Impeachment of a witness other than defendant by prior conviction is a legal process in which a witness’s credibility is called into question due to a prior criminal conviction. It is a form of evidentiary attack on the witness’s testimony, and can be used to discredit the witness in the eyes of the jury. There are two types of impeachment of a witness other than defendant by prior conviction: direct impeachment and collateral impeachment. Direct impeachment is the process in which the defense attorney presents evidence that the witness has a prior criminal conviction, with the purpose of discrediting the witness. This type of impeachment must be done within the scope of the rules of evidence and the judge must determine if the prior conviction is relevant to the case. Collateral impeachment occurs when the defense attorney brings up evidence of the witness’s prior criminal convictions in order to prove that the witness is untrustworthy and thus, not to be believed. This type of impeachment does not need to be done within the scope of the rules of evidence, and it does not need to be approved by the judge.
IMPEACHMENT OF A WITNESS OTHER THAN DEFENDANT BY PRIOR CONVICTION
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FAQ
A witnesses may be impeached with evidence that shows a defect in his or her perception, memory, or truthfulness, such as evidence of bias, mistake, character for untruthfulness, or prior inconsistent statements.
613(b) in that extrinsic evidence of a prior inconsistent statement is not admissible unless the statement is shown or disclosed to the witness during the witness's examination. Paragraph (b) is intended to give the witness and the party a fair opportunity to explain or deny the allegation.
If the statement is not clearly inconsistent, the attempted impeachment may not work. The witness may fight you, the jury won't get it, or both. The prior statement not only needs to be inconsistent; it needs to be clear. A cumbersome or sloppy question, or a purposely vague answer, may make impeachment difficult.
Under this provision, evidence of a general felony crime can be used for impeachment purposes only if the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to the defendant.
Evidence of the conviction is admissible only if: (1) its probative value, supported by specific facts and circumstances, substantially outweighs its prejudicial effect; and (2) the proponent gives an adverse party reasonable written notice of the intent to use it so that the party has a fair opportunity to contest its
Rule 613(b) allows a party to use a prior inconsistent statement to impeach a witness, but if the witness is called to the stand for sole purpose of impeaching him, the ?impeachment? is really a subterfuge for admitting the hearsay.
Repeat. First, the most basic step, is to have the witness repeat the testimony from today's hearing that you want to impeach. You cannot effectively impeach unless the witness repeats a fact they said during the current hearing that clearly contradicts a prior statement.