Learning
Cross-Examination Techniques by Experience
Don’t learn cross-examination skills by trial and error in trial –
the sink or swim method. It is not unusual for fledgling trial lawyers to learn
by trial and error in trial. The downside is this sink-or-swim schooling in
cross-examination can be not only the drowning of the cross-examiner but also someone
else.
Another method is to practice cross-examination in
professional development workshops or in law school classes where no one is
hurt in the process. Cross-Examination Handbook offers
opportunities for cross-examinations in two criminal cases that can be used in either
law school or prosecutor or defense counsel workshops.
Case
Files, Actors’ Guide and Teacher’s Manual
Cross-ExaminationHandbook comes with all the materials necessary for role-play performance
exercises for cross-examination strategies and skills, including: case files; an Actors’ Guide with
instructions for the witnesses, and a Teacher’s Manual (100 pages) covering
how to conduct the cross-examination exercises as well as a schedule for
professional development workshops and a syllabus for law school classes. The two criminal cases are State v. Gary Goodman and State v. Byron Ward Howland. Both fact
patterns are based on actual cases.
State v. Gary Goodman
Gary
Goodman and his brother Barry went to the Infernal Club for an evening of
dancing. Gary Goodman had a .38 caliber
revolver in his coat pocket. While they
were inside the Infernal Club, Barry Goodman became engaged in a “staring”
contest with Moe Helton, a local drug dealer who had a history of bad blood
with Barry. The staring contest
escalated into a confrontation, and the confrontation escalated into a
fistfight. Barry came off second in the
fistfight and Helton began to get the best of him.
Gary
Goodman, who had been dancing on the dance floor, noticed the altercation and
went over to intervene. Goodman drew the
revolver from his pocket and began shooting.
John Elder, a business associate of Helton in the drug trade, attempted
to intervene in the fight, trying to disarm Gary. Gary shot Elder in the stomach. When Gary shot Elder, Shemp Campbell, another
drug associate of Helton, also intervened and was able to disarm Gary
Goodman. When Goodman was disarmed, he and
his brother fled the Club. Moe Helton
was pronounced dead on arrival at the Lincoln County Hospital, and John Elder
underwent emergency surgery to repair the damage done to his stomach by the
bullet. Barry Goodman was treated at
Riverton Hospital for trauma suffered in the fight with Helton. Gary Goodman is
charged with murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second
degree, and carrying a concealed firearm.
State v. Byron Ward Howland
State v. Byron Ward Howland is a high profile criminal case.
The Lincoln County Prosecutor’s Office has charged state legislator Byron
Howland with rape in
the second degree, communicating with a
minor for immoral purposes through electronic communication and three counts of
child rape in the third degree.
The prosecution contends that
Howland is an Internet predator who lured in 15 year-old Jenny Sells first
through talks in a chat room and later by inviting her to his condominium where
he resided when he is attending a legislative session is the state capitol of
Georgetown. Allegedly, Howland raped her in his condo in December two years
ago. Afterwards he expressed remorse, and their relationship continued until
June last year when Jenny’s mother took printouts of their Internet exchanges
to the Georgetown Police Department’s Detective Bill Hutchinson. Jenny told the
Detective about her relationship with Howland. Howland has made no pretrial
comments about the case except that it is “patently false.”
The Assignments
The law school class or CLE workshop assignments
for cross-examination correspond to chapters of Cross-Examination Handbook and provide practical experience in the
areas covered by the chapters. For example, chapter 6 covers how to impeach a
witness with a prior inconsistent statement and assignments and Case File
materials are provided so that law students and practicing lawyers can perform such
an impeachment with. The
versatility of the materials allows the instructor to select as many or as few
of the assignments for the students/attorneys to perform as the instructor
wishes to cover.
Each assignment comes with suggested reading, which the
instructor may assign. For instance, the instructor may assign readings in Cross-Examination Handbook to which the
assignment is cross referenced with suggested selected readings for each
assignment.
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