Category: Witness

It’s a common myth for people to believe that any document can go into evidence and there’s not a problem with it.  All they have to do is put it in there and the judge will let it in.  But the reality is, judges are not just going to let any documents in.  They’re not going to just let any witness testify.  If you want to get an official document into evidence, then you’re going to have to do it the right and you’re going to be talking about it in this context — and I’ve been battling getting documents… Read More

These body attachments are scary because when witnesses don’t show up in court pursuant to subpoenas, the person that subpoenaed that particular witness, especially in a criminal case where you have a lot of power because someone’s freedom is on the line — that person can ask the judge to issue a body attachment.  Once that body attachment is issued, if law enforcement comes in contact with that person, that person is going to be arrested, taken into custody and brought into court at the next court date. That’s not a good thing.  What if the next court date isn’t… Read More

In criminal cases, in order to prove the charges, the prosecutors usually have to call witnesses either at a preliminary hearing, a motion a trial – also, the defense is entitled to call witnesses at the right proceedings. Witness Subpoena in Los Angeles Criminal Cases In order to call a witness, typically you either ask that person to be there or the best way to do it is to issue a subpoena and have the subpoena served on them – basically ordering that person to come into court. It should be noted the defense attorney has the subpoena power just… Read More

The term impeachment has to do with challenging a witness related to their testimony against a criminal defendant. There are different ways to impeach a witness. One form of impeachment is called extrinsic impeachment, which basically has to do with impeaching a person with evidence that’s outside their testimony or outside of the allegations in a particular case. Extrinsic impeachment is very effective to show that a witness is not telling the truth and has a tendency to lie or distort the facts. So, this form of extrinsic impeachment has to do with asking the witness about a collateral issue… Read More

Having done criminal defense cases for twenty-five years, I’ve had a lot of witness I.D. issues. Meaning, I’ve had a lot of cases where my client says, I’m innocent. I didn’t commit the crime, but they have witnessed out there by identifying them as being involved in the crime. Obviously, that’s something that a great criminal defense attorney is going to have to contend with throughout their career. That is, witnesses coming in and trying to identify their clients. It’s interesting because if you ever do a little exercise and you try to take a look at somebody, or you… Read More