Difference between revisions of "China Criminal Defense Manual - Questioning the Witness"
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**Tell us why you're saying this today, but said something different earlier. | **Tell us why you're saying this today, but said something different earlier. | ||
**Tell the judge, please, why you didn't go to the police and explain this alibi the day your husband was arrested. | **Tell the judge, please, why you didn't go to the police and explain this alibi the day your husband was arrested. | ||
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| + | ==DIRECT AND CROSS-EXAMINATION== | ||
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| + | ===Introduction=== | ||
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| + | CPL Articles 47 and 156 give criminal defenders the right to conduct direct and cross-examination of witnesses in criminal cases. CPL Articles 156, 157 and 160 give criminal defense attorneys the right to use evidence to impeach the prosecution's witnesses. The following information will assist criminal defenders in developing effective strategies for questioning witnesses. | ||
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| + | ===Questions to Consider=== | ||
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| + | Regardless of whether the criminal defender is preparing for direct or cross-examination, he should prepare his inquiry by answering the following questions: | ||
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| + | #What is the overall theory of the case? | ||
| + | #How does this witness fit into the overall theory of the case? | ||
| + | #How can you fit this witness's story into the story that has already been told and the story that will be told after this witness testifies? | ||
| + | #How will the witness's testimony help you to develop your client's story? To counter the prosecutor's story? | ||
| + | #What evidence do you need to introduce or rely on during direct examination? During cross-examination? | ||
| + | #What evidence will the prosecutor rely on during direct examination? During cross-examination? What questions can you ask or what evidence can you use to counter the prosecutor's evidence? | ||
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| + | ===Purpose of Direct and Cross Examination=== | ||
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| + | Although the criminal defender should ask the six questions listed above when preparing for either direct or cross-examination, he should be aware that direct and-cross examination have very different purposes and techniques. | ||
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| + | Direct examination requires the witness to tell a story. The goal of direct examination is for the criminal defender to elicit the witness's story in the witness's own words in a manner that will advance the overall theory of the case. | ||
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| + | Cross-examination, on the other hand, is a selective, targeted attack on the prosecutor's theory of the case. It is not simply rehashing the testimony that was developed during the direct examination of the witness. The criminal defender seeks to develop points that will show that the witness's testimony is inconsistent with other testimony or evidence; that the witness is biased against the defendant; that the witness has a motive to testify against the defendant; that the witness (if he is a co-defendant) had the opportunity to commit the crime; that the witness lacks knowledge of the facts and the evidence in the case; and that the witness was unable to see, hear, perceive, and observe the major events in the case. | ||
