Mock trial opening

1. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I want you to picture my
client, Donna Osborn as a young high school teacher, who decided that
she wanted to obtain her Masters degree. So, Donna left her job as a
high school teacher to peruse her Master’s Degree in English at U of R
graduate school. Once finished, she planned to return to teaching.
While Donna was working on her degree, she met and fell in love
with a man named Clinton. They were married in 1988 in a lavish
wedding. Donna soon became pregnant and in December Clinton III (aka
Chip) was born. Something changed in Clinton when Donna became
pregnant. Clinton began to act very possessive of Donna, and he became
very jealous of the men working on their new house. At this time
Clinton began being verbally abusive.
Clinton’s verbal abuse increased as the years went on. He
eventually became physically abusive. While Donna was pregnant with
Chip, Clinton had pushed her down. It was after the birth of Chip that
Clinton began leaving visible signs of his abuse on Donna. Donna early
on believed that there was hope that things would get better.
The evidence that will be presented will prove that Donna was
suffering from battered woman’s syndrome. Our expert will testify
there are four stages of this disorder. She will tell you how Donna
went through every one of those stages during her relationship with
Clinton.
We will prove that on the night of February 14 Donna Osborn had
no choice but to fight back against her abuser or be killed. Clinton
had one thing and only one thing in mind. He wanted to make sure that
his wife Donna would no longer be living. So, Donna got the courage

2. and fought back against her abuser to protect her son and herself from
the abusive behavior of Clinton. Donna is now on trial facing second
degree murder charges. Donna’s only way out was to either be killed or
to permanently stop her abuser. The evidence that will be presented
will show that Clinton was not going to allow Donna to leave their
house alive.
Does Donna need to serve time in jail for getting the courage to
stand up to her abuser? No, the evidence will prove that Donna is in
need of counseling to help her recover from all of the years of
psychological, emotional, and physical abuse from Clinton.