July 10, 2005
Crime Stories

By SPENCER MORGAN
From "To Kill A Mockingbird" to "Law & Order," Hollywood has conditioned real-life jurors to expect a lot from courtroom proceedings: high drama and lawyers willing and able to deliver it. Neal Howard brings the process full circle. He uses his experience as a Hollywood screenwriter to help prosecutors weave compelling stories for their 12-person audiences. "The jury really is just an audience, and every trial is drama," said Mr. Howard, 46, who has written for shows like "The King of Queens" and "The Love Boat: The Next Wave" and for the last three years has been a litigation consultant for the law firm Zagnoli McEvoy Foley in Chicago. "You have your protagonists, your heroes, your victims. The trick is to help ensure that the things that are going to move the story emotionally don't get lost in the legal shuffle."

Coincidentally, several of the cases he has worked on were so dramatic that they inspired films. Most recently, he consulted for the prosecution on the trial of Edgar Ray Killen, the 80-year-old Klansman who was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers, dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning." His first courtroom experience came working alongside the veteran jury consultant Andrew M. Sheldon in the 2001 trial of Thomas E. Blanton Jr., who was eventually convicted of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that was the subject of Spike Lee's documentary "4 Little Girls." Mr. Sheldon, 63, who said he quickly saw that Mr. Howard's skills would be "incredibly useful," estimated that of the 800 or so professional jury consultants in the United States, fewer than 20 had a background in film or theater. "Lawyers are generally not instructed in storytelling," he said. "If you create a story structure for jurors to hang their facts on, they are much more likely to remember things clearly and the way you want them to."

Mr. Howard said he was always looking for ways to turn a piece of evidence into a dramatic device; in the Blanton case, when an F.B.I. report said that the church bomb was most likely equal to 20 sticks of dynamite, he interpreted it this way for the prosecutors: "That's five sticks per girl. That's how many sticks of dynamite it takes to kill hope, that's what it takes to kill a dream." But he has not abandoned his first career. He and his writing partner are developing a "realistic comedy" pilot called "From This Day Forward," in which a marriage is seen simultaneously at three different points in its lifespan. So which gig pays better? "In terms of remuneration, Hollywood's got most jobs beat," Mr. Howard said. "If you can stay employed, television writing definitely pays better. As a steady gig, jury consulting's pretty good." But he added: "Don't confuse that for rewarding. I doubt even an Academy Award for something as good as 'To Kill a Mockingbird' could be as rewarding or gratifying as working on some of these cases."

Over the past two weeks we have entered 139 pieces of evidence. Because my Judge will not allow pre-marking of exhibits, the jury has the pleasure of watching us open envelopes and remark and repakage evidence in containers without hearsay.

I watched a buddy of mine (and trial partner) do that with 22 bullets and casings from a shoot-out crime scene. About 40 minutes into it, he turned to the CSSU officer and asked,"They don't show this part on tv, do they?" The jury had a good laugh and the mounting tension flowed away. I wonder how our friend would inject drama into that exercise?