Regardless of the specific criminal charges you’re facing, there’s a good chance that there’s going to be contradictory testimony when evidence is presented. This can make it challenging for the judge or jury to parse out the truth, resulting in a lot of uncertainty being sown into your case.
You don’t want your fate to be decided on false or misleading information. To prevent that from happening, you need to know how to adequately address witness testimony presented by the prosecution. Although you might have your own witnesses to contradict the prosecution’s evidence, nothing diminishes the power of the state’s witnesses’ testimony like devastating witness credibility.
Top ways to attack witness credibility
The outcome of your case could hinge on the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. Therefore, to protect yourself as fully and aggressively as possible, you should carefully analyze the facts of your case to see if you can implement any of the following strategies to reduce the impact of witness testimony being presented against you:
- Point out through cross-examination that the witness is biased against you, which may relate to events that pre-date the crime in question.
- Highlight reasons why the witness might be motivated to testify against you, especially if they were offered leniency in their own criminal case.
- Raise any statements that were previously made by the witness that contradict or otherwise don’t align with their court testimony.
- Rely on the witness’s criminal history to show that they are known to be untruthful.
Attacking witness credibility could be pivotal in your case, but it’s still just one part of your overall criminal defense strategy. So, as you work to build your criminal defense, be as thorough as possible and use the law to your advantage as much as possible. Only then will you able to confidently and competently walk into court to adequately fight for your future.