Please answer the following question: Build a movie plot around this: What position does Crawford take during the trial? He acts as his own attorney.
A:
Theodore "Ted" Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented structural engineer, discovers his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with police detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke). Crawford proceeds to shoot his wife, seriously wounding her and he immediately confesses the crime to Nunally on the scene. However, at his arraignment, Crawford retracts his confession.He then engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who considers this an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial. Beachum is busy making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for Wooton & Simms, a well-known firm, and begins a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike).At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, which serves as a key vehicle for the plot of the movie - matching up against a star prosecutor as a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife and was also present during his interrogation. His confession is ruled to be inadmissible as evidence, as it was fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun was not used to shoot his wife, because it had never been fired and did not match the shell casings at the murder scene. Since the house was under surveillance the entire time from the shooting to Crawford's arrest, the police are baffled.While the next hearing is imminent, Beechum is faced with absolutely no evidence against Crawford. Nunally in his intense desire for revenge, offers to plant false evidence through his contact at the evidence room. Beechum, however, being a young and as yet unspoiled lawyer refuses even to consider it. Nunally still goes on to do the dirty plant. Just before the trial, Beechum plots to trick Crawford with the help of his secretary, but at the last moment decides against it. With no new evidence to present to the jury, Beachum is forced to concede...