August Newsletter: Answer the question Ashley, you too Wendi.

Answer the question

The trail of Ashley Benefield has been big news over the past month. In a nutshell, Ashley shot and killed her husband Doug. The trail came down to did she act in self-defence or not. Part of this was the question did Ashley fear for her life at the moment she shot Doug.

In court the prosecutor asked her the question “you thought he was going to kill you?” - it took her three goes of asking the question before Benefield answered. Why would that be? Why wasn’t it a straightforward “yes” the first time?

Here’s how it went:

Prosecutor: Because of the those things you claim that you thought he was going to kill you

Benefield: He had never hit me before

Prosecutor: Okay, And you thought it was going to kill you.

Benefield: He wouldn’t let me leave - I tried to leave, he stopped me.

Prosecutor: The question is you thought he was gonna kill you.

Benefield: (very long pause) Yeah

Do you believe she thought he was going to kill her?

And there’s more

I did a show recently looking at the testimony Wendy Adelson gave during the trial of her brother Charlie (You can see it here)

She was another one for avoiding certain questions. Here are some examples:

Attorney: How did the killers in this case know that Dan Markell was planning to leave town the day after the killing?

Wendi: I have no idea.

(Answers the question although ‘I have no idea’ is often deceptive)

Attorney: You knew he was planning to leave town the next day, didn't you?

Wendi: I did. Yes.

(Answers the question)

Attorney: Did you convey that information to anyone?

Wendi: Absolutely not.

(Answers the question but very tersely and the convincing word ‘absolutely’ is in there)

Attorney: To your knowledge. Did your brother have that information?

Wendi: I don't know why he would have known that.

(Here she avoids the question. There are only three direct answers “yes he did”, “no he didn’t” or “I don’t know”. Instead she moves to talk about the plausibility of the scenario. Why would she do that?

Another one from Wendi:

Attorney: Where did you go after the TV repair man left?

Wendi: After he left, I stayed at the house for a while and I was working on some pieces of writing. I was talking with various friends. I had a friend in town interviewing for a job at FSU. I was making plans to go meet her and time got too close before her interview. And then I had two friends that I would often meet on Fridays - just kind of last minute and so we made plans to go have lunch.

Wendi is asked where did she go - she doesn’t tell us, instead she told us what she did when she didn’t go anywhere. At first reading it might appear that she ends the answer by saying she went out to lunch but, look carefully, she only talks about making plans.

In fact, all the way through the testimony, Wendi uses this tactic (consciously or unconsciously) when she gets questioned on a subject she’s obviously sensitive to.

Misinformation

Misinformation is a hot topic just now with lots of it flying around social media.

Here’s a quote from someone accused of spreading false information online. The information she (and others) spread was linked to violent disorder. What do you notice in this?

'I'm mortified that I'm being accused of this. I did not make it up. I first received this information from somebody in Southport.'

I see:

1. No regret about the consequences

2. No statement that she believed the information to be true (she does try to hint at that by saying the info came from a specific place but only alludes)

3. “This” is distancing from the allegation.

4. “First received” suggests she may have heard the information from more than one place.

5. “I did not make this up” is focussed on the “making up” of the information.

6. Total concern for herself rather than any of the multiple victims.

In the present

Talking of misinformation. You know those posts you read on social media and your gut says ‘I don’t believe that”? One of the reasons will be you’ve read a post about past events, written in the present tense.

And finally…

Analyse me - here’s a text I sent. I pressed “send” before I realised how my words gave away my true feelings. What do you notice? Let me know in the comments.