Trial Practice-Opening Statement Exercise PROVIDE AN OPENING STATEMENT FOR BOTH THE DEFENSE AND PROSECUTION SIDE USING THE CASE INFORMATION LISTED BELOW NOTE: The purpose of opening statements by each side is to tell jurors something about the case they will be hearing. The opening statements must be confined to facts that will be proved by the evidence, and cannot be argumentative. The trial begins with the opening statement of the party with the burden of proof. Time, Date, and Location * 9:00 PM * July 4, 2021 * Champion Way and Intercontinental Boulevard, St. John's County, New York Players 1. John Cena: * John Cena works for Smokey Mountain BBQ, a full service bar and restaurant, in St. John's County, New York. This restaurant is very popular and specializes in serving craft beer and smoked meats. John Cena has worked there for the last 10 years. He works seven days a week and twelve hours a day. Before the restaurant opens, John helps set up the bar and makes sure that the bartenders have all of their necessary equipment like napkins and glasses. John also works with the kitchen staff to prep the meat that is going to be smoked and served during the dinner service. Due to a severe allergy to BBQ sauce, John is unable to cook the food and is limited to prepping it. Because of John's familiarity with the city of St. John's County, he opted to work during the dinner service as a delivery driver. John drives a Toyota Tundra pick up truck. According to John, no one can get the food delivered as fresh and as fast as he can. When not out on a delivery, John helps out around the restaurant and tends bar. Once dinner service ends, John supervises the maintenance staff and ensures everything is clean before he heads home to McMahon County, a town approximately 30 minutes away. 2. Nikki Bella: * Nikki Bella is a bartender at Smokey Mountain BBQ. She has worked there for six years. In addition to her job as a bartender, she is the general manager of the restaurant and oversees the entire staff. Nikki has a good relationship with all of the employees and is known to give certain perks to the employees that worked there for a long time such as letting them leave early, come in late, and have a few drinks during their shift. 3. Police Officer Bray Wyatt: * Officer Wyatt is a 15 year veteran of the St. John's County Police Department. He specializes in vehicular crime investigation. 4. Brock Lesnar: * Brock Lesnar is a longtime customer of Smokey Mountain BBQ. He usually has food delivered from the restaurant and has gotten to know John Cena very well over the years. Facts: On July 4, 2021, Smokey Mountain BBQ, a restaurant and bar located at 100 Suplex Boulevard, St. John's County, New York, was holding their annual Fourth of July BBQ Bash. The event is one of the restaurant's largest events of the year and holds over 400 guests. Partygoers enjoyed All You Can Eat BBQ and unlimited alcoholic beverages throughout the day. John Cena, a dedicated employee started his day at 3 AM. He got up early and headed to the restaurant to start the preparation for the day. Because of the large volume of food being prepared, John's allergies were acting up as he couldn't avoid being near the various sauces and ingredients. His eyes and nose were runny all day. At 8:00 AM, Nikki Bella, the head bartender and manager of Smokey Mountain BBQ, called a staff meeting before the festivities began. Nikki thanked the staff for their hard work and gave them all personalized glasses with their respective names etched in the glass. Nikki went under the bar and pulled out a case of champagne that included 12 bottles. She then began pouring champagne in each employee's glass. The employees toasted their glasses and drank their glass of champagne. Nikki used 8 of the 12 bottles of champagne. She then asked John if he wanted to take home the rest of the bottles since his sister was getting married next month. John agreed and loaded the remaining bottles into his car. The festivities began around 11:00 AM. Guests crowded the restaurant. Due to John's longtime employment at the restaurant, numerous guests greeted John. John spent most of the day going over to different tables and catching up with his favorite customers. Several customers specifically requested John to be their waiter and some even offered to pour him some of their beer so that he can celebrate with the table. Some of the customers noticed that John had his personalized glass in his shirt pocket. One customer even commented "I have never seen a black drinking glass. You can't even see inside of it. You can have any type of drink in there and no one would ever know." At approximately 7:00 PM, Nikki received a phone call from a longtime customer, Brock Lesnar. Brock lives at 25 Champion Way, St. John's County, New York. Every year Brock has a big Fourth of July BBQ at his house. He called in a panic stating that his grill just broke and he needed 20 hamburgers, 10 racks of ribs, and 15 pulled pork sandwiches. Nikki was happy to get such a big order. Even though the restaurant was crowded that day, 2020 was a tough year and the restaurant had lost a great deal of business. Smokey Mountain BBQ was in no position to turn away business, especially for a customer as good as Brock Lesnar. Nikki told Brock that they would be happy to fill the order but, Brock would need to come pick up the food. Brock told Nikki "I'm sorry Nikki. I would love to come down and see you guys but I've had a few drinks and I don't think it's a good idea for me to drive right now." Nikki looked around and saw John standing near the bar sipping from his personalized black glass. She asked John if he would mind delivering the order to Brock Lesnar's house. John and Brock have been friendly for a long time. John was happy to deliver the order. Nikki noticed that John's eyes were red. She asked him about it but, John again complained about his allergies. At 8:15 PM, John loaded Brock's order into his car and headed to 25 Champion Way, about a 30 minute ride. It began to rain. Police Officer Bray Wyatt was patrolling St. John's County on July 4th. At 9:00 PM, at the intersection of Champion Way and Intercontinental Boulevard, PO Wyatt observed a Toyota Tundra disobey a stop sign, go off the road, and crash into a mailbox. Officer Wyatt immediately responded to the crash and observed the driver, John Cena, to be unconscious in the driver seat. Officer Wyatt observed food all over the car and smelled a strong odor of champagne. He looked in the back seat and saw four bottles of champagne, two of the bottles open and empty. Officer Wyatt also observed the black glass with John's name etched in it in the cupholder beside him. Finally, John regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, Officer Wyatt observed John to have bloodshot water eyes and an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his person. When Officer Wyatt helped John to his feet, John was very unsteady on his feet as he walked away. Officer Wyatt asked John if he had anything to drink. John replied "I had a few earlier today but nothing else. I kept refilling that black glass with my name on it but, only with iced tea from the restaurant." Officer Wyatt placed John Cena under arrest for Driving While Intoxicated and took him to the local precinct for testing. John Cena refused to take any chemical breath tests or physical tests. Trial: John Cena is now on trial and is facing a charge of one count of Driving While Intoxicated pursuant to Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1192(3). Charge: * Under our law, no person shall operate a motor vehicle while in an * intoxicated condition. * MOTOR VEHICLE means every vehicle operated or driven upon a public highway [private road open to motor vehicle traffic] [parking lot] which is propelled by any power other than muscular power. * To OPERATE a motor vehicle means to drive it. * A person is in an INTOXICATED condition when such person has consumed alcohol to the extent that he or she is incapable, to a substantial extent, of employing the physical and mental abilities which he or she is expected to possess in order to operate a vehicle as a reasonable and prudent driver. * The law does not require any particular chemical or physical test to prove that a person was in an intoxicated condition. To determine whether the defendant was intoxicated you may consider all the surrounding facts and circumstances, including, for example: the defendant's physical condition and appearance, balance and coordination, and manner of speech; the presence or absence of an odor of alcohol; the manner in which the defendant operated the motor vehicle; opinion testimony regarding the defendant's sobriety; the circumstances of any accident; the results of any test of the content of alcohol in the defendant's blood