NITA Publications

State v. O'Neill, Sixth Edition with CD-ROM

Liza O'Neill was shot and killed the night of her twenty-sixth birthday on the front porch of her stepmother's home. Liza's estranged husband, Joseph O'Neill, was charged with first degree murder and pleaded not guilty. The case went to trial and resulted in a hung jury. The State is retrying the case. There are three witnesses for both the plaintiff and the defendant along with one optional witness for either side.

• >> TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Introduction
  
  Special Instructions for Use as a Full Trial
  
  Stipulations
  
  Grand Jury Indictment
  
  Testimony at First Trial
  
  Mary Wilson
  
  Officer Frank Novak
  
  Joseph J. O'Neill
  
  Statements
  
  Maria Vargas
  
  Amber Donovan
  
  Sam Russo
  
  Warning and Waiver Signed By Joseph J. O'Neill
  
  Statement Given By Joseph J. O'Neill to Police
  
  Information Regarding Sergeant John Pierce
  
  Crime Laboratory Report Submitted by Sergeant John Pierce
  
  Coroner's Report
  
  Exhibits
  
  Exhibit 1 -- Street Diagram
  
  Exhibit 2 -- Map of Section 100 of Nita City
  
  Exhibit 3 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by Officer Novak on September 10, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 4 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by Officer Novak on September 10, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 5 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by Officer Novak on September 10, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 6 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by Officer Novak on September 10, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 7 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by the Crime Lab on November 11, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 8 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by the Crime Lab on November 11, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 9 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by the Crime Lab on November 11, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 10 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by the Crime Lab on November 11, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 11 -- Photo of 1704 East Prospect Street taken by the Crime Lab on November 11, YR-1
  
  Exhibit 12 -- Photo of Glock 17
  
  Exhibit 13 -- Photo of Glock Slug
  
  Exhibit 14 -- Nita City Police Department Property Inventory
  
  Exhibit 15 -- Photo of Liza O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 16 -- Photo of Liza O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 17 -- Photo of Liza O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 18 -- Check from Tsunami Entertainment to Joseph J. O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 19 -- Email from Joseph J. O'Neill to Liza O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 20 -- Military Discharge record of Joseph J. O'Neill
  
  Exhibit 21 -- Auto Sales Statistics and Black Model Examples Year YR-12
  
  Exhibit 22 -- Newspaper Article Regarding John Bierman
  
  Statutes
  
  Proposed Jury Instructions
  
  General Jury Instructions
  
  Verdict Form

• >> AUTHORS
  
  
  • Maureen A. Howard
    
    
    • Maureen A. Howard was named Director of the University of Washington Trial Advocacy Program as an Assistant Professor of Law in 2005, and was appointed an Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Hong Kong University Law Faculty in 2008. Professor Howard was named the Director of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy's Northwest Regional Trial Skills program in 2008. She joined the UW law school as an adjunct professor in 1997 and became Interim Director of the Trial Advocacy Program in 2002.

      Professor Howard began her career as a civil litigator in Seattle with the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP, where she concentrated her practice in commercial and employment law. After twelve years, she moved to the King County Prosecutor's Office where she tried criminal felony cases. She later became a judge pro tempore for King County, presiding over both civil and criminal trials, until joining the faculty full-time. Professor Howard has taught trial advocacy for over 15 years: in addition to teaching at the UW School of Law, she has taught trial skills at Emory University and Loyola University law schools. She has also taught at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) programs at Stanford University, University of San Francisco, William Mitchell College of Law, Seattle University, and in San Diego, as well as at the NITA national program at University of Colorado. Professor Howard serves on the Washington Pattern Jury Instruction Committee and the Executive Committee for the William L. Dwyer Inn of Court. In addition to her formal teaching, Professor Howard writes and speaks nationally on the art of trial advocacy and has appeared on several television programs as a legal commentator. Professor Howard is admitted to practice in Washington and California, and before the Supreme Court of the United States.

      Professor Howard is co-author, with Professor Aronson, of The Law of Evidence in Washington (5th ed. Matthew Bender 2013) and, with James H. Seckinger, of State v. O'Neill (6th ed. NITA 2012).

  
  

  • James H. Seckinger
    
    
    • James H. Seckinger, one of the nation's outstanding trial-advocacy teachers, has been part of the faculty of the Notre Dame Law School since 1974. Professor Seckinger teaches and writes in the areas of deposition techniques, evidence, professional responsibility and trial advocacy. Since 1973, he has been a member of the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and served as its director from 1979 to 1994. He earned his B.S. from St. John's University (Minnesota) in 1964, his M.S. from Vanderbilt University in 1968, and his J.D. from Notre Dame in 1968, where he served as articles editor of the Notre Dame Law Review. A member of the Colorado Bar since 1968 and the Indiana Bar since 1976, Professor Seckinger clerked for the Honorable William E. Doyle on the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado (1968-69), served as director of litigation at Denver Legal Aid (1969-72) as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow, served as chief deputy district attorney at the Denver District Attorney's office (1972-74), and held a visiting professorship at Cornell (1978-79).