The trial got underway, and for some inexplicable reason, Jason Short agreed to the summary statement of: “On July 7th, 2016, on the steps of the Justice Center, a couple of blocks away from the courthouse here, there was a “Don’t shoot PDX” protest involving a large crowd. Mr. Strickland was in the crowd filming the event. Mr. Strickland was confronted by a few individuals while in the crowd and was later observed drawing a concealed firearm at a small group of individuals away from the larger crowd.”
Why Short didn’t push to include the fact that it was “several” instead of “a few”, that they were carrying weapons, and that they had begun to physically assault me, I have no idea. For some reason they agreed to this statement that was void of vitally important information.
As usual, Jason Short rolled over and failed to stand up for his client.
At one point the judge asked if the defense had any evidence to submit. I had taken several screen captures from the videos showing the weapons the mob were carrying, to highlight how they posed a threat to me. Trotter then told the judge we weren’t offering anything as evidence and we would rely on the prosecutor’s exhibits.
What? You read that right, Jason Short and Chris Trotter didn’t think that showing the weapons the aggressive mob were carrying was of any importance.
Remember when I said Trotter and Short had told me that Short would be the one doing most of the talking, arguing, and questioning? Well, in the span of just a few days that completely changed, and now Chris Trotter, who could barely form a complete sentence while arguing pre-trial motions, was making the opening statements. Trotter would go on to do half of the questioning and present the closing statements.
Jason Short and Chris Trotter blatantly lied to their client.
They also never put the defense jury instructions on any record. They allowed the prosecutors to put their jury instructions on the record, but never officially challenged it.
I was mortified watching all of this unfold before me, but I had repeatedly been told to trust Jason Short so I just assumed I was hypersensitive at the time, and I was doing my best to hide my surprise and disgust, to just remain stoic and as professional as I could.
Another thing that was odd to me was at the start of each day, the lawyers and judge would all meet privately in the judge’s chambers. I was not allowed to partake in whatever was being discussed.
The first few witnesses were mostly mundane and didn’t provide much information. That would all soon change…