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Character evidence is a term used in the law of evidence to describe any testimony or document submitted for the purpose of proving that a person acted in a particular way on a particular occasion based on the character or disposition of that person.
Witness competence rules are legal rules that specify circumstances under which persons are ineligible to serve as witnesses. For example, neither a judge nor a juror is competent to testify in a trial in which the judge or the juror serves in that capacity; and in jurisdictions with a dead man statute, a person is deemed not competent to ...
[citation needed] The examiner must also provide the witness with the opportunity to adopt or reject the previous statement. [ 1 ] In the majority of U.S. jurisdictions, prior inconsistent statements may not be introduced to prove the truth of the prior statement itself, as this constitutes hearsay , but only to impeach the credibility of the ...
Best evidence rule: requires that the original source of evidence is required, if available; for example, rather than asking a witness about the contents of a document, the actual document should be entered into evidence. A full original document should be introduced into evidence instead of a copy, but judges often allow copies if there is no ...
The bar against compulsory disclosure prior to the testimony of the witness whose statement is sought cannot be circumvented by resort to the Freedom of Information Act, [36] or Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. [37] It is left to the discretion of the trial court to determine whether Jencks material can be delivered before trial.
Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure unique to the United States Senate), legislative, oversight, investigative, or a combination of these, all hearings share common elements of preparation and conduct. Hearings usually include oral testimony from witnesses and questioning of the witnesses by members of Congress.
Examples include the following: The prosecutor must disclose an agreement not to prosecute a witness in exchange for the witness's testimony. [4] The prosecutor must disclose leniency (or preferential treatment) agreements made with witnesses in exchange for testimony. [5] The prosecutor must disclose exculpatory evidence known only to the police.
This may be done using cross-examination, calling into question the witness's competence, or by attacking the character or habit of the witness. So, for example, if a witness testifies that he remembers seeing a person at 2:00 pm on a Tuesday and his habit is to be at his desk job on Tuesday, then the opposing party would try to impeach his ...