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fandomhigh2010-06-03 06:51 am
glasses-justice.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2010-06-03 06:51 am
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Anatomy of a Trial [Period 4, Class #4, 6-3]
Today, class was meeting in the Danger Room again, once more decorated to look like a court room. One of these days, Alex was just going to move her office hours here. Or possibly her apartment.
"Witnesses," Alex began, "are essential to winning a case. They're also people, which means they're temperamental, uncontrolled, and frustrating. But we're starting with the easy group, today.
"The witnesses we'll be calling will be your witnesses -- that is, ones you have specifically requested, in order to establish something about your case. If you're the prosecution, this might be the arresting officer. If you're the defense, this could be a psychiatrist who will speak to the defendant's state of mind. What you are trying to do is build the foundation of your case. Make an overt point -- this person was killed, or this harm was caused. If you can add some overtones to a more subtle point, all the better.
"Examining a witness that you called means you step very carefully. For one, you can't ask leading questions. So you would never say 'Did you see the defendant run out of the building?' You would ask, 'where were you?' Followed by, 'What time was this?' 'Did you notice anything unusual?' 'What is it you noticed?' And so forth.
"We'll assume, for the purposes of this exercise, that all of your witnesses are either neutral or agreeable to your side. It does happen, at times, that you need to examine a witness that you've called, but the person is deliberately antagonistic -- someone who might answer 'where were you?' with a vague-sounding, 'Around. I go lots of places. So?' In this case, you ask to have the witness be declared hostile, and from there you can ask a wider range of questions, the kind more suited to cross-examination.
"As I said, we're skipping that for now. Ask very deliberate questions -- but specific ones, if you can, because there is more danger in a witness saying too much than there is too little. So. Tell me who it is you want to call, to make your case. We'll talk a little about how to do it before I let you loose on your witnesses."
"Witnesses," Alex began, "are essential to winning a case. They're also people, which means they're temperamental, uncontrolled, and frustrating. But we're starting with the easy group, today.
"The witnesses we'll be calling will be your witnesses -- that is, ones you have specifically requested, in order to establish something about your case. If you're the prosecution, this might be the arresting officer. If you're the defense, this could be a psychiatrist who will speak to the defendant's state of mind. What you are trying to do is build the foundation of your case. Make an overt point -- this person was killed, or this harm was caused. If you can add some overtones to a more subtle point, all the better.
"Examining a witness that you called means you step very carefully. For one, you can't ask leading questions. So you would never say 'Did you see the defendant run out of the building?' You would ask, 'where were you?' Followed by, 'What time was this?' 'Did you notice anything unusual?' 'What is it you noticed?' And so forth.
"We'll assume, for the purposes of this exercise, that all of your witnesses are either neutral or agreeable to your side. It does happen, at times, that you need to examine a witness that you've called, but the person is deliberately antagonistic -- someone who might answer 'where were you?' with a vague-sounding, 'Around. I go lots of places. So?' In this case, you ask to have the witness be declared hostile, and from there you can ask a wider range of questions, the kind more suited to cross-examination.
"As I said, we're skipping that for now. Ask very deliberate questions -- but specific ones, if you can, because there is more danger in a witness saying too much than there is too little. So. Tell me who it is you want to call, to make your case. We'll talk a little about how to do it before I let you loose on your witnesses."
Re: Activity: Examining Your Witnesses - ANAT04
Re: Activity: Examining Your Witnesses - ANAT04