2.  You must consider – is it worth doing?  Many times it is not worth it to impeach on collateral matters  Must be structured and simple  Why you impeach – to show the witness should not be believed  Get good stuff before you attack 11/27/20152J. C. Lore - Rutgers Law

3. 11/27/20153J. C. Lore - Rutgers Law

4. Prior Inconsistent Statement  3 Steps:  Commit (recommit) ▪ Commit the person to the fact asserted on direct ▪ Be exact, don’t paraphrase – more likely to agree  Credit (the prior statement) ▪ Building up the importance of the prior statement  Confront (the witness) ▪ You read the statement ▪ Usually, it is less effective to have the witness read the statement ▪ They won’t emphasize the same things. ▪ If it is a lengthy statement, tell opposing counsel the page number 11/27/20154J. C. Lore - Rutgers Law

5.  Commit:  You testified that...

6.  Credit:  Court reporter was there  Took an oath  Same oath as today  Reviewed transcript  Signed transcript  Closer in time to incident....

7.  Have exhibit marked for identification  Show to opposing counsel  Speak to the record  Ask permission to approach  Show document to the witness  Speak to the record  Have witness ID document  Read the statement to the witness  You ask: Did I read that correctly?

8. Particular Problems  Multiple facts – Impeach one at a time  Don’t need to go back and credit the prior statement each time  You do need to recommit  If you are not attacking the witness, but you want to show they are forgetful  Skip the recommitting 11/27/20158J. C. Lore - Rutgers Law

9.  Witness denies making statement  Testimony and under oath ▪ Opposing counsel will usually stipulate to its admission ▪ If not, you need to bring in the court reporter ▪ Have them identify and admit their stenographic notes  Written statement handwritten or signed by the witness ▪ Can call any witness who saw the witness write or sign ▪ Have the witness identify the document ▪ Read it to them  Oral statement in a police report ▪ Generally, you can’t impeach with the police officer’s report ▪ You need to call the police officer to perfect impeachment 11/27/20159J. C. Lore - Rutgers Law

10.  Almost the same  Build up the expectation/duty