Effective Courtroom Testimony, part 1

Courtroom as Classroom

In my introductory post on this topic, I mentioned that the officer is a witness-teacher in court. To understand this concept, it's helpful to think of the courtroom as a classroom. And in this "classroom," the witness is the teacher. The "students" make up the jury. But unlike a college class that students enroll in, these "students" didn't ask to attend this "class." They were summoned to attend: told to set aside their work, their plans, in effect, their lives. Further, these students may be prohibited from asking questions of the teacher. They may even be told to not discuss what they learn from the teacher. In this courtroom as classroom analogy, the prosecutor is the designated student. It's almost as if the juror-students selected someone to ask all the questions of the teacher that they can't ask. As the designated student, the prosecutor asks questions from the students' perspective, sometimes asking the teacher-witness to explain. For example, "Officer, you used the term 'miosis.' Please explain what you mean by that term." What, then is the role of the defense attorney. Well, to a large degree, the defense attorney wants to testify! But he/she can't do that: only the witness can testify. So the defense "testifies" by making statements, and then asking the witness to agree with him/her. That's what we call leading questions. Example: "Officer, you don't know what my client's normal blood pressure is, right?" The judge is the last part of this courtroom as classroom analogy. The judge makes sure all the rules are followed, and decides disputes. The judge may even mete out discipline when the judge's rulings are challenged. So the judge can be thought of as a sports referee, or possibly as a school principal.

Thinking of the courtroom as a classroom provides some interesting challenges, and opportunities, for the officer-witness. I will discuss this in more detail in future posts.