MKL’s take on the Opening Statements in Devault
Today I was in the courtroom for the opening statements in the State v. Marissa Devault case. This is a death penalty case in Maricopa County. The State is alleging Devault murdered her husband by attacking him, while he slept, in the head with a hammer. She did this for the money she would receive from two life insurance policies, one that was older and a very new one. You see, prior to the murder she had a relationship with a man who loaned her almost $300,000.00 and she needed to repay him. That is what the State is alleging is Devault’s motive for killing her husband.
The openings did not blow me away with brilliance; however, each attorney did a good job of laying out the basics of their arguments. Opening statements are supposed to be an outline of what the evidence will show so I did not expect them to be anything more than that. I have inserted a short account of what happened in the statements and my thoughts on them above.
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