But lawyers and others familiar with espionage prosecutions know that even the best cases can take legal twists and turns.
The trial was filled with legal twists as 10 lawyers representing 11 defendants each tried to gain acquittals for their clients.
Political complications, legal twists this had never been his place as third or second officer.
The delays mean that the case had the possibility of being dropped because, in a legal twist, a statute of limitations may be reached.
"It is surprising and unusual," the aide said in reference to the day's unexpected legal twists.
The Connecticut case is full of legal twists and turns.
It was yet another legal twist in a case that has caused outrage across Pakistan and abroad.
His writing has a legal twist about it.
He chronicles years of legal twists and turns in a manner that is thoughtful and never difficult to follow.
Now comes the legal twist and the moral dilemma.