The Defense Against a Fixed Story

The Collini Case

The courtroom’s initial image of Collini as a senseless killer is challenged by a defense that expands the case to include the victim’s past.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

An Easy Narrative An Easy Narrative from "The Collini Case". An Easy Narrative Facts without motive Collini has confessed, the physical evidence is strong, and investigators find no apparent connection to Meyer.

An Easy Narrative from "The Collini Case". An Easy Narrative Facts without motive Collini has confessed, the physical evidence is strong, and investigators find no apparent connection to Meyer.

An Easy Narrative Facts without motive Collini has confessed, the physical evidence is strong, and investigators find no apparent connection to Meyer. The planned trial therefore seems likely to be brief and predictable. The danger of reduction Without context, the defendant can be reduced to the brutal act recorded in the evidence. The courtroom is prepared to judge the killing without understanding the history behind it.

The Brutal Image The Brutal Image from "The Collini Case". The Brutal Image Forensic detail Mattinger elicits the paths of the bullets and the damage caused by Collini’s kicks.

The Brutal Image from "The Collini Case". The Brutal Image Forensic detail Mattinger elicits the paths of the bullets and the damage caused by Collini’s kicks.

The Brutal Image Forensic detail Mattinger elicits the paths of the bullets and the damage caused by Collini’s kicks. The evidence is presented in language that the court can picture vividly. A defense in retreat Leinen sees that the images are fixing a powerful account of the defendant as a monster. The trial appears to leave little room for anything that might complicate that impression.

A Break in the Schedule A Break in the Schedule from "The Collini Case". A Break in the Schedule An unexpected adjournment A lay judge falls ill and the court pauses the trial for ten days.

A Break in the Schedule from "The Collini Case". A Break in the Schedule An unexpected adjournment A lay judge falls ill and the court pauses the trial for ten days.

A Break in the Schedule An unexpected adjournment A lay judge falls ill and the court pauses the trial for ten days. Leinen uses the interruption to reconsider the case and search through the file again. A last chance The delay exposes how close the defense is to losing. Leinen’s attention to the weapon opens a new direction just as the original narrative seems settled.

The Historical Counterstory The Historical Counterstory from "The Collini Case". The Historical Counterstory A different victim history Leinen introduces records of Meyer’s command in wartime Genoa and the execution of Collini’s father.

The Historical Counterstory from "The Collini Case". The Historical Counterstory A different victim history Leinen introduces records of Meyer’s command in wartime Genoa and the execution of Collini’s father.

The Historical Counterstory A different victim history Leinen introduces records of Meyer’s command in wartime Genoa and the execution of Collini’s father. The defendant’s life enters the proceeding as more than a psychiatric or sentencing issue. Reframing responsibility The defense does not deny the murder; it disputes the idea that the act arose without history. The courtroom must now assess the relationships among violence, law, and revenge.

The Courtroom Rebalanced The Courtroom Rebalanced from "The Collini Case". The Courtroom Rebalanced The old decision reinterpreted The investigation’s discontinuance is shown to have resulted from a statute of limitations, not an…

The Courtroom Rebalanced from "The Collini Case". The Courtroom Rebalanced The old decision reinterpreted The investigation’s discontinuance is shown to have resulted from a statute of limitations, not an…

The Courtroom Rebalanced The old decision reinterpreted The investigation’s discontinuance is shown to have resulted from a statute of limitations, not an acquittal. Leinen restores uncertainty to the official story Mattinger had presented. A more difficult judgment The defense gains historical credibility without making the murder disappear. The legal and moral questions now resist a simple division between guilty and innocent characters.

Before the trial begins

The first five days of trial

After the sixth day of hearings

When the trial resumes after the adjournment

After the limitation rule is explained