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How to reduce the reliability of the prosecution’s witnesses

On Behalf of | Jul 16, 2024 | Criminal Defense

Witness testimony can put you in a difficult position in your criminal case. Although you might have your own witnesses to contradict the prosecution’s, this leaves the matter in hands of the jury to decide which witness to believe. You want to avoid that as much as possible. One way to demonstrate that the prosecution’s witnesses shouldn’t be trusted and to persuade the jury to side with you is to attack the witness’s credibility and thus their reliability. But how do you do that?

How to attack a witness’ credibility

The specific approach that you take to attack a witness’s reliability will depend on the facts. However, here are some common strategies that you might be able to use in your case:

  • Highlighting that the witness has made inconsistent statements, which you may be better positioned to do if you depose the witness.
  • Showing that the witness has a criminal history related to untruthfulness, such as fraud or forgery.
  • Demonstrating that the witness is biased against you.
  • Showing that the witness is motivated in some fashion to testify against you.
  • Poking holes in the witness’s story to prove that they couldn’t have seen or observed the events to which they’re testifying.

There are other ways you may be able to attack a witness’s credibility, too. You just have to be thorough in preparing your cross-examination of them and aggressive in drawing out the issues that you think are important for the jury to know.

Don’t let bad witness testimony lead to your conviction

Although witnesses take an oath to tell the truth, far too often they misconstrue facts or blatantly lie. Don’t let the prosecution put you at risk of conviction based on faulty or false testimony. Instead, build a strong criminal defense that puts you in a position to successfully beat the allegations that’ve been levied against you.