Being a character witness When you're testifying as a character witness what can you expect? The guy on trial screwed up years ago and paid his price. Now he's been involved in another bad thing though only partial fault of his own. Sorry for lack of details, I'm not at liberty to say more. This is for somebody I know that has to be the character witness and is freaking out over what to expect. Said person is of average intelligence and is easily intimidated plus it's easy to twist said person's words with absurd ease.
As a witness I raise my left hand and swear to say nothing but lie. Evil whats the broken cross for? is it some sort white power :scratch:
Damn, that's twice today I've done that. Today is Redundant day for me today again. EDIT: It's a gay swastica! Simply fabulous!
Gay White Power maybe? EDIT: Damn, I'm good. You should form an outreach coalition. Your slogan could be "Decorate with Hate! (tm)"
Let's stick to the subject at hand. This is important, the character witness has to testify early next week and needs some advice/assurances. Plus this gives our bloodsucking leechs I mean lawyers a chance to shine. If you want to discuss gay nazi's, make a thread about it. It'd be a good Friday thread.
I've only testified once, and it wasn't as a character witness, but here's what the lawyer told me: -Take your time. A good lawyer will try to make you rush your answers by asking questions quickly and expecting quick answers. There is no time limit, so think about your answer before you open your mouth. This also gives your lawyer (or the lawyer that's on your "side") time to object if necessary. -Do not get mad. Control your temper. -Answer only the question asked. Do not volunteer anything not directly asked for. -Act dumb. Ask for the question to be repeated or rephrased so that it is easier to understand. Also, if you do not know an answer...say you do not know the answer. There's nothing wrong with admitting you don't know something. -Look the person asking the question in the eye. (I don't know if this is anything other than psycho-BS) This is supposed to make it more difficult for them to attack you. -Do not repetitively look at your lawyer before answering questions. It looks bad. Look at the person asking the question (see above). -Be consistent. Expect the same question to be asked multiple times. The wording may change slightly, but they will be looking to see if your answer changes. -Do not answer negative questions like, "You admit to not knowing this about that person?" They are worded and asked that way to confuse you. Say it straight out..."I can't answer a negative question, please rephrase that." -You are allowed to ask questions of the judge. The judge is there to make sure everything goes along fairly, so use that resource. If you ask something that you're not supposed to, you'll be told so. On a personal note, I'd say that the telling the truth is by far the best policy. You'll do far more damage to whatever it is you're trying to accomplish by being caught in a lie than telling the truth, even when the truth isn't really helpful to your side.
I dunno, just imagine everyone in their underwear? And if they ask for the truth tell them they can't handle it. Actually, what Talga said sounds like good advice. Except the bit about telling the truth, if there's a good reason not to and you're a good liar you might as well. You can always lie by omission or perspective anyway, that often works better. Well they did castrate a lot of them or throw them into concentration camps. It's true that that wasn't an entirely uncommon attitude at the time, but then again neither was anti-Semitism.
Take his time and tell the truth. That's really it. The more he says, the easier it is to poke holes in his statements so keep it to a minimum. Remember that he's not on trial. He's there to do a favor so just relax. If he is the only character witness, he is going to get drilled. If there's a lot of character witnessess, then they won't bother him as much. Remember, DON'T LIE. Lawyers salivate when the smell a lie, then it's personal and he'll get drilled. BTW, sounds like he plea bargained. His conviction in exchange for fingering someone. If he's a hostile witness, then forget every thing I posted. He's going to get drilled.
