Well, I'm a fool and my trial is September 29. I'm in USA, Wisconsin and I need advice. I have prepared questions for the cross examination of the witnesses against me, and I have prepared a 'submission' (final statement). I just don't really know how the fuck this works, so any tips would be welcome.
I have been reading online and I have found mixed answers regarding what you can ask the witnesses about the other witnesses. ie:
Question to witness 1: you stated in the police report that witness 2 has a short temper. do you believe witness 2 is a reasonable person?
would that kind of question attacking a witness' credibility be allowed?
Comments
Good point sir, I got a good hearty laugh out of that
also, lol
http://www.perkel.com/pbl/prose.htm
this is criminal court so all I would have to pay is fines. $500 max fine, 6 mos. jail max penalty. If i got sentenced to jail I would probably be laughing at the sheer stupidity of it for the entire six months. Then i would go on a killing spree when released.
so, any tips on how to properly cross examine someone?
http://www.google.com/search?q=rules+for+court+cross+examination&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Start with google. There are federal laws and state laws I'm sure. Read up on the statutes for the state you live in.
Alternatively you could call a lawyer advice line to get advice on your situation. The one I know of for my state only costs like $3/min, so it's way cheaper than hiring an attorney. If you do some research and then ask a lawyer your questions, you'll have a much better chance of winning.
this is what happens when you essentially tell the prosecutor to fuck off. I can only pray that the Jury is capable of rational thought.
Going to view a trial today! I can't think of any better way to learn than this!
That "last statement" is your rebuttal and you have to sum up how your opinions and evaluations, are better than the negative's.
Search up videos of Lincoln vs Douglas debates. It should help you prep. for the types of questions you should ask the negative.
Good luck!
This one may be lulzy but pay attention to WHAT they ask and HOW they ask it. You don't want to look inferior to the negative's side.
That pause can be interpreted by the judge as a doubt on their resolution, hence giving you the upper hand. Debates are fun.
Either way he's fucked.
"OBJECTION YOUR HONOR, ASSUMES FACTS NOT IN EVIDENCE"
As rude as it may seem, it all depends on the judge.
Yes it would
But in the trial I went to, there were tons of objections and it didn't seem like a big deal if you won or lost one. I'd say in the two hours I was there, there were 6-8 objections. So if you're overruled, it's not something to get upset about.
How about
"Witness 1, isn't it true that witness 2 is a frequent user of crack-cocaine?"
EDIT: Seriously though, what's going to happen here is that you're just going to piss off and bore the judge, and he/she is going to punish you as much as they can.
He's still in jail for another month or two, how do you think it went?
LULZ
Ha, that was my other option for questioning.
He has posted since then, but I'm assuming it didn't get to well since he never updated this.
Who knows he might see this now and give us a heads up.
Yeah, I'm curious.
I've always heard that judges don't take too kindly to "ordinary citizens" being their own lawyers. I guess they think of it as a person who hasn't gone to school coming in and beating them at their profession? Curious as to if that was what it seemed like.
the case of disorderly conduct was dismissed, because im a fuckin boss. I showed up on trial day and they told me they didnt have time to try my case, so basically all these witnesses showed up for nothing. we postponed then next time i came in for my other case, it was dismissed as part of a plea bargain.
and the charge of misdemeanor harassment i plead guilty to. 1yr probation no fine. I'm already on the 3rd month of probation and my probation officer likes the hell out of me, and laughed when i told her what happened. its gonna be a piece of cake.
the courtroom shit was fun, but too bad i didn't get to have a trial. from the interactions i had with the judge, he didn't seem to resent me or anything. after i plead guilty to the DA i had to wait a few, that gave me time to formulate a little "please go easy on me in sentencing judge lolz" speech. The judge seemed kinda impressed by my speech, and gave me the probation + no fine. he was cool.
Penalizing the use of the middle finger is horseshit.