Your honor, opposing counsel, members of the jury. May it please the court.

Every choice has a consequence.

And you’ve heard today that the series of choices made by the defendant resulted in the

consequence of Chris Villafana’s death. But members of the jury, I can’t just tell you tha nowt, it

had to proven to you today here in court. The plaintiff had to prove to you that Danny Kosack

breached her duties of properly training Elias, and taking reasonable steps to ensure safety on

set. Now since the defense is counter suing, they had their own burden to prove. They had to

prove to you that the Midlands Television Studios broke Danny Kosack’s safety guidelines, and

that the studio did not take reasonable steps to ensure safety that day. Now, in a few minutes,

you going to decide by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not, which

party breached their duty, and if that breach caused the attack on June 29th. And although all

evidence points to the choices of Danny Kosack causing this attack, I want to present you with a

hypothetical. If in your deliberations, you find that both parties have breached their duty, that’s

ok. Because then you must decide who was more at fault on June 29th.

Today, to demonstrate the defendant's liability, we walked through the his choices and I

want to go through them once more. The first choice took place during her booking for the show.

Jameson Clark, the talent booker for MTS, told you that she offered multiple dates for the

defendant to come on the show, but miss Kosack chose, she pushed for June 29th, the earliest

date possible. And why? Miss Kosack told you herself, she was desperate. She took the stand

and told you that she needed immediate publicity provided by Midlands After Dark to save her

failing animal sanctuary. To her, it didn’t matter that he wouldn’t be ready until July. So she

chose to perform on June 29th. Mr. Kosack also chose to bring Elias instead of another animal.

Expert in primatology, Dr. Hawkins took the stand and told you about that choice. She told you

that Elias was grown up, Elias was strong, Elias had already shown signs of aggression. She
told you that to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, Elias’ attributes made him a

dangerous choice for a live show. So it’s no coincidence that on June 20th, Alex Grace received

an email from the defendant, asking to bring a different animal onto the show. Danny Kosack

knew the dangers of bringing Elias. But when Ms. Grace explained that she was only interested

in Elias, Ms. Kosack didn’t explain the danger of that. She didn’t explain that Elias wouldn’t

complete training until after June 29th. So despite having a duty to ensure safety on set, Ms.

Grace told you that the defendant explained nothing.

Now I want to talk some more about Elias’ training, because at this point, you’ve heard

so much testimony about it that it may seem confusing. But members of the jury, that’s exactly

what opposing counsel wants. Because when the facts about the training are made clear, the

defendant’s choices and the consequence that they caused cannot be missed. And so I want

you to remember three key facts about the training. First, the standard in the industry is to use

positive reinforcement with two phases. Begin with the continuous phase, and end with the

fixed-ratio phase. You heard this from both experts who testified today. Second, that Danny

Kosack did not switch to this second phase. Jameson Clark went to Ms. Kosack’s animal

sanctuary and watched her give Elias a treat after every hand gesture. On cross examination,

Ms. Kosack told you that until the moment that the rehearsal began at the Midlands Television

Studio, she used this method of giving him a treat after every hand gesture. Third, the defendant

did not give Elias any treats during the rehearsal. Not only that, but you’ve heard from multiple

eye witnesses that Ms. Kosack was twenty feet away from Elias, behind a group of writers. No

matter which way opposing counsel wants to spin it, those three facts will always remain true.

And what was the consequence? A few minutes into the rehearsal, Elias jumps up, runs right

towards Danny Kosack, and hits Chris Villafana on the way.

Now the defense has alleged that the Midlands Television Studios did not take

reasonable steps to ensure safety on set. But I want you to think about what you heard today.
You heard that Alex Grace studied the leading article in her field on chimpanzees, and

contacted five separate animal experts to gain information on safety. You heard that Jameson

Clark held a safety meeting with her staff, only after the defendant neglected to do so. Members

of the jury that all sounds pretty reasonable to me. But unfortunately, these responsible actions

taken by MTS staff could not outweigh the defendant's negligent choices. The choice to bring a

dangerous animal, the choice to not finish training that animal. The choice to remove his collar

and harness for the rehearsal, the choice to stand 20 feet away, behind other writers, and lastly,

the choice to remain on the show. You’ve heard from multiple witnesses that Elias was agitated

all day long. That ______. And after seeing this, Danny Kosack chose to go on the show. Every

choice has consequences, and sadly, the responsible choices made by Midlands After Dark

could not outweigh the defendant’s negligence. Now in a few minutes, Mr. ____________ is

going to stand where I’m standing now, and try to tell you that _____________. But ____.