State Vs Trepalt Opening Statement

Opening Statement
State v. Trepalt

May it please the court, counsel, and members of the jury.

In sickness and in health, until death do us part, is not an invitation to commit murder. On Thanksgiving Weekend, after a party, the Trepalt’s were driving home. It was early in the morning, still dark, when Mr. Trepalt took a corner too fast and lost control of his car. There was an accident. Mr. Trepalt walked away with no injuries, but his wife, Violet, would never be the same again. The accident resulted in her being paralyzed from the waist down, having problems with her fine motor skills, and needing care around the clock. Violet Trepalt, who had once been an independent and active woman, would now spend the majority of the the rest of her life in bed.

Today, the state will show that following the accident, Mr. Trepalt began to view his wife, who he had sworn to love in sickness and in health, as burden, as a barrier, and later, as a bounty.

As I have already mentioned, following the accident Mrs. Trepalt was in constant need of care. But testimony you will hear today will show, that Mr. Trepalt simply couldn’t be burdened with becoming involved in the care of his wife. Instead he relied on the nurses, the hired help, to care for his wife. In fact, Mr. Trepalt was so uninvolved with her care, that you will hear Nurse

Trepalt. He met Nurse Quinby, who he hired as nurse to care for his wife. But care for Violet was not the only thing that Nurse Quinby did, she also became a companion to Mr. Trepalt, and evidence will show that a romance between the two was formed. Miss Flanders will testify that on several occasions Mrs. Trepalt would drive Nurse Quinby home. On once such occasion, he even spent the night. But the romance between the two couldn’t progress, after all, Mr. Trepalt was still married. Violet, in her weakened condition, was now forming a barrier between Mr. Trepalt and his new