The advocate can then move to his body, asking about clothing, whether the witness could see his hands (and if not, why not? Probably because he was wearing gloves or his hands were in his pockets). This can be followed by: “Starting with the head, could you see his face?” After this questions can be asked about skin colour, facial hair, headgear, any distinguishing features, expression etc. It could therefore be more helpful for the advocate to say, “I’m going to ask you to describe the man you saw, but let’s take this in stages, starting from his head and moving down.” An ill-defined or broad question may cause some witnesses difficulties.įor example, “What did he look like?” might elicit a detailed response from one witness, whereas another might not know how to answer the question or exactly where to start. Some witnesses are precise and methodical in their answers, whereas others can be vague and uncertain. The approach taken by the advocate will depend on the witness. feed them the answers - see more below) but can help them along and elicit more detail with such questions as, “What happened next?”, “What could you see at this stage?”, “How close was he to you?”, “How did that make you feel?”, “How, if at all, did you respond?” The advocate conducting the examination-in-chief cannot lead a witness (i.e. Witnesses will not be asked to reveal their home address unless it is relevant to the case.įrom this point on they will be taken through their account of what happened. the prosecution for a prosecution witness or the defence for a defence witness) will then ask the witness’s name. “I swear by almighty God/I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm, that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”Īfter taking the oath or affirming, the legal representative calling the witness (i.e. The witness will start by entering the witness box and taking the oath or affirmation, i.e. Unless otherwise stated, the rest of this page assumes the witness is 14 or over. Young witnesses will rarely give evidence in open court and only those aged 14 or over will take the oath or affirm. Some witnesses will give evidence at trial from the witness box, but there are a number of ‘special measures’ available which allow evidence to be given elsewhere such as, for example, giving evidence by live video link from a different location or allowing evidence to be pre-recorded, which avoids the need for the witness to be present in the courtroom at trial.įor more information go to Witness Protection & Support > This is known as their ‘evidence-in-chief’ and the questioning of the witness at this stage is the ‘examination-in-chief’.Īt trial, juries and magistrates do not receive the written witness statements of witnesses who are called to give evidence (except on rare occasions), so what the witness says will be their evidence in the trial. Opposing counsel may object to certain questions asked on cross-examination if the questions violate the state's laws on evidence or if they relate to matters not discussed during direct examination.When witnesses are called to give evidence, they will be asked by the party seeking to rely on their evidence to give their account of what happened (if they are a factual witness) or their expert opinion (if they are an expert witness). Moral turpitude (dishonesty), since this is relevant to their credibility. Witnesses may be asked if they have been convicted of a felony or a crime involving The attorney might do this by trying to show prejudice or bias in the witness, such as his or her relationship or friendship with one of the parties, or his or her interest in the outcome of the case. Impeach in this sense means to question or reduce the credibility of the witness or evidence. On cross-examination, the attorney might try to question the witness's ability to identify or recollect or try to impeach the witness or the evidence. Hostile witness (a witness whose relationship to the lawyers client is such that his testimony is likely to be prejudicial) on direct examination, the lawyer can ask leading questions as on cross-examination. Another reason for allowing leading questions is that the witness is usually being questioned by the lawyer who did not originally call him or her, so it is likely that the witness will resist any suggestion that is not true. Leading questions may be asked during cross-examination, since the purpose of cross-examination is to test the credibility of statements made during direct examination. Cross-examination is generally limited to questioning only on matters that were raised during direct examination. When the lawyer for the plaintiff or the government has finished questioning a witness, the lawyer for the defendant may then cross-examine the witness.
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