Law Offices of
Susan G. Kellman
mercy bears richer
fruits than strict justice
-
Abraham Lincoln
United States v. John Gotti
The Gotti Trial of March 1987 ended in aquittal.
The New York Times said, "the last piece of evidence requested by the jury
for re-examination was a chart introducted by the defense that showed
the criminal backgrounds of seven prosecution witnesses. It listed 69 crimes,
including murder, drug possession and sales and kidnapping." This chart listed
"the lengthy crimminal records of the seven prosecution witnesses who had obtained
promises of leniency and other favors from the Government in return for their
testimony against Mr.Gotti..."
FromThe New York TimesMarch 14, 1987, P.1.
The 4th Principle of Visual Information Design: All abstracted information wants to ask, "to what end?"
"Courtroom graphics can overcome the linear, nonreversible, one-dimensional
sequencing of talk talk talk,allowing members of a jury to reason about an array of data
at their own pace and in their own manner."
"Visual displays of information encourage a diversity of individual viewer styles
and rates of editing, personalizing, reasoning, and understanding."
"Unlike speech, visual displays are simultaneously a wideband
and a perceiver-controllable channel."
United States v. Gotti, et al., 1987.
Chart supplied by counsel, Bruce Cutler and Susan G. Kellman.
From Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information,p.31.
