I scanned it. Standard drug case. Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a truck for speeding, and the defendant, Chad Irwin, and his passenger, Todd Hales, were acting nervous and the trooper thought he smelled pot. He took them out of the car after calling for backup and found a burned joint in the ashtray. As the police were inventorying the car and preparing to just write them a citation and send them on their way, the trooper that had pulled them over checked the trunk and found a brick of meth. The defense attorney had filed a motion to suppress the meth, saying they didn’t have probable cause to open a locked trunk, even though they’d gotten permission from the defendant. That Chad had been coerced to open it against his will because he was already in handcuffs and sitting on the ground and didn’t feel like he had a choice.

Not a bad motion, but not great either. The better tactic would’ve been to waive every court hearing and set it for a bench trial—trial with a judge instead of a jury—to resolve the case as quickly as possible. Courts could usually set bench trials within a week because they didn’t have to call in any potential jurors. Then, you’d have Chad testify that the drugs were Todd’s, and Todd testify that the drugs were Chad’s, and that neither knew the other had it. Bam. Reasonable doubt handed to you on a silver platter. And if the judge refused to let them go because of such legal trickery, the appeals court would certainly slap the judge down and either reverse the verdict or grant a new trial, at which time a jury would very likely acquit, or the judge might just grant a motion to dismiss. There were few things as embarrassing to a judge as being told by the court of appeals they were wrong and needed to try again.

The first witness Will called to the stand was the trooper. He testified about why he pulled the men over, the search, and why he checked the trunk. They’d found a knife on Chad that had to be removed. Routine stuff. The defense attorney grilled him on cross about why he searched the trunk, but not too hard. A good tactic since he was putting Chad on the stand: just establish that the trooper may not have had enough reason to search the trunk and then put Chad up there to say he was intimidated and frightened and didn’t have a choice in opening the trunk or not.

After the trooper was done, Will said, “State rests, Your Honor.”

The defense attorney stood and said, “Defense calls Mr. Chad Irwin to the stand.”