Stan speaks out: comment.

• Author: Levco, Stan
• Position: Jury selection

WE PROSECUTORS need something to counteract the CSI Effect, which creates unrealistic expectations among jurors and has been harmful to the cause of prosecutors-and justice. I believe I have found the antidote.

By watching Survivor and paying close attention to the lessons it teaches, we can become more effective prosecutors.

Over the years, I've been accused of taking this reality show a bit too seriously. I'll admit that at times it almost seems more important to me to know whether Russell has the Immunity Idol than whether Ahmadinejad has a nuclear weapon. But at some point, I stopped feeling guilty and realized that what happens in Survivor can actually help sharpen my trial skills.

It hit home on Survivor: Samoa. At final Tribal Council when the jury voted for Natalie over Russell, much of the viewing audience was surprised. After all, the criteria that the jury was supposed to use was who had "outwitted, outlasted and outplayed" the others. By almost my objective standard, that was Russell, not Natalie.

Russell was shocked by the vote, but I wasn't. As Erik said to Natalie in final Tribal Council when he explained why he was voting for her, "People will call you weak. People will say you're undeserving. You would say you are probably the least deserving of sole survivors, but maybe in an environment filled with arrogance, delusional entitlement, maybe the person who think she's the least deserving is the most."

Erik may as well have said, "You don't deserve it Natalie, but I like you a lot better than Russell, so I'm going to figure out a way to rationalize why you deserve my vote."

In the most recent season, after again outplaying his competitors, Russell didn't get a single vote. That just reinforced this lesson.

If you're not aware of what the jury is going to like or dislike and you rely solely on the facts, you will do so at your peril. If you have a likeable defendant or an unlikeable victim, make adjustments. Confront it head on in jury selection. Or when you give your final argument, acknowledge it. Or better yet, change it if you can.

If you have an abrasive victim, you can't change the facts, but you can try to change their attitude on the witness stand or what they hear. So as you prepare your case, it's important to keep in mind not only the facts you need to prove your case, but the values you need to present to make the jury want to convict.

Survivor teaches more than just the importance of having the jury want to decide...