The Trial; The Vigil Summary and Analysis

The courtroom is packed for the opening statements. Phase One, the six jurors and six alternate jurors are told, will be to determine if groundwater poisoned Wells G and H with TCE and, further, if that contamination was caused by Grace Chemical and Beatrice Foods subsidiary, Riley Tannery. Schlichtmann's goal during this phase is to overwhelm the jurors and Skinner himself with all his expensive expert testimony and evidence relative to soil, water, and well contamination and the prevailing scientific and medical views that TCE is a carcinogen. Facher and Keating (Cheeseman's selection for this phase of the defense) must disrupt the flow of the expert testimony with frequent objections and attacks on any grounds possible, including discrediting as much of the expert testimony or as many of the experts themselves as possible.

Schlichtmann begins...