Please note that "helps" is weaker than "proves", as "helps" only assists, while "proves" is definitive. 



Facebook

Attack victim Ariana Taylor seen in a Facebook photo. She went on social media after the video went viral and boasted about now being famous.

The lawyer said the high school student, who’s three credits shy of graduation, has been suspended for a year because of the charges — putting her future in doubt while being offered no assistance of support.
“Her life will change now. She wants to study marine biology because she’s concerned about global warming,” Thomas said.

note that "global warming" may be a politically correct tangent away from her guilt, and an attempt to persuade the reader to view her client in the most positive light (one who cares about humanity), which is "attempt to persuade" (weakness) but she fails to use the more modern phrase, "climate change."


She also decried the lack of after-school programs and violence in popular culture.

This thing didn’t happen in a bubble,” the lawyer said. “It’s a learned behavior.”

In context, 'decrying the lack of after-school programs and violence in popular culture', she uses the word "this" , which indicates 'closeness'; 

a.  since her client was not there, there is no reason to excuse violence
b.  the word "this" brings her and her client closer to the assault. 
c.  We note the need to spread out blame as well. 

Statement Analysis conclusion:  This attorney knows her client did it and is mounting a deceptive defense.  She does not believe her own words.  She is not 'protecting her client against malicious prosecution', but is employing a 'win at all costs' defense, at least to the media.  

Marshall, whose family posted a $75,000 bail on her attempted gang assault charge, appears to be the only girl involved in the March 9 melee that’s currently not incarcerated. That means prosecutors did not have to file an indictment Thursday and the case was pushed back.

Alleged ringleader Aniah Ferguson, 16, has been indicted for attempted gang assault.

Thomas claimed her client isn’t friends with her and only knows Ferguson from the school they both attend, Erasmus Hall High School.
Marshall, looking assured and resolved, said nothing when leaving Brooklyn Criminal Court.
A total of six girls, ages 14 through 17, have been busted.

The last collar came Wednesday, when a 15-year-old was taken into custody.
Her father wouldn’t comment on his daughter’s involvement.

"I don’t know,” he said. “I wasn't there. All I know is what I saw on TV.

This would be the perfect time for the father to say that when he saw the video on TV, his daughter was not in it. 


The super at her building, Francis Springer, said the family had six children.
I was surprised,” he said of noticing the teen in the disturbing video. “But when you see kids on the street they act differently than in the house.
The teen was awaiting arraignment Thursday evening along with a 14-year-old suspect who was extradited from Atlanta, where she was caught trying to board a plane to Jamaica.

4 comments:

John Mc Gowan said...

“This thing didn’t happen in a bubble,” the lawyer said. “It’s a learned behavior.”

jen dugena said...

the girl in the pic has a closed fist as if she's ready to punch -is the weather that cold? or is she still angry?

Anonymous said...

She to study marine biology. I want to be a forensic scientist, but I have no plans to attend school to make it happen (I'm close to retiring). In addition, "study" does not mean college was in the plans. I can study about marine biology in a book for 5 minutes and call it good.

If the girl was working toward a college degree in marine biology I would expect to hear "she has made plans (or has plans) to attend college to earn a degree in marine biology.

Anonymous said...

Don't know what happened to my post above but it should have read "She wants (in bold) to study.