Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Court Testimony
Court Testimony
Pares
I. Gathering of Evidence
a. KNOWING THE FACTS
1. Factual Elements
-Factual issues to be raised or expected
to be raised
2. Legal Elements
-Law involved
e.g. A fire his gun at B, what crime did he
commit?
A kissed and touched the breast of B, what
crime did he commit?
If A missed, the crime may either be illegal
discharge of firearm, alarm or public scandal,
attempted homicide or murder, or plain grave
threats.
Contrary to law.
John Peter
Prosecutor
3. Certification of Preliminary Investigation.
Types
a. Certification of PI where accused is not
under detention or if under detention waived
his rights under Article 125 of the RPC.
b. Certification of PI when accused is under
detention without waiving Art. 125 of RPC.
4.List of Witnesses
-All probable witnesses with an indication of
their residence or place of work. If witness is
required to bring documents, it must be
stated and describe therein with familiarity.
5. Bail Recommended
Preliminary investigation is an inquiry or proceeding to
determine whether there is sufficient ground to engender
a well-founded belief that a crime has been committed
and the respondent is probably guilty thereof, and should
be held for trial.
Except as provided in section 7 of this Rule, a preliminary
investigation is required to be conducted before the filing
of a complaint or information for an offense where the
penalty prescribed by law is at least four (4) years, two (2)
months and one (1) day without regard to the fine.
What is an affirmation?
-it is a solemn and formal declaration that the
witness will tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, this being substitute for
an oath in certain cases. It is also called a
solemn declaration without an oath.
- It should be administered before the
examination in all cases and its
administration can be waived. Thus, if a
patty fails to object to the taking of the
testimony of a witness without the
administration of an oath, he will be deemed
to have waived the objection.
Forms and nature of the questions that may and may not be
propounded to a witness:
1. Questions must not be indefinite or uncertain.
2. Question must be relevant.
3. Question must not be argumentative.
4. Question must not call for conclusion of law.
5. Questions must not call for illegal answer.
6. Question must not call for opinion or hearsay evidence.
7. Question must not call for self-incriminating testimony.
8. Question must not be leading.
9. Question must not be misleading.
10. Question must not tend to degrade reputation of witness.
11. Question must not be repetitious.
"Objection, your Honor, the question is
ambiguous."
A question is ambiguous if:
It may be misunderstood by the witness. It is
objectionable on the ground that it may take on
more than one meaning.
"Objection, your Honor, the question is
argumentative."
A question is argumentative if:
It is asked for the purpose of persuading the jury
or the judge, rather than to elicit information.
It calls for an argument in answer to an argument
contained in the question.
It calls for no new facts, but merely asks the
witness to concede to inferences drawn by the
examiner from proved or assumed facts.
"
Objection, your Honor, the question has been asked and
answered."
A question may be objectionable on the ground that
The witness has already answered a substantially similar
question asked by the same attorney on the same subject matter.
"Objections, your Honor, the question assumes facts not in
evidence."
A question assumes facts not in evidence if:
It presumes unproved facts to be true. Example: "When did you
stop beating your wife?" This question assumes that the person
has beaten his wife.
"Objection, your Honor, the question is compound."
A question is objectionable on the ground that it is compound
if:
It joins two or more questions ordinarily joined with the word
"or" or the word "and."
"Objection, your Honor, the question is too general."
A question is too general, broad, or indefinite, if:
It permits the witness to respond with testimony which may be
irrelevant or otherwise inadmissible. Each question should limit
the witness to a specific answer on a specific subject.
"Objection, your Honor, the question is hearsay."
A question is hearsay if:
It invites the witness to offer an out-of-court
statement to prove the truth of some matter in court.
There are many exceptions to the hearsay rule.
Objection your honor, irrelevant.
A question is irrelevant if:
It invites or causes the witness to give evidence not
related to the facts of the case at hand.
"Objection, your Honor, the question is leading."
A question is leading if:
It is one that suggests to the witness the answer the
examining party desires. However, this type of question
is allowed on cross-examination of a witness.
"Objection, your Honor, the question mis-states the
evidence."
A question misstates the evidence if:
It misstates or misquotes the testimony of a witness or
any other evidence produced at a hearing or at a trial.
"Objection, your Honor, the question calls for
a narrative answer."
A question calls for a "narrative answer" if:
It invites the witness to narrate a series of
occurrences, which may produce irrelevant
or otherwise inadmissible testimony.
Question and Answer interrogation is the
standard format. It allows opposing counsel
to object to improper questions.
"Objection, your Honor, the question calls for
speculation."
A question is speculative if:
It invites or causes the witness to speculate
or answer on the basis of conjecture.
A. A witness on the stand was asked: Now, when you
went to the butchers shop or slaughter house for
the first time, did you go in? Is the question
objectionable?
C. Yes. Hearsay.