Language and Power in Court

Language and Power in Court

Also by Janet Cotterill WORKING WITH DIALOGUE (editor with M. Coulthard and F. Rock) LANGUAGE ACROSS BOUNDARIES (editor with I. Ife) LANGUAGE IN THE LEGAL PROCESS (editor)

Language and Power in Court A Linguistic Analysis of the O.J. Simpson Trial Janet Cotterill Lecturer in Language and Communication Centre for Language and Communication Research Cardiff University

Janet Cotterill 2003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-96901-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-42896-0 ISBN 978-0-230-00601-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230006010 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cotterill, Janet, 1968 Language and power in court: a linguistic analysis of the O.J. Simpson trial / Janet Cotterill. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Simpson, O.J., 1947 Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Trials (Murder) California Los Angeles. I. Title. KF224.S485C68 2003 345.73 02523 0979494 dc21 2003048270 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03

Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables vi vii Introduction A Crime Chronology: The Murders of 1 Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman 1 Trial by Jury: Legal Frameworks and Linguistic 9 Consequences 2 Macro-, Micro- and Multiple Narratives: Storytelling 19 in Court 3 Framing Courtroom Narratives through Strategic 65 Lexicalisation: The Opening Statements 4 Interaction in the Criminal Trial: Participants and 91 Processes, Roles and Relationships 5 Direct and Cross-Examination: Questions and Answers 126 in Court 6 Mind the Gap: Negotiating Power, Knowledge and 156 Status in Expert Witness Testimony 7 If it Doesn t Fit, You Must Acquit : Reframing the Story 199 through Metaphorical Choice in the Closing Arguments 8 Judging the Jury: The Deliberation, the Verdict and 220 the Aftermath Notes 233 References 234 Index 244 v

Acknowledgements Many people have contributed many different things to this book (and its writer) in the course of its completion. They are, of course, too numerous to mention individually, but I would particularly like to thank the following. I am grateful to the editorial staff at Palgrave Macmillan, whose patience and perseverance are an example to us all; particular thanks are due to Jill Lake and to all the editors, referees and conference-goers who have read, commented on and listened to earlier versions of the work presented here; they have provided challenging comments and questions, and the book has benefited immeasurably from their insights; my special thanks go to the members of the IAFL and the Forensic Linguistics Group in Birmingham; it would be hard to imagine more stimulating and supportive colleagues. A version of chapter 3 was published in Discourse and Society 12(3), 2001, and of chapter 7 in Forensic Linguistics 5(2), 1998. They are reprinted here in amended form with the kind permission of the publishers. My thanks are due to my friends Chris Heffer and Frances Rock, Kim Landers and Jo Alper, for their constant encouragement, and I would also like to thank Marilyn Washbrook and Michael Hoey for their unwavering support and friendship. There are a number of people who above all deserve my thanks: my family, Michaela and Erik, Jean and Doug, who have always been there for me; and Malcolm Coulthard, the supervisor who helped me to shape the ideas which form the basis of this book. A final and special note of dedication is reserved for my late friend and colleague Sonia Russell, whose friendship I miss very much. vi

List of Tables and Figures Tables Table 1 Statistics for the original juror pool, pre-selection 17 Table 2 Jury statistics, post-selection 18 Table 3 Mapping Labovian narrative structures onto the 24 trial narrative Table 4 Defence reconstruction of prosecution crime 28 elements in a hypothetical murder Table 5 Generic crime elements and their corresponding 29 narrative strands in the Simpson trial Table 6 Distribution of past, present and future events in trial 38 by jury talk Table 7 Month-by-month breakdown of witnesses in the 41 Simpson trial Table 8 Breakdown of defence witnesses July to 42 September 1995 Table 9 Prosecution and defence witnesses relating to 44 Simpson s Chicago trip Table 10 Individual crime elements and associated forensic 50 evidence Table 11 Collocate list for incident 81 Table 12 Collocate list for dispute 84 Table 13 Collocate list for domestic dispute 86 Table 14 Collocate list for discussion 87 Table 15 Collocate picture of conversation 88 Table 16 Intra-professional, inter-professional and 167 professional lay interaction in the adversarial criminal trial Table 17 Metaphors in the prosecution closing argument 203 Table 18 Metaphors in the defence closing argument 204 Table 19 Prejudice triggers in the Simpson trial 223 Figures Figure 1 The crime, the investigation and trial narratives 22 Figure 2 Maximal structure of witness examination 45 vii

viii List of Tables and Figures Figure 3 Processes and participants in the criminal trial 94 Figure 4 Proportion of time (measured in days) spent on 127 each respective trial phase Figure 5 Turn length in number of words per response 158 lay vs. expert witnesses Figure 6 Average number of words per response lay vs. 159 expert witness, direct vs. cross-examination Figure 7 Distribution of the puzzle and bomb metaphors 209 in the prosecution summation Figure 8 Distribution of the puzzle and bomb metaphors 210 in the defence summation