What do you want to see in December case changes?

We've had almost a full semester to play with the case, so what are you expecting/hoping for?

From my personal observation, DLP is being prosecuted significantly more than Cameron. I'd estimate a 2/3 split in favor of DLP, so I'd maybe like to see some small improvements to the balance there, although I don't think it is egregious compared to other split cases I've seen (pretty sure Weber/Syed trials were only 10% during sutcliffe fall).

From a defense attorney standpoint, I wish we had access to one more witness. AMTA typically doesn't add witnesses in the December changes, so I would like to see Nova be made a swing witness.

Also from a defense perspective, I'd like to see slightly more support for non-duress Cameron cases. I think the case would be good if the defense could only call two witnesses, but being forced to call a witness who identifies Cameron at the tower makes the defense rough.

Finally, I'd like to see some slight improvements to Ebi. Ebi genuinely feels like the worst witness to write I've ever seen. Their main gimmick is providing doubt to the DNA/fingerprint evidence, but I haven't really seen a team try to use that evidence, and when they did, the Cameron just ran duress and it was barely useful anyway. Making non-duress better will make Ebi better, but I think more work still needs done for DLP defenses and duress defenses.

The other 5 witnesses available to the defense all feel fine to me, and I've seen them all used effectively in trials.

From a variety perspective, I'd like to see the swing witnesses be slightly less specific to the calls (eg, Cage for Cameron, Cosmos for DLP). Just add a little bit to each for the case they aren't being called on.

From a prosecution perspective, I'd like to see Nguyen see a lot of improvement. Right now, the witness is hardly ever called they only help prove that Cameron was at Ivy Lane/Miller Tower and like I mentioned before, nearly everyone is running duress. For DLP, the fingerprint evidence is considerably more useful but far from enough to call a witness when Nova acts as a better version of the same testimony. Nguyen being weak is bad for the overall health of the case because of how much of Ebi is based on Nguyen's report.

Also from a prosecution perspective, it feels like the side-constrained witnesses heavily overtake the swings, especially on the DLP side. I'd like to see Cosmos get a bit better for both prosecution sides and Cage be better for DLP.

So what does everyone else think? Do you agree or disagree with my interpretations of the case? Is there a big hole I'm missing? Will AMTA break their pattern of not adding witnesses during the December changes (give us Nova's cousin RP as a swing please).

I completely agree that Ebi (and Nguyen) need some changes to make them more viable. It would also be great if we could receive a bit more clarification as to what Ebi could testify under their "alternative suspects" conclusion. With the recent crackdown by AMTA on inventions, it's still unclear whether Ebi can testify to a list of alternative suspects.

To that end, the defense case as a whole feels rather sparse. While there are a variety of charges that the prosecution can choose for each defendant, it doesn't seem like there's enough diversity in the defense cases themselves. As of right now, it seems like the defense for BDP is just reasonable doubt, which doesn't make for much of a fun, cohesive story. It would be interesting to see more facts to support a fake paintings defense or a witness besides Nova (if they remain prosecution side constrained) that can testify to "cop-spiracy."

I would also love to see some changes to Berkley's affidavit that provide a more cohesive story/explanation to the evidence.

Pretty sure the fact that Ebi's report does not have a list of alternative suspects means ebi could not create a list on direct. Agree with all the points on ebi and Nguyen. I think they're both examples of how this case has witnesses/points written for certain theories and if those theories aren't pursued, they become basically useless.

Sir Mocksalot wrote:Pretty sure the fact that Ebi's report does not have a list of alternative suspects means ebi could not create a list on direct. Agree with all the points on ebi and Nguyen. I think they're both examples of how this case has witnesses/points written for certain theories and if those theories aren't pursued, they become basically useless.

I suppose this just goes back to my point that the defense case-in-chief feels pretty empty right now. It's weird to have this expert explain "hey, they missed alternative suspects," without them being able to say who those alternative suspects might be.

I know case changes are coming out tonight (?) but I'll speculate a little anyway.

I agree that the D case needs to be redone. The facts are sparse and it just feels like there's not enough meat in there for alternate suspects/bad evidence on either defendant. Almost every D CiC I've seen (most of them from very good teams) sound fundamentally made up and judges can tell. On DLP, another swing/side constrained witness HAS to be added. If a team does not want to call DLP rn they are left with Ebbi and two empty characters. On Cameron I hope they put something in for non-duress.

At the same time I've heard there is a massive massive D bias. This may be due to issues with the writing of the cops and experts who all have credibility issues on cross. It is good to note that almost all criminal cases have a D bias before regionals historically due to the high burden, so it'll be interesting to see if this year's bias will be even greater.

Overall this is a really fun, dynamic albeit stressful case; I really appreciate what the case committee was going for especially considering last year's fact heavy case. There do need to be some changes though - just add more facts and theories to the packet for both sides. This will make teams prosecute Cameron more too, which I bet is at maybe 30% or lower rn. As much as last year's case felt stale by the end and was so goddamn expert heavy I really appreciate the number of possible theories on both sides, here's hoping this case can better itself even more.