Opening Statement (Defense) Who is Mattie Ross? Mattie Ross is a fourth teen year old girl who is a Presbyterian that lost her father to a serial killer, Tom Chaney. All she wanted was justice for her father’s death. She left her grieving mother and younger siblings to go to Fort Smith to get money that is owe to her father, and find out how she can legally get justice for her father, Frank Ross’s death. While in Fort Smith, she met Reuben Cogburn, a U.S. Marshall, and offered him pay for him to go capture Tom Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith to go on trial for the death penalty. She met Laboeuf who also was looking for Tom Chaney for a similar crime. Yes, she was able to convince them to let her go on the expedition to capture Chaney,