Ben_Hocking t1_itzzh05 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 3:24 PM

Reply to comment by houstonyoureaproblem in Cross-examination of a coroner by LadeeAlana

I'm not sure how non-leading yes/no questions would screw things up, assuming you knew the answer to the yes/no question ahead of time. (And if you don't, then the leading question might actually be worse, in my non-lawyer opinion.) To use your example, I don't see a significant difference (under cross-examination) between the two questions:

>So not “Did you check the victim’s pulse?” but “You didn’t check the victim’s pulse, did you?”

Again, I recognize that you know more than I do and have vastly more experience in the court than I do*, so I admit ahead of time that I might be missing something.

*My experience is limited to unsuccessfully fighting a traffic ticket when I was a young adult and serving on two juries.

houstonyoureaproblem t1_iu076hy wrote on October 27, 2022 at 4:14 PM

Typically speaking, cross examination is an effort to develop testimony that supports your theory of the case or makes specific points you believe are important.

The idea is to ask specific questions that you know the witness will have to answer a particular way. Leading questions allow you to guide the witness where you want to go. Direct questions are open-ended and often allow the witness to explain things in greater detail.

It's all strategy, but I can assure you asking direct questions on cross-examination isn't a good approach. But you're absolutely right--Rule #1 is to be sure not to ask questions if you don't already know how the witness will answer.