court presentation word hike

Court presentation - Word Hike answers

Are you looking for never ending fun in this exciting logic brain app? Word Hike is the new wonderful word game developed by Joy Vendor, known by his best puzzle word games on the android and apple store. Each pack has more than 15 levels. Some of the packs are: Departures, USA, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia. We have also good news regarding the game: All the words were discovered by our team! We will share all of them and add new ones on a daily basis. Last but not least, if you are facing any difficulties in solving this " Court presentation " or any other Word Hike level, do not hesitate to leave a comment below. Please feel free to send us a comment below, if you are stuck at any level and cant find the right solution.

Court presentation

The answer to this question:

More answers from this level:

• Cost-saving measures:
• Persian stuff on the floor:
• Do some executive recruiting:
• Non-competitive match:
• It's has 12 months:
• Explorers of the unknown:
• Damage from continued use:
• Push steadily against:
• At the back of the pack:
• "Are you satisfied now?":
• Lively, full of life:
• It's sold in bars:
• Part of most sunglasses:
• Speak with your hands:
• Large celebratory meal:

Court presentation Word Hike – Answers

Few minutes ago, I was playing the game and trying to solve the Clue : Court presentation in the themed crossword On A Boat of the game Word Hike and I was able to find the answers. Now, I can reveal the words that may help all the upcoming players.

Now, I will reveal the answer for this clue : And about the game answers of Word Hike, they will be up to date during the lifetime of the game.

Answers of Word Hike Court presentation:

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Word Hike Court report answer

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Word Hike Trivia Puzzle Level 1751 – In Court

Find the complete solutions and cheats for Word Hike Trivia Puzzle Level 1751 – In Court , available on iPhone, iPad, Android, and other platforms. All solutions come with accompanying screenshots to make it easier for you to clear each level. This game is brought to you by Joy Vendor Limited.

Solutions for Word Hike Trivia Puzzle Level 1751 – In Court ?

We’re continuously working to manually find and update the most accurate solutions. As of now, the best answers we’ve found are listed below:

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Resources and information all Self-reps need.

15 skills for effective presentations in court.

Representing yourself requires a certain skill set. We’re providing you with a set of 15 skills that you need to be persuasive in presenting your case. Keep these in the back of your mind throughout the process and you’ll be ready to rock the courtroom.

Part of the benefit of working with The Family Law Coach is that we can provide you with the assistance you need to gain these skills before and during the process. When you’ve gone through this list, check out the Services offered by The Family Law Coach to see how we can help you help yourself.

Skill 1. Telling the judge why you’re in court, and what you want, in just one or two sentences.

Many self-reps feel that finally being in front of a judge gives them the chance to “tell my story” and get a whole lot of grievances and complaints off their chest. They want to vent about all of the injustices and wrongs done to them and how bad the other party is. The judge may look interested, but is this effective? No.

Just because a judge is being patient, and waiting until you get to the point, doesn’t mean he or she is agreeing with you. They’re working hard to pull out the relevant details to help them make a decision. The harder the judge has to concentrate to get the information he or she needs, the more difficult it is to make a decision in your favour.

You need to be concise and practice the skill to put your complaints aside and deal with only 2 questions: Why are you here? What result do you want?

Make sure to take the time to rehearse the answers to each question so you can state your position in a loud and intelligible voice. Here are some concrete examples.

“Judge, I’m here to change the access arrangements from the existing order to the terms set out in the schedule attached to my notice of motion. Essentially I’m asking for a more flexible arrangement than the one now in place.”

“Your Honour, I’m here because In lost my job 6 months ago and the best new job I could get pays less than what I was earning when I agreed to child support of $879 per month. I need an order for reduced support payments, but my former wife won’t agree.”

“Judge, my former wife is asking that she be allowed to move to a different city because she’s planning to marry her boyfriend who lives there. But that will have a disastrous effect on the time the children and I have together and the nature of our time together, and I’m opposing her request for that reason.”

“Your Honour, my former partner has been interfering with my access to our children by making last minute changes in arrangements to suit her/his convenience without consulting me, cancelling visits unilaterally, and generally refusing to comply with the terms of our access order. I’m asking that she/he be found in contempt and that the order require that the terms be complied with or the residential arrangements for the children are to be changed to me.”

In each case it took only 2 sentences to give the court a good idea of what the matter is about, both side’s positions, and your suggested solution.

This is called the Tim Horton’s Pitch: what you tell the person in line for morning coffee when they ask what you’re doing today so you can be finished before it’s their turn to order.

But more than simply being brief, it shows that you respect the system and the court’s time by being clear and to the point. So long as what you say is truthful and supported by the evidence, it shows that you’re a trustworthy person to whom the judge should pay attention. It’s a terrific way to be effective.

Skill 2. Practice, practice, practice

It’s not easy to get the reason you’re in court into just a few, clear, sentences. It takes practice. Thinking that you can ad lib this when the judge looks at you to speak is a big mistake. Good lawyers take lots of time to get their case into the important first few sentences. They try doing it different ways. And they practice saying it out loud.

Some of us convince ourselves that we know our case so well that we don’t need to practice anything. Others convince ourselves that our matter is so complex and involves so many details that we can’t get it into a couple of sentences. We think the judge needs to hear everything in order to understand what the case is about. And some of us convince ourselves we’re just no good at talking on our feet and we won’t be able to tell the court what we want it to know.

That sort of thinking creates mental blocks that hold us back. One trick to overcoming this is practice.

Write down what you want to say. Read it over and change it to what the judge needs to know. Try different ways to present your case to see what works best for you. Then shorten it until you get what the judge needs to know into 2 -3 sentences.

Write down whatever you want to say in point form. Make each point only one or two sentences. Re-arrange the points into a logical sequence. Look at what you’ve written for each point and see if it can be shortened. Then practice saying it out loud in front of a mirror or to someone you trust and can give you feedback.

The more you practice the easier it will be to tell the judge, and the more comfortable you’ll be in court. Pro athletes practice before every game. So should you.

Skill 3. Avoid the nasty

Personal attacks hurt your case. You may be tempted to put negative things about the other party in your material or presentation, but you need to be able to resist that temptation.

Spending time to complain about the other person and all the nasty things that they did hurts your case. If it’s not relevant, you’re wasting the judge’s time and making it harder for him or her to understand the important information. If you turn off the judge with your whining and complaining, he or she might miss hearing the important things you have to say.

If, however, the conduct of the other party is really relevant to the issue, make it clear why the information is important to the judge’s decision. For example, if the behaviour shows that the other party says inappropriate things front of the children, or if he or she acts without judgement.

Making things relevant to the issues the judge has to decide, instead of leaving them as a personal attack on the other person, makes your comments far more powerful and effective. Judges don’t like hearing negative personal attacks.

Skill 4. Writing in an clear and logical way

Much of the key work in creating an effective case is done before you stand up to speak. It’s in the written material the judge reads in the file. What you write and how you write it is the first step in showing the judge why the court should give you what you want.

Are you able to set out your story, what you want, and why you should get it, in a clear and understandable way? You need to be able to organize what you need to say in a way that makes sense to the judge. Just like what you say to the judge when you’re speaking, what you say to the judge in your writing needs to be clear and easy to understand.

The key to good legal writing is re-writing. Go over what you’ve written and then ask yourself: “If a stranger didn’t know anything about my case would they get a good idea of what it’s about and why they should agree with me, or would they find parts of what I’ve written confusing? Will they get my point? Is what I’ve written difficult to read or easy?”

Then start over and re-write everything. Show it to someone. Ask them to help you be more clear and focussed. Remember why you’re writing the document – it’s not to get everything of your chest, it’s to give the judge the information he or she needs to understand what you’re asking for and to encourage them to give it to you.

If you can do this, you’ll find your written material to be a really effective way of getting a judge to want to help you, even before your case is called.

Skill 5. Gathering the relevant information and staying on top of the materials you need

You may have to gather information as part of your case. You may need to get correct bank statements to show what money was in different bank accounts, or account statements to show the value of investments or RRSPs, at key dates. You may need copies of Insurance policies or property ownership papers, or tax and utility bills. Perhaps you’ll need information from your employer or doctor.

They key to gathering information effectively is to create a list and check it off as it’s collected. Keep it in one place and keep it organized and you’ll be good to go.

Skill 6. Being Organized

It’s important to be able to organize your material. Do you have the various exhibits and supporting material you need to support your story? Can you collect the documents and evidence you need to support your position? Can you put your material into a sensible and organized structure?

If you can do this, great. If that’s not what you do well, ask a friend or family member to help you organizing everything. Taking the time to organize your materials helps you to organize your case and present it to the judge in an effective way.

Skill 7. Being a good researcher

In some cases a bit of research is needed to collect the information and evidence that supports your story. You may also need to gather legal information. Will you be able to do your own research? Do you know how to do it?

Skill 8. Being on time and knowing how to wait

Court matters are filled with deadlines. Are you able to get your papers filed on time and show up in court when scheduled?

Do you have the time to get to the court office and to get the information you need? Are you able to explain what you want and do you have the patience, if needed, to go from one court office to another until you get it?

If you’re late submitting documents or in showing up to court, this could have a very serious impact on your outcome.

It’s not uncommon for a self-rep to find that they’ve gone to the wrong counter or wrong office are in the wrong line or have the wrong papers with them. It’s important that you recognize this at the beginning, give yourself lots of time and have patience.

And patience is an important thing to bring with you whenever you have to deal with the court offices. Often the lines are long. Give yourself lots of time. The family court process is going to have a long-term impact on your life and it’s worth taking extra time so you can avoid being late.

Skill 9. Paying attention to detail

Are you able to pay attention to detail? For example, before beginning to fill in a blank on a form do you read the instructions to be sure you’re filling it out properly? Have you attached all the documents you refer to in your materials? When you refer to a section of some legislation, have you checked to be sure you’ve got the right number and reference?

If you’re missing any details or fill out a form wrong, it will be harder for the judge to rule in your favour. So it helps your case if you’ve been careful about everything before you file it with the court office.

Skill 10. Understanding the appropriate Guidelines that affect your case

Have you looked at the Child Support Guidelines or the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines to be sure that what you’re saying about them is accurate? Have you checked out the sections you’ll be referring to and do you understand them?

There are guides available for each the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines and the Child Support Guidelines. Read and understand them. It will help you be effective in presenting your case.

Skill 11. Distancing yourself

There’s a phrase in legal circles: “A lawyer who acts for himself has a fool for a client.” It means that the best person to represent you is someone who isn’t emotionally connected to your case. As a self-rep, you’re acting for yourself, so of course you’re emotionally connected.

So the skill here is to be as objective and realistic as possible. Be practical and rational instead of emotional. You can only be effective if you’re not all worked up about the case. This isn’t easy. But it’s important. Can you do it?

Try to look at the case from the perspective of a person who doesn’t know you and doesn’t know the other party.

Acting rationally includes recognizing the weak parts of your case and dropping them. This will help you maintain realistic expectations and help you focus your presentation. Think about what stranger would need to know to give you what you want, and if that person would think you deserve it.

You need to be objective about the case and your positions.

Skill 12. Knowing your motivation and remove the destructive elements from your position

Are you motivated to fight so that the other person doesn’t “win,” or get an “easy victory”? Are you motivated by jealousy or revenge? Do you want to punish the other person for what they did to you or your family? Tough. Those aren’t reasons to fight in court and won’t get you anywhere. Do you have the skill to remove these factors from your thinking?

Knowing why you’re really taking your positions will help you shape a more effective presentation. If your positions are motivated by one of the factors mentioned above – re-think your approach. At least, re-frame it so that you can present a more positive position that will get you the results you want.

Skill 13. Separating money issues from the kids

Do you have the skill to consider what’s best for the kids even if that means getting less money, or paying more money, than you wanted?

Not everyone is able to admit when continuing the fight will be harmful to the children. Can you put their interests ahead of yours?

Very often that’s what the case comes down to, and you’ll do better if you recognize this before a judge does.

Skill 14. Standing up to a bully

Are you able to stake out a reasonable position and stick to it despite threats and bullying from the other party? First, you have to recognize when you’re dealing with a bully. A bully is someone who uses:

• manipulation
• personal attacks

You may have given in lots of times in the past to keep things together, but do you have the skill now to say enough is enough? A bully knows what sort of tactics worked well in the past and will try to use them against you in court. Can you stand your ground now? That doesn’t mean you need to retaliate. It means maintaining your position and clearly stating that position to the judge.

The interesting thing about bullies is that they get away with their conduct so often that they assume you’ll give in again. If you stand up to a bully, a judge can usually see what’s happening and put that bully in their place.

Often, standing up to a bully starts with just saying “No. Enough. I’m not giving in again.”

Skill 15. Knowing what you’re good at

The truth is that not everyone is terrific at each of these things. Not even lawyers. The trick is to recognize which skills you have and are good at and which ones you need to work on. Keep in mind that that all of us can use some help from time to time and don’t hesitate to ask for it. You may have a family member or a friend who is better at one of these skills than you. See if they’ll help you out. If they can’t, maybe they know someone who can.

Use your strengths as best you can and don’t pretend to be good at something you’re not. Get the help you need so you can present your case as effectively and persuasively as possible.

Unbundled services

If you need help with one of the skills listed above, it’s a smart move to get some assistance – to seek out someone to offer coaching about how to handle yourself, or to get advice about strategy, or some help with preparing the documents you need, or to give you the legal advice you’re missing.

If you can’t afford, or don’t want, to hire a lawyer to take over your case in the traditional full retainer model, then seeking out fixed fee services, also known as “unbundled services” could be the solution you need.

With unbundled services, a lawyer will agree to help you with part of your matter but not take over all of your case. It might be to prepare documents for you or to appear in court for you. Or it might be to spend time with you going over your documents and discussing strategy.

The Family Law Coach

The Family Law Coach provides self-reps with support through a menu of fixed fee services that you can access from anywhere. You can pick and choose the service that makes the most sense to you. You will know what you’re getting and the cost in advance so you can stay within your budget.

No up-front retainer. No need to travel to a lawyer’s office. No uncertainty about the cost.

With just a computer or a phone you access to a lawyer who can provide coaching in the skills you need to succeed in the courtroom.

Check out our Services and choose the one that’s right for you.

See our Directory for a list of other service providers that are providing unbundled services.

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How to Develop and Present Visuals in the Courtroom

Join me as I talk tips for upping your trial performance. I’ll cover all aspects of the trial, including jury selection, opening statements, direct witness testimony, cross-examination, closing arguments, jury instructions, and verdicts. Discussions are welcome in the comments section.

— Tad Thomas

Whether you’ve been handling courtroom cases for decades or you’re just getting started, it’s important to understand the usefulness of visual aids. With the right visual aids, coupled with good public speaking skills, you can give a convincing and credible presentation.

Creativity is not a skill everyone possesses, so establishing visual aids can be frustrating at times. Any special time you spend developing and presenting courtroom visuals will affect how successful you are to the judge and jury.

Tips for Creating Visuals for Trial

If you don’t take the time to create useful visuals for your courtroom presentation, the jurors won’t understand what’s important, and they will quickly lose focus—which is detrimental for your client. Graphics and animations need to flow with the presentation to help the jurors understand the key facts. To create useful visuals, consider the following:

• Focus and Objective. The most important part of creating courtroom visuals is establishing your objective. Once you can do that, you can prepare material that supports the objective in a simplified and organized manner. You don’t need to go for the “wow” factor when your visuals are easily digestible and purposeful.
• Audience. Who is your audience? Once you can answer that question, you can select the points you want to emphasize, know how to provide a useful level of detail, prepare the appropriate visual aids, and create a tone that is sensitive to your audience’s circumstances.
• Length and Pace. The human attention span is not where we’d like it to be. It’s important to remember that when planning your presentation, the longer you go on, the less likely it is that jurors will remember your key points. It can be nearly impossible to regain the jury’s attention once mental fatigue has kicked in. Judges also appreciate the use of graphics that reduce the length of time required for trial.
• Theme and Simplicity. If you’re presenting a large number of graphics, it’s important to have a common style or look throughout the presentation. When you’re thinking about that theme, consider what the jurors’ expectations might be. You also want to ensure the graphics you’re using to convey key points are simple and appealing. If you put too much information into one animation, jurors might not be able to follow along. If you’re discussing complex matters, make sure the big picture is clear.
• Consider Colors. For a visual graphic to be eye-catching, it needs to be high contrast. This means that text needs to stand out to the background, as do any animations, sketches, or other graphics. It’s often recommended to use blue backgrounds with yellow text.

Bringing Graphics and Animations to the Courtroom

While we’ve discussed the importance of utilizing demonstrative aids in the courtroom, we also need to consider the possibility of overusing media. By doing so, you could risk losing the direction and personal connection between you and the jury. While your visual aids are important, remember that you can’t build rapport if your face is always behind a screen.

To maximize your media impact, vary the use of your media through the trial. For example, consider using a simple PowerPoint in your opening statement to anchor your key points. During direct and cross-examination, the flexibility of trial presentation applications will let you move from any exhibit or video clip quickly and efficiently.

While poster enlargements and flip charts can seem outdated, there’s something to be said for using them to serve as quick reminders for key terms and definitions. When it comes to supporting your expert’s testimony, this is a good time to bring in high-powered computer animations and graphics. Finally, consider closing with another PowerPoint that will complement the testimony and bring the jurors back to the fundamentals of your case.

Electronic visuals aids can be highly effective for presenting a case to the jury when you know how and when to use them. When it comes to courtroom visuals, the old cliché “seeing is believing” bears some truth. Jurors expect that much of what they encounter will be visual, so you can leverage that expectation with useful visual aids to provide better education and create a bigger impact—one that is hopefully favorable for your client.

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4 best free timeline templates for legal professionals

Discover a collection of curated legal timeline templates that you can use for free to build solid case plans and courtroom presentations.

Office Timeline

Feb 13, 2020

Being an attorney is hardly as glamorous as in the movies – you probably spend 99% of your time carefully documenting your case to make sure you get your point across when you finally go to court. So here’s a tip: one of the most effective ways for legal professionals to present the sequence of events in court is through the use of legal timelines.

Why legal timelines are important

When done properly, a timeline can prove crucial to organizing your ideas and obtaining a successful outcome at trial because:

• It unifies the critical elements of the case (evidence, issues, times, dates, facts and witnesses) within a single compelling visual that captures the audience’s attention.
• It allows litigators, lawyers and attorneys to prepare more persuasive court presentations, and particularly improve their opening/closing statements.
• It provides judges, jurors and mediators with a logical sequence and clearly outlined overview of the events, thus enabling a better understanding of the case.
• It helps the parties involved to process information and remember the key facts that have been laid out for them more easily.

Given the potential impact that compelling trial graphics can have in the courtroom, it is worth investing the time and effort to create such visuals. A great way to fast-track the whole process is to start organizing your case for court on the pre-designed framework that a legal timeline template provides.

Top 4 templates for legal timelines

In this post, we’ve gathered four of the most common types of such templates which you can use to build court presentations with strong impact on judges, jurors and arbitrators. These are:

• Crime Timeline Template
• Court Timeline Template
• Lawyer Timeline Template
• Legal Timeline Template

Let's have a more in-depth look at these legal timeline templates. 

1. Crime timeline template

• Made for attorneys who need to present a clear overview of events and their circumstances, the crime timeline template will help lay out all the critical facts in an easy-to-follow manner.
• Using this template to build a chronological, facts-based visual exhibit, attorneys can better analyze evidence, structure their arguments and support them more convincingly in court.
• The crime template was built natively in PowerPoint, which makes it simple to update and present to your legal team or your client.
• You can download it for free and manually enter your case information, or you can use the Office Timeline add-in to do this automatically.

2. Court timeline template

• Ideal for lawyers and other legal professionals who need to present evidence in a clear and simple way so that they can easily capture a jury’s attention, the court timeline template can be used at any point throughout a trial (whether during the opening arguments, witness examination or closing statements).
• Presenting a case’s vital facts chronologically, it turns numerous details into a streamlined PowerPoint timeline which is also useful in depositions, client meetings or in briefings with your legal team.
• The free court case timeline template is natively designed in PowerPoint, so it can be downloaded and edited manually or automatically using the  Office Timeline add-in  for PowerPoint.

3. Lawyer timeline template

• Chronologically illustrating the events of a legal case and the timing relationships between those events, this template helps lawyers to better support their oral arguments and make an impactful opening statement in any litigation or defense case. It can be used beyond the court instance, during any lawyering presentation that requires impactful visuals.
• Using different colors and shapes to highlight the logic behind the elements on the graphic, the lawyer timeline template clearly communicates the essential in a way that is easy for audiences to understand.
• Made in PowerPoint, it can be updated and further customized using the wide set of formatting controls that come within the presentation platform.
• Download it for free so you can either manually enter your case information or automatically edit it with  Office Timeline’s PowerPoint add-in . Once finished, it can be shared as a static slide or embedded in other Microsoft Office documents, or printed as an image to be handed out.

4. Legal timeline template

• Presenting the events of a trial case in a chronological sequence that is easy-to-understand, the legal timeline template can be useful in a variety of litigation cases (including business, construction or personal injury, intellectual property and liability litigation).
• It is a free native PowerPoint template, which enables you to easily update, share and present it. After you download the template, you can edit it manually in PowerPoint or automatically with the  Office Timeline PowerPoint plug-in .
• It serves as an effective alternative to outsourcing the creation of legal timelines, as litigators can leverage all of PowerPoint’s formatting features to customize this template to suit their particular case and theme.

Bringing together the building blocks of your case through a compelling visual can significantly increase the chances of success in court. With jurors and judges being very visual, these legal timeline templates help you deliver vital facts in a format that captures your audience’s attention and better supports your arguments. 

They were all created with  Office Timeline , a user-friendly yet powerful timeline maker which generates professional-looking visuals in PowerPoint with only a few clicks.

Download any of the four templates above and start editing or further customize the visuals with the add-in’s  free trial . For many other free timeline templates, go to our  timeline gallery  and choose your favorites.

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Though many people choose to plead guilty or settle before trial, anyone is within their right to take their disagreement to trial.  After voir dire , the trial begins.  Each step of the trial process is part of a rigorous system driven by a single purpose – to protect the rights of citizens by resolving disputes fairly.

(c) Sam Fentress, Courtesy of HOK

1. Opening Statements

Every trial proceeds in basically the same way.   Both parties are seated in the courtroom.  In a criminal trial, this includes the prosecuting attorney for the government, as well as the defendant and their defense attorney .  In civil cases, both the plaintiff and defendant , and their respective attorneys, if any, need to be present.

The attorneys will begin by making their opening statements .  The attorneys use this time to give the jury an overview of the case they intend to present.  They are just statements, however, and cannot be considered as evidence by the jury.  The side bringing the case is the side that bears the burden of proof , and thus always goes first.  This is the prosecuting attorney in a criminal case, or the plaintiff in a civil case.  The defense then follows with their opening statement.

As the trial moves forward, the prosecutor or plaintiff presents their case, but the defense has an opportunity to respond.  This process of two sides going back and forth, is the heart of our trial procedure, and is based on an adversarial system .

2. Presenting the Prosecution/Plaintiff's Evidence

Opening statements are followed by the case-in-chief .  The prosecutor or plaintiff’s attorney again goes first.  They present evidence in the form of physical evidence or documents and also the testimony of witnesses.  A witness is someone who has personal knowledge of a situation that may be helpful to the jury in deciding the outcome of the case.  This personal knowledge is shared with the judge and jury through a series of questions between the witness and the plaintiff’s attorney or prosecutor.  This is called direct examination .

Once the direct examination is finished, the defendant’s attorney gets an opportunity to question the witness.  This is called cross examination .  When the cross examination is complete, the judge may allow the plaintiff to ask more questions in response to things mentioned during cross examination.  This is called re-direct examination .

Once the prosecutor or plaintiff has presented all their evidence and witness testimony, and the defendant has had a chance to cross examine, the prosecution or plaintiff then rests their case.

3. Presenting the Defense's Evidence

The defendant then presents their evidence and witnesses in the same fashion; by direct examination.  The plaintiff or prosecution is allowed to cross-examine, and the defendant gets to ask further questions on re-direct.

In a federal criminal case, because the burden of proof is always on the prosecution, the defendant never has the burden of doing anything.  This means that the defendant does not have to present any evidence whatsoever.  Additionally, the defendant has a constitutional right to remain silent in order to prevent self-incrimination when testifying.  If the defendant doesn’t think the prosecution has proven the case, they may chose not to take the witness stand or to present any further evidence.

On the other hand, in civil cases , it is almost always in the defendant’s best interest to disprove the claims of the plaintiff.  Therefore, the defendant will usually testify in a civil trial.  Sometimes, the plaintiff calls the defendant as a witness.  When this happens, the defendant is called a hostile witness .

Evidence is used by the parties to prove or disprove unresolved issues in the case.  There are rules in place to govern how evidence is collected, what evidence can be admitted in the case, and how the judge and jury may consider evidence to render a decision.

If you watch television programs that depict the legal process, you may incorrectly think that physical evidence is the most common type.  Actually, the most common type of evidence is provided by witness testimony .  Often witness testimony may be the only evidence presented.  It’s up to the jury, or the judge in a bench trial, to decide the true facts from what is said by each party and each witness.

• Eyewitness testimony – The testimony of someone who observed the actual event taking place.
• Witness testimony – Testimony of a person who has personal knowledge of relevant information.  Because this witness is not an eyewitness, inferences will need to be made by the jury or judge based on the testimony.
• Expert witness testimony – Testimony of a person who is qualified to help the jury or judge understand specialized details of the case.  Expert witnesses are asked to express their professional opinion during the trial.
• Physical evidence – Physical objects and documents can be used by either side to prove or disprove issues.  An example would be DNA, fingerprints, or a photograph.

All witnesses must swear or affirm that their testimony will be truthful.  If a witness makes false claims while under oath , they can be charged with perjury , which is itself a crime.

If you’ve watched a fictional trial on television, you’ve probably heard a character scream “I object!”  Objections do happen in the courtroom, though they are usually less dramatic.  During testimony, the opposing party can formally object if the questioning is not following the rules of evidence.  Unlike on television, the attorney making the objection has to state a legal reason for interrupting the testimony.  There are many kinds of standard objections.   The following are examples:

• Hearsay – Even if a witness didn’t directly observe the event in question, they still may only testify from their own personal knowledge.  Discussing something that was said by another person is called hearsay, and is prohibited.
• Irrelevant – Witness testimony must be related to the issue or event in question.  Off-topic testimony is not allowed.

Ruling on objections.   Because it’s the job of judges to interpret and apply the law, they rule on each objection.  If the objection is sustained , the attorney must stop that line of questioning and move on to the next question.  If the objection is overruled , the attorney can continue with the question.  All objections and rulings are recorded in the official record of the trial by the court reporter.

4. Closing Arguments

Once the attorneys for both sides have presented their evidence, they each will give closing arguments .  This is their opportunity to summarize for the jury, and draw attention to the facts that support their side.  The closing arguments are not evidence. The plaintiff or prosecutor goes first, followed by the defendant.

5. The Jury's Verdict

After closing arguments, the judge will give final jury instructions to the jury

The judge will instruct the jury to select a foreperson who will act as their organizer and spokesperson.  The judge will give them a verdict form to complete, and they will then retire to the deliberation room to decide upon their verdict.  All deliberations of the jury are private and confidential, and do not become part of the official court record.

Once the jury has reached a verdict , the foreperson alerts the court it has done so.  This may take one hour, one day, or one week; there is no time limit or deadline.  In federal court, all jury verdicts must be unanimous.  All parties are called back to the courtroom and the foreperson or the clerk officially announces the verdict in open court.  A criminal verdict can only be guilty or not guilty on each of the charges.   When defendants are found not guilty, they are free to go and can’t be tried again for the same crime.  This is called protection from Double Jeopardy , found in the 5 th Amendment .  If the defendant is found guilty, the punishment is to be decided by the judge, at a later date.

A civil verdict can be much more complicated, and may include whether or not the defendant’s actions or lack of actions caused injury to the plaintiff, and, if so, then the amount of compensation or penalty the plaintiff has to pay.

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Home » Thought Leadership » 5 TIPS FOR A GREAT TRIAL PRESENTATION

• July 6, 2021

5 TIPS FOR A GREAT TRIAL PRESENTATION

When you enter a courtroom, you want to believe that the person with the best argument will walk away with a verdict on their side. Although this is generally true, a great trial presentation can help sway the outcome of a case. There are a plethora of psychological studies that demonstrate that people think in pictures. So what does that mean for your trial presentation?Most importantly, it means that people will conjure up their own images unless you can provide one for them. It’s important for jurors to come away with the same information, even when your presentation has been filtered through personal beliefs and biases. Modern television has also influenced the way jurors think about the court system, and many come into court expecting photographic evidence and 3D recreations. Of course, each case is different, but the following tips can help you present compelling visual evidence at trial:

1. Be the person who does the simplification

Don’t give your audience room to draw incorrect conclusions. Although you can leave some room for interpretation when necessary, especially when you are legally unable to spell things out for the jurors, it’s still important that you are the person who connects the dots for your audience. This ensures that everyone is on the same page, and can help bring people together in agreement with you when the jury retires for deliberation.

2. Reinforce specific themes

There will be places in your presentation where you have the opportunity to make important points through your use of titles. Slide and presentation titles are much more interesting when they pose a question, make a statement, or reinforce a theme.  For example, “Timeline” and “Personal History” are weak titles and underutilize one of your best opportunity for imprinting themes and posing questions. Instead, consider using a title such as “What Were John Doe’s Motivations?”, which poses a question that your audience knows you will answer. Luckily, because titles are easy to change, you’ll be able to swap things out on the fly, even if a judge objects to a title you’ve chosen.

3. Enhance your presentation by cutting the copy

Keep your bullet points short and your slides sparse. Although visual impact is an important part of your overall presentation, you should have minimal words on the page. You don’t want your audience to be distracted as they try to read ahead or catch up. Don’t read verbatim from the slides. When you keep your sentences short and simple, you also remove the temptation for yourself!

4. Assume a short attention span

Plan to lose everyone’s attention. Of course, ideally your audience would be rapt the whole time and hanging on your every point. However, it’s best to assume that you need descriptive graphics to keep people tuned in. Graphs, 3D animation, photos, sketches and other visual elements, are much more interesting than plain text.

5. Play to your audience

Finally, you should always try to play to your audience. Consider who they are, and their interests, beliefs and biases. Craft your argument with a specific type of person in mind. The jury is not made up of blank slates. You must consider what kind of evidence your audience can grasp, and provide visual images and contexts familiar to them.

When your presentation is well practiced and well structured, you’ll deliver a common visual experience for those in the courtroom. When you control the visuals, you can guide and shape the narrative to better bolster your own case. Visuals also enhance the ability of your jury to retain case facts and essential information. A great trial presentation can turn the tide of a case by crafting an overarching story that is most beneficial to your client.

For more information on trial presentations, or for help creating some of the compelling visuals we’ve discussed above, reach out to our Trial Presentation department at (800) 889-0111.

If you have questions on any of our services, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

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• Apr 20, 2021

Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation for a Legal Proceeding

PowerPoint presentations have long been used in the courtroom to deliver important arguments to a judge and jury. Although this technology is not new, many attorneys still struggle to use the software effectively. Without the right tools, even the strongest legal arguments may be lost on the audience.

The Basics: Know Your Screen

The type of screen on which your presentation will be displayed makes a significant difference in its visual clarity. An older pull-down screen in a courtroom may not be as easy to view as a large high-definition monitor. The lighting in the presentation environment also has a large impact on the screen.

At TrialSpectrum, Inc., our team of professionals carefully studies the location of your presentation, whether it is a large courtroom or a small conference room. This allows us to create a PowerPoint presentation that is tailored to the specific environment in which you will be presenting.

Fonts and Colors

The font type and font colors you select for your PowerPoint presentation determine whether your audience is able to read the information you are delivering. For example, did you know that sans serif fonts are usually easier on the eyes? Capitalizing every word in a block of text is also generally ineffective, and many background colors can cause many viewers’ eyes to strain. At TrialSpectrum, Inc., we know the best types of fonts and font colors to use to ensure your audience is able to read text, regardless of their age or visual acuity.

Do Not Read from the Screen

A PowerPoint presentation is a visual aid . A visual aid should support an attorney’s presentation—not be the entire presentation itself. An attorney should use a PowerPoint presentation to drive home important facts and legal arguments. If the attorney simply stands in front of a judge and jury and reads from a slide, the attorney risks these individuals becoming bored and unimpressed.

At TrialSpectrum, Inc., we will work with you to help you use a PowerPoint presentation as a supplemental tool to strengthen your legal arguments. We will help you practice and will provide tips to you to increase the effectiveness of your delivery.

Plan Your Position

Where you stand during a PowerPoint presentation is important. You want to be able to address your audience while tying your statements to the slides that are displayed. Stand too close to your audience and they may focus on you instead of the PowerPoint. If you stand too far away, the audience may become distracted.

The team of professionals at TrialSpectrum, Inc., will help you determine where you should stand to deliver your message effectively. We will also discuss body language and whether you should move about the room at all during your presentation.

A Variety of Visual Elements

One of the greatest advantages of using PowerPoint software is its ability to include a variety of visual elements into a single presentation. Attorneys are able to incorporate photos, audio clips, videos, graphics, animations, and a variety of other pieces of evidence into a single presentation. Because everyone learns information differently, a PowerPoint presentation is an excellent tool to use to ensure the audience understands both the facts of a case and the laws and regulations that may affect them.

Contact TrialSpectrum, Inc. Today to Begin Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

The team of litigation consultants and trial technology experts at TrialSpectrum, Inc., has the tools you need to elevate your legal arguments. We not only create effective PowerPoint presentations, but we also work with you to ensure you are comfortable using the software. We are available the day of your presentation as well to assist with any technological issues you may have. To learn more about our company and the services we offer, call 800-789-0084 or visit www.trialspectrum.com.

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Complete Guide to Presenting Your Case in Court

Rules.  Strategies.  Preparation.

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Gain the Trial Skills of a Real Trial Lawyer

You’ll learn more about being a trial lawyer than many law students learn in 3 years!

Concise List of the Rules of Evidence with Explanations and Examples

All the right tools to make the right objections at the right time, how to craft a compelling opening statement, best strategies for persuasive and memorable closing arguments, how to present and introduce exhibits into evidence, everything you need to win your trial, works for any type of court case in any state or jurisdiction.

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This training will help you:

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• How to prepare and present a strong opening statement
• How to prepare and present a persuasive closing argument

Course Syllabus

Rules of evidence.

• Introductory Remarks
• Definitions
• Writing or Recording
• Character Evidence and Witness
• Credibility
• Non-Hearsay
• Hearsay Exceptions
• Making Objections
• Responding to Objections
• List of Objections with Explanations
• About Exhibits
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• Purpose of Direct Examination
• Types of Witnesses
• Preparing Your Witnesses
• Direct Examination Ground Rules
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• Circumstantial Evidence vs. Direct Evidence
• Purpose of Cross Examination
• Facts vs. Conclusions/Opinions
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Frequently Asked Questions

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Yes.  The material in the course has broad application.  It will help you wherever your case is, in any court in the country.

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Millions of people who have represented themselves in court lost only because they didn’t know how to win.  They  should have won , and they  would have won… had they known how to present their case.  We don’t want that to happen to you.

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The University of Chicago The Law School

Abrams environmental law clinic—significant achievements for 2023-24, protecting our great lakes, rivers, and shorelines.

The Abrams Clinic represents Friends of the Chicago River and the Sierra Club in their efforts to hold Trump Tower in downtown Chicago accountable for withdrawing water illegally from the Chicago River. To cool the building, Trump Tower draws water at high volumes, similar to industrial factories or power plants, but Trump Tower operated for more than a decade without ever conducting the legally required studies to determine the impact of those operations on aquatic life or without installing sufficient equipment to protect aquatic life consistent with federal regulations. After the Clinic sent a notice of intent to sue Trump Tower, the State of Illinois filed its own case in the summer of 2018, and the Clinic moved successfully to intervene in that case. In 2023-24, motions practice and discovery continued. Working with co-counsel at Northwestern University’s Pritzker Law School’s Environmental Advocacy Center, the Clinic moved to amend its complaint to include Trump Tower’s systematic underreporting each month of the volume of water that it intakes from and discharges to the Chicago River. The Clinic and co-counsel addressed Trump Tower’s motion to dismiss some of our clients’ claims, and we filed a motion for summary judgment on our claim that Trump Tower has committed a public nuisance. We also worked closely with our expert, Dr. Peter Henderson, on a supplemental disclosure and on defending an additional deposition of him. In summer 2024, the Clinic is defending its motion for summary judgment and challenging Trump Tower’s own motion for summary judgment. The Clinic is also preparing for trial, which could take place as early as fall 2024.

Since 2016, the Abrams Clinic has worked with the Chicago chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to protect water quality along the Lake Michigan shoreline in northwest Indiana, where its members surf. In April 2017, the U. S. Steel plant in Portage, Indiana, spilled approximately 300 pounds of hexavalent chromium into Lake Michigan. In January 2018, the Abrams Clinic filed a suit on behalf of Surfrider against U. S. Steel, alleging multiple violations of U. S. Steel’s discharge permits; the City of Chicago filed suit shortly after. When the US government and the State of Indiana filed their own, separate case, the Clinic filed extensive comments on the proposed consent decree. In August 2021, the court entered a revised consent decree which included provisions advocated for by Surfrider and the City of Chicago, namely a water sampling project that alerts beachgoers as to Lake Michigan’s water quality conditions, better notifications in case of future spills, and improvements to U. S. Steel’s operations and maintenance plans. In the 2023-24 academic year, the Clinic successfully litigated its claims for attorneys’ fees as a substantially prevailing party. Significantly, the court’s order adopted the “Fitzpatrick matrix,” used by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to determine appropriate hourly rates for civil litigants, endorsed Chicago legal market rates as the appropriate rates for complex environmental litigation in Northwest Indiana, and allowed for partially reconstructed time records. The Clinic’s work, which has received significant media attention, helped to spawn other litigation to address pollution by other industrial facilities in Northwest Indiana and other enforcement against U. S. Steel by the State of Indiana.

In Winter Quarter 2024, Clinic students worked closely with Dr. John Ikerd, an agricultural economist and emeritus professor at the University of Missouri, to file an amicus brief in Food & Water Watch v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . In that case pending before the Ninth Circuit, Food & Water Watch argues that US EPA is illegally allowing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, more commonly known as factory farms, to pollute waterways significantly more than is allowable under the Clean Water Act. In the brief for Dr. Ikerd and co-amici Austin Frerick, Crawford Stewardship Project, Family Farm Defenders, Farm Aid, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Western Organization of Resource Councils, we argued that EPA’s refusal to regulate CAFOs effectively is an unwarranted application of “agricultural exceptionalism” to industrial agriculture and that EPA effectively distorts the animal production market by allowing CAFOs to externalize their pollution costs and diminishing the ability of family farms to compete. Attorneys for the litigants will argue the case in September 2024.

Energy and Climate

Energy justice.

The Abrams Clinic supported grassroots organizations advocating for energy justice in low-income communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in Michigan. With the Clinic’s representation, these organizations intervened in cases before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), which regulates investor-owned utilities. Students conducted discovery, drafted written testimony, cross-examined utility executives, participated in settlement discussions, and filed briefs for these projects. The Clinic’s representation has elevated the concerns of these community organizations and forced both the utilities and regulators to consider issues of equity to an unprecedented degree. This year, on behalf of Soulardarity (Highland Park, MI), We Want Green, Too (Detroit, MI), and Urban Core Collective (Grand Rapids, MI), Clinic students engaged in eight contested cases before the MPSC against DTE Electric, DTE Gas, and Consumers Energy, as well as provided support for our clients’ advocacy in other non-contested MPSC proceedings.

The Clinic started this past fall with wins in three cases. First, the Clinic’s clients settled with DTE Electric in its Integrated Resource Plan case. The settlement included an agreement to close the second dirtiest coal power plant in Michigan three years early, $30 million from DTE’s shareholders to assist low-income customers in paying their bills, and $8 million from DTE’s shareholders toward a community fund that assists low-income customers with installing energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy, and battery technology. Second, in DTE Electric’s 2023 request for a rate hike (a “rate case”), the Commission required DTE Electric to develop a more robust environmental justice analysis and rejected the Company’s second attempt to waive consumer protections through a proposed electric utility prepayment program with a questionable history of success during its pilot run. The final Commission order and the administrative law judge’s proposal for final decision cited the Clinic’s testimony and briefs. Third, in Consumers Electric’s 2023 rate case, the Commission rejected the Company’s request for a higher ratepayer-funded return on its investments and required the Company to create a process that will enable intervenors to obtain accurate GIS data. The Clinic intends to use this data to map the disparate impact of infrastructure investment in low-income and BIPOC communities.

In the winter, the Clinic filed public comments regarding DTE Electric and Consumers Energy’s “distribution grid plans” (DGP) as well as supported interventions in two additional cases: Consumers Energy’s voluntary green pricing (VGP) case and the Clinic’s first case against the gas utility DTE Gas. Beginning with the DGP comments, the Clinic first addressed Consumers’s 2023 Electric Distribution Infrastructure Investment Plan (EDIIP), which detailed current distribution system health and the utility’s approximately $7 billion capital project planning ($2 billion of which went unaccounted for in the EDIIP) over 2023–2028. The Clinic then commented on DTE Electric’s 2023 DGP, which outlined the utility’s opaque project prioritization and planned more than $9 billion in capital investments and associated maintenance over 2024–2028. The comments targeted four areas of deficiencies in both the EDIIP and DGP: (1) inadequate consideration of distributed energy resources (DERs) as providing grid reliability, resiliency, and energy transition benefits; (2) flawed environmental justice analysis, particularly with respect to the collection of performance metrics and the narrow implementation of the Michigan Environmental Justice Screen Tool; (3) inequitable investment patterns across census tracts, with emphasis on DTE Electric’s skewed prioritization for retaining its old circuits rather than upgrading those circuits; and (4) failing to engage with community feedback.

For the VGP case against Consumers, the Clinic supported the filing of both an initial brief and reply brief requesting that the Commission reject the Company’s flawed proposal for a “community solar” program. In a prior case, the Clinic advocated for the development of a community solar program that would provide low-income, BIPOC communities with access to clean energy. As a result of our efforts, the Commission approved a settlement agreement requiring the Company “to evaluate and provide a strawman recommendation on community solar in its Voluntary Green Pricing Program.” However, the Company’s subsequent proposal in its VGP case violated the Commission’s order because it (1) was not consistent with the applicable law, MCL 460.1061; (2) was not a true community solar program; (3) lacked essential details; (4) failed to compensate subscribers sufficiently; (5) included overpriced and inflexible subscriptions; (6) excessively limited capacity; and (7) failed to provide a clear pathway for certain participants to transition into other VGP programs. For these reasons, the Clinic argued that the Commission should reject the Company’s proposal.

In DTE Gas’s current rate case, the Clinic worked with four witnesses to develop testimony that would rebut DTE Gas’s request for a rate hike on its customers. The testimony advocated for a pathway to a just energy transition that avoids dumping the costs of stranded gas assets on the low-income and BIPOC communities that are likely to be the last to electrify. Instead, the testimony proposed that the gas and electric utilities undertake integrated planning that would prioritize electric infrastructure over gas infrastructure investment to ensure that DTE Gas does not over-invest in gas infrastructure that will be rendered obsolete in the coming decades. The Clinic also worked with one expert witness to develop an analysis of DTE Gas’s unaffordable bills and inequitable shutoff, deposit, and collections practices. Lastly, the Clinic offered testimony on behalf of and from community members who would be directly impacted by the Company’s rate hike and lack of affordable and quality service. Clinic students have spent the summer drafting an approximately one-hundred-page brief making these arguments formally. We expect the Commission’s decision this fall.

Finally, both DTE Electric and Consumers Energy have filed additional requests for rate increases after the conclusion of their respective rate cases filed in 2023. On behalf of our Clients, the Clinic has intervened in these cases, and clinic students have already reviewed thousands of pages of documents and started to develop arguments and strategies to protect low-income and BIPOC communities from the utility’s ceaseless efforts to increase the cost of energy.

Corporate Climate Greenwashing

The Abrams Environmental Law Clinic worked with a leading international nonprofit dedicated to using the law to protect the environment to research corporate climate greenwashing, focusing on consumer protection, green financing, and securities liability. Clinic students spent the year examining an innovative state law, drafted a fifty-page guide to the statute and relevant cases, and examined how the law would apply to a variety of potential cases. Students then presented their findings in a case study and oral presentation to members of ClientEarth, including the organization’s North American head and members of its European team. The project helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of potential new strategies for increasing corporate accountability in the fight against climate change.

Land Contamination, Lead, and Hazardous Waste

The Abrams Clinic continues to represent East Chicago, Indiana, residents who live or lived on or adjacent to the USS Lead Superfund site. This year, the Clinic worked closely with the East Chicago/Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group (CAG) to advance the CAG’s advocacy beyond the Superfund site and the adjacent Dupont RCRA site. Through multiple forms of advocacy, the clinics challenged the poor performance and permit modification and renewal attempts of Tradebe Treatment and Recycling, LLC (Tradebe), a hazardous waste storage and recycling facility in the community. Clinic students sent letters to US EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials about how IDEM has failed to assess meaningful penalties against Tradebe for repeated violations of the law and how IDEM has allowed Tradebe to continue to threaten public and worker health and safety by not improving its operations. Students also drafted substantial comments for the CAG on the US EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule improvements, the Suppliers’ Park proposed cleanup, and Sims Metal’s proposed air permit revisions. The Clinic has also continued working with the CAG, environmental experts, and regulators since US EPA awarded $200,000 to the CAG for community air monitoring. The Clinic and its clients also joined comments drafted by other environmental organizations about poor operations and loose regulatory oversight of several industrial facilities in the area.

Endangered Species

The Abrams Clinic represented the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) in litigation regarding the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) failure to list the Kirtland’s snake as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Kirtland’s snake is a small, secretive, non-venomous snake historically located across the Midwest and the Ohio River Valley. Development and climate change have undermined large portions of the snake’s habitat, and populations are declining. Accordingly, the Clinic sued the Service in the US District Court for the District of Columbia last summer over the Service’s denial of CBD’s request to have the Kirtland’s snake protected. This spring, the Clinic was able to reach a settlement with the Service that requires the Service to reconsider its listing decision for the Kirtland’s snake and to pay attorney fees.

The Clinic also represented CBD in preparation for litigation regarding the Service’s failure to list another species as threatened or endangered. Threats from land development and climate change have devastated this species as well, and the species has already been extirpated from two of the sixteen US states in its range. As such, the Clinic worked this winter and spring to prepare a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the Service. The Team poured over hundreds of FOIA documents and dug into the Service’s supporting documentation to create strong arguments against the Service in the imminent litigation. The Clinic will send the NOI and file a complaint in the next few months.

Students and Faculty

Twenty-four law school students from the classes of 2024 and 2025 participated in the Clinic, performing complex legal research, reviewing documents obtained through discovery, drafting legal research memos and briefs, conferring with clients, conducting cross-examination, participating in settlement conferences, and arguing motions. Students secured nine clerkships, five were heading to private practice after graduation, and two are pursuing public interest work. Sam Heppell joined the Clinic from civil rights private practice, bringing the Clinic to its full complement of three attorneys.

Watch CBS News

4 accused in Russia concert hall attack appear in court, apparently badly beaten

Updated on: March 25, 2024 / 7:57 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Moscow — Four men accused of staging the Russia concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people appeared before a Moscow court Sunday showing signs of severe beatings as they faced formal terrorism charges. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing.

A court statement said two of the suspects accepted their guilt in the assault after being charged in the preliminary hearing, though the men's condition raised questions about whether they were speaking freely. There had been earlier conflicting reports in Russian media outlets that said three or all four men admitted culpability.

Moscow's Basmanny District Court formally charged Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19, with committing a group terrorist attack resulting in the death of others. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The court ordered that the men, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, be held in pre-trial custody until May 22.

Along with grinding poverty, Tajikistan is rife with religious tensions. Hard-line Islamists were one of the main forces opposing the government in a 1990s civil war that devastated the country. The militants claiming responsibility for the Moscow massacre that killed 139 people — a branch of the Islamic State group in neighboring Afghanistan — reportedly recruit heavily from Tajikistan.

Russian media had reported that the men were tortured during interrogation by the security services, and Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda and Fariduni showed signs of heavy bruising, including swollen faces.

Rachabalizoda also had a heavily bandaged ear. Russian media said Saturday that one of the suspects had his ear cut off during interrogation. The Associated Press couldn't verify the report or the videos purporting to show this.

The fourth suspect, Faizov, was brought to court from a hospital in a wheelchair and sat with his eyes closed throughout the proceedings. He was attended by medics while in court, where he wore a hospital gown and trousers and was seen with multiple cuts.

Court officials said Mirzoyev and Rachabalizoda admitted guilt for the attack after being charged.

The hearing came as Russia observed a national day of mourning of the attack Friday on the suburban Crocus City Hall concert venue that killed at least 137 people.

Rescuers continued to search the damaged building and the death toll rose as more bodies were found as family and friends of some of those still missing waited for news. Moscow's Department of Health said Sunday it had begun identifying the bodies of those killed via DNA testing, adding the process would take at least two weeks.  

The attack, which has been claimed by an ISIS affiliate, is the deadliest on Russian soil in years.

Finger pointing in full force   

Russian authorities arrested the four suspected attackers Saturday, with seven more detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the nation Saturday night.

Putin appears to be trying to tie Ukraine to the attack, something its government firmly denies.

He called the attack "a bloody, barbaric terrorist act" and said Russian authorities captured the four as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a "window" prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.

A United States intelligence official told CBS News the U.S. has intelligence confirming that ISIS was responsible and U.S. intelligence has no reason to doubt those claims.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia had also previously advised Americans  to stay away from concert venues  because of the potential of a terrorist attack. The U.S. intelligence official confirmed to CBS News that the U.S. provided intelligence to Russia regarding the potential for an attack, under the intelligence community's Duty to Warn requirement.

"ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever ," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant of an Islamic preacher and paid to take part in the raid.

Putin didn't mention ISIS in his speech, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia's war in Ukraine , which recently entered its third year.

The raid was a major embarrassment for Putin and happened just days after he cemented his grip on the country for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since the Soviet times.

Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.

ISIS, which fought against Russia during its intervention in the Syrian civil war , has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group's Aamaq news agency, the ISIS Afghanistan affiliate said it had attacked a large gathering of "Christians" in Krasnogorsk.

The group issued a new statement Saturday on Aamaq, saying the attack was carried out by four men who used automatic rifles, a pistol, knives and firebombs. It said the assailants fired at the crowd and used knives to kill some concertgoers, casting the raid as part of ISIS' ongoing war with countries it says are fighting against Islam.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by ISIS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia's volatile Caucasus and other regions in past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

As Russia mourns, frantic families of the missing seek answers

Events at cultural institutions were canceled Sunday, flags were lowered to half staff and television entertainment and advertising were suspended, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. A steady stream of people added to a makeshift memorial near the burned-out concert hall, creating a huge mound of flowers.

"People came to a concert, some people came to relax with their families, and any one of us could have been in that situation. And I want to express my condolences to all the families that were affected here and I want to pay tribute to these people," Andrey Kondakov, one of the mourners who came to lay flowers at the memorial, told the AP.

"It is a tragedy that has affected our entire country," kindergarten employee Marina Korshunova said. "It just doesn't even make sense that small children were affected by this event." Three children were among the dead.

Igor Pogadaev was desperately seeking any details about his wife, Yana Pogadaeva, who went to the concert. The last he heard from her was when she sent him two photos from the Crocus City Hall music venue.

After Pogadaev saw the reports of gunmen opening fire on concertgoers, he rushed to the site, but couldn't find her in the numerous ambulances or among the hundreds of people who had made their way out of the venue.

"I went around, searched, I asked everyone, I showed photographs. No one saw anything, no one could say anything," Pogadaev told the AP in a video message.

He watched flames bursting out of the building as he made frantic calls to a hotline for relatives of the victims, but received no information.

As the death toll mounted Saturday, Pogodaev scoured hospitals in the Russian capital and the Moscow region, looking for information on newly admitted patients.

His wife wasn't among the 182 reported injured, nor on the list of 60 victims authorities had already identified, he said.

The Moscow Region's Emergency Situations Ministry posted a video Sunday showing equipment dismantling the damaged music venue to give rescuers access.

• Vladimir Putin

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Report of Court Proceedings The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre Heard Before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. Accused: G.E. Zinoviev, L.B.Kamenev, G.E. Evdokimov, I.N. Smirnov, I.P. Bakayev, V.A. Ter-Vaganyan, S.V. Mrachkovsky, E.A. Dreitzer, E.S. Holtzman, I.I. Reingold, R.V. Pickel, V.P. Olberg, K.B. Berman-Yurin, Fritz David (I.I. Kruglyansky), M. Lurye and N. Lurye Charged under Articles 58 8 , 19 and 58 8 , 58 11 of the Criminal Code of the R.S.F.S.R. Trial dates: August 19-24, 1936 (Moscow) First Published: People's Commissariat of Justice of the U.S.S.R., Moscow 1936 Source: Artbin , based on ? Translated: ? Transcription/Markup: Artbin/Brian Baggins Public Domain: Soviet History Archive (marxists.org) 2005. You can freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the source above as well as the Marxists Internet Archive. August 19 (morning session) Indictment I. The Trotskyite-Zinovievite United Terrorist Centre II. The United Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre and the Assassination of Comrade S. M. Kirov III. Organization by the United Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre of Terroristic Acts Against Comrades Voroshilov, Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Kossior, Orjonikidze and Postyshev Examination of the Accused Mrachkovsky Examination of the Accused Evdokimov August 19 (evening session) Examination of the Accused Dreitzer Examination of the Accused Reingold Examination of the Accused Bakayev Examination of the Accused Pickel August 20 (morning session) Examination of the Accused Kamenev Examination of the Witness Yakovlev Examination of the Accused Zinoviev Examination of the Witness Safonova August 20 (evening session) Examination of the Accused I.N. Smirnov Examination of the Accused Olberg Examination of the Accused Berman-Yurin August 21 (morning session) Examination of the Accused Holtzman Examination of the Accused N. Lurye Examination of the Accused M. Lurye Examination of the Accused Ter-Vaganyan August 21 (evening session) Examination of the Accused Fritz David (Kruglyansky) Statement by Comrade Vyshinsky, State Attorney of the U.S.S.R. August 22 (morning session) Speech for the Prosecution by Comrade A.Y. Vyshinsky, State Attorney of the U.S.S.R. The Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre - A gang of Contemptible Terrorists Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev - Sworn Enimies of the Soviet Union Double-dealing, Deception and Provocation - The Principal Methods of the Trotskyites-Zinovievites The Counter-Revolutionary Terroristic Activities of the Trotskyites-Zinovievites are Fully Proved The Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre Killed Comrade Kirov The Masks Are Torn From the Accused Dogs Gone Mad Should All Be Shot August 22 (evening session) Last Pleas of Mrachkovsky, Evdokimov, Dreitzer, Reingold, Bakayev and Pickel August 23 (morning session) Last Pleas of Kamenev, Zinoviev, Smirnov, Olberg, Berman-Yurin, Holtzman, N. Lurye and M. Lurye August 23 (evening session) Last Pleas of Ter-Vaganyan and Fritz David August 24 The Verdict Further Reading: Pravda's mistakes on the trial of the Zinovievites and Trotskyites , Stalin Soviet History Archive