General Trial
The first step in our trial.
What are the pretrial arguments?
On direct questioning, the attorney asks General LeMay, "You saw evidence of drill presses in the burned out residential neighborhoods didn't you?”
What is a leading question?
When the attorney explains what the witness will testify to and how it is relevant in response to a relevance objection.
What is an offer of proof?
Name 3 exceptions to the Hearsay objection.
Possible answers include: What are declaration against interest, excited utterance, state of mind, official records, prior inconsistent/consistent statement, reputation of a person's character, or admission by a party opponent?
A set of indisputable facts that witnesses and attorneys may refer to and draw reasonable inferences from.
What is the fact situation?
The party that starts the trial.
What is the plaintiff/prosecution?
While discussing the bombing campaign in the Pacific, the lawyer on cross-examination asks, "General LeMay, your wife and you had been having some trouble in your marriage, hadn't you?"
What is relevance?
The objection you'd make when a prosecution attorney calls a witness to the stand and begins questioning with “Did you see the defendant leave the scene of the crime?"
Name the objection: during direct examination, the prosecutor asks the witness, “During the conversation on March 8, didn’t the defendant make a threatening gesture?”
What is leading?
Describe a situation when an inference would be allowed.
What is when an inference is reasonable and does not contradict official testimony?
In this examination, the attorney should ask the witnesses to tell the story rather than using leading questions.
What is direct examination?
Lawyer on direct questioning asks the witness, "General LeMay, what was going through that bombing commander's mind?"
What is speculation?
The kind of testimony that is admissible only when it is (a) rationally based upon the perception of the witness (five senses) and (b) helpful to a clear understanding of his or her testimony.
What is opinion testimony?
Restate the question in a non-leading way: “During the conversation on March 8, didn’t the defendant make a threatening gesture?”
Possible answer: What is "What, if anything, did the defendant do during your conversation on March 8?"
Proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt.
What is proof beyond a reasonable doubt?
When attorneys can clarify new (unexpected) issues or facts brought out in the immediately preceding cross-examination only.
What is redirect?
Name the exception and the objection it's an exception for: any statement by a party in an action when it is offered against that party by an opposing party. The statement does not have to be against the declarant’s interest at the time the statement was made.
What is the admission by a party opponent exception for hearsay?
When a witness makes a reasonable inference based on his or her official record and the inference does not alter the material facts of the case.
What is fair extrapolation?
A question joins two alternatives with “and” or “or,” preventing the interrogation of a witness from being as effective for finding the truth as is reasonably possible.
What is a compound question?
Prejudice that would affect the impartiality of the judge, usually through provoking emotional reactions.
What is undue prejudice?
What an opposing attorney should do if in the witness statement, Mr. Jones stated that the suspect was wearing a pink shirt. In answering a question on direct examination, however, Mr. Jones stated that the suspect wore a red shirt.
What is impeaching the witness?
On cross-examination the lawyer asks, "You don't really care about civilians do you? Why did you bomb civilians if you care about them? Answer the question!"
What is badgering the witness?
The three exceptions to the Character Evidence objection.
What are Defendant's own character, Victim's character, and Witness's character?
A fact that would likely impact the outcome of the case.
What is a material fact?
This type of witness may give an opinion based on professional experience if the opinion would assist the trier of fact (judge) in resolving an issue relevant to the case.
What is an expert witness?