As day one of the State of New York versus the National Rifle Association wrapped late yesterday afternoon, only the Attorney General’s office had gotten their turn to present their case to jurors.

On a day that had grown long for all parties due to delays in the jury selection process, scheduled to have finished last Friday, Justice Joel Cohen dismissed the jurors, thanking them for their patience and telling the courtroom proceedings would begin again at 9:30 this morning.

That’s when the NRA begins to present its defense. And there’s a lot of territory to defend.

To anyone familiar with the case and the players involved or accused, the dizzying quantities of facts and figures, names and faces of the defendants were very familiar.

What was surprising was the level of detail given about longtime Board of Directors and their alleged misdeeds.

Current members of the Board of Directors, from former NRA Presidents Sandy Froman, Carolyn Meadows and Marion Hammer to Charles Cotton, Keene Robinson, Dave Butz, Todd Rathner and others totaled hundreds of years of board terms.

According to the Attorney Generals allegations, those terms were due to benefits they received either either directly or indirectly from LaPierre’s use of NRA funds in exchange for their fealty.

In each instance, the prosecution’s presentation was quick to show jurors clear NRA policies and procedures specifically forbidding that specific kind of conduct.

From a million dollars worth of private plane trips by the LaPierre family (without LaPierre’s presence) over a single year to the exaggerated invoices that paid for them, the Attorney General’s case hammers a single theme: the abuses were neither honest mistakes nor occasional missteps, they were intentional, repeated and accepted as the longstanding way things were done under the absolute governing of Wayne LaPierre.

Throughout the proceedings, Wayne LaPierre sat quietly.

For those who have watched him over the years, the LaPierre in the courtroom may most closely reflect the real man. That, however, contrasts wildly from the manipulative and domineering martinet described by the prosecution.

From the firing of Lt. Col. Oliver North as NRA President at the now-infamous 2019 Annual Meetings in Indianapolis, to the harassment and retaliation charges of former NRA Board Members Esther Schneider and Phillip Journey, LaPierre was characterized as a man who broached no threats to his authority.

He was also characterized as a man who used the system to his advantage.

With a rudimentary knowledge of accounting and how the NRA’s internal structure operates, specifically in regards to the distinct lines between the National Rifle Association and the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legislative Action), I was confused by the details and accounting practices outlined by the prosecution. One can only imagine the confusion it caused jurors.

But the case appeared effective in one respect: despite occasionally digging deeply into details, it always wound its way back to a pair of key names: Wayne LaPierre and Woody Phillips. Throughout their joint tenure, the NRA coffers were allegedly used as “private piggy banks” for the duo, their chosen subordinates and enabling Board Members.

But a cautionary note is necessary: watching the prosecution present its bill of horrors without the counter-arguments of the defense in any court case is as foolhardy as declaring a college or professional football game “over” at halftime.

Tomorrow, at 9:30 AM, defense attorneys will begin the arguments in defense of LaPierre, et al.

What they are or how effective their strategies will ultimately prove to be remains to be seen. There is a lot of lawyering left before this one goes to the jury.

But we’ll begin seeing a truer picture of the case tomorrow morning. And, as always, we’ll keep you posted

— Jim Shepherd