Opening Statement and Spring, Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow, is a best-selling courtroom drama that was made into a major Hollywood film. It revolves around Rusty Sabich, a prosecuting attorney who is investigating the murder of a colleague with whom he had an extramarital affair. To his astonishment, Rusty is accused and brought to trial for the murder. The novel begins with an "Opening Statement," which is Sabich's description of how he makes his first statement to a jury as the prosecutor in a court trial. The main technique, he explains, is to point directly at the accused. Initially, Rusty would put himself in the defendant's shoes, he says, but he later dropped such scruples because he had a job to do. Finding the truth, he tells juries, is the main goal. Chapter 1 of the first section...