The prosecution had the harder side to deal with, and I believe that that should have been taken into account with the jury. The defense had the advantage with the fact that they had “Mark Twain” a.k.a. Christina, on their side. I also do believe that the prosecution had an advantage with Ellie Zak as their leading lawyer. I believe that the prosecution did an amazing job proving their point, and I was very shocked to finally hear the verdict.
The verdict, being that Twain was not guilty, came as a huge surprise on my part. I believe that the prosecution put in much more effort analyzing the text to support their side, than that of the defense. To support the prosecution, direct quotes were analyzed, and characters were questioned based on truths in the book. Witnesses used to support the prosecution supported much more truth and meaning directly from the book than that of the defense. The defense merely used Mark Twain to their advantage, by having the student give an opinion, and allowing the students opinion to be considered that of Mark Twains because they were playing the character. I believe that the verdict is null and void; being that the student playing Mark Twain could simply say ‘I am not racist.’ and it would be accepted as an official statement of Mark Twain’s. Although the characterization by the student was allowed, I believe the jury should have overlooked the student playing the character, and see who had more direct evidence from the book to support their side. The jury was completely biased. They overlooked the fact that the prosecution had more evidence, and only saw Mark Twain (Christina) “in the flesh” saying that he was not racist. I believe that previous discussions from the book about the abolitionist perspective also influenced the vote of the jury. Although the entire thing was “legal”, I do believe that an unbiased jury would have supported the well planned prosecution.
Also, big props to the prosecuting lawyers, they did an amazing job. I am sorry that they couldn’t leave this trial with satisfaction, being that they lost. I believe their argument should have won over the jury. The prosecution did an amazing job, and the verdict was a huge surprise when it finally came.
