This program is a video replay of the live webcast
Don’t Let the Witness Get Away with It! The Nuts and
Bolts of Witness Impeachment held in May 2010.
We’ve all been there. An adverse witness swears
to tell the truth and then boldly launches into a
story straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. A neutral
fact witness does her best on the stand, but gets
flustered and mixes up the facts. Or, worst of all,
you ask the wrong question and open the door
wide enough for opposing counsel to drive a
truckload of negative material into the case.
What can you do? This program will give you a plan.
Topics covered include:
• Impeachment by prior inconsistent statement
• Bias
• Relevance
• Impeachment by omission
• Character evidence and its dangers
• Rehabilitation
• Bolstering
• Using documents and physical evidence for impeachment
• Expanded relevance and “opening the door”
• When to impeach and when to let it go
• Witnesses who deny impeaching statements or evidence
• “Proving up” impeaching material
