ELEVEN RULES FOR A WITNESS WHEN BEING CROSS EXAMINED

1. As Mark Twain said: “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything”.

2. Tell the truth, regardless of the consequences.

3. Make sure you understand the question before answering it. If you don’t
understand the question, you can ask for the question to be rephrased,
simplified or clarified.

4. If you are being asked about a document, ask the cross-examiner to provide you
with the document before you attempt to answer the question. Familiarise
yourself with the document first then ask for the question to be repeated.

5. As a rule of thumb, confine your answers to “yes” or “no” answers. Naturally,

before you commit yourself to either answer, make sure the answer truly is “yes”
or “no”.

6. If a question contains multiple parts, some of which involve a “yes” answer while
other parts contain a “no” answer, don’t answer the question until you ask for the
question to be broken down. For example, assume you are asked the following
question “on 5 March 2009 did you go the Melbourne Collingwood at the MCG?”
Let’s say you went to a Melbourne Collingwood game but it wasn’t on 5 March
nor was it at the MCG. Part of the question can be answered with a “yes” (the
teams) but not all of it (the date and the venue). In that situation ask for the
question to be broken down or say the answer is partly yes and partly no!
Alternatively, you can simply answer “no”.

7. Don’t get into a fight with the cross-examiner, no matter how he or she might bait
or enrage you. Remain calm at all times when you are in the witness box.

8. Don’t volunteer to help the cross-examiner. Let the cross-examiner dig his or her
own “grave”.

9. Don’t rush your answer. The experience in the witness box will not end any
sooner no matter how quickly you answer the question. Give considered
answers without looking overly ponderous or as if you are making up the
answer.

10. Address the judge and not the cross-examiner, even though it may feel odd to
not look at the person who is speaking to you.

11. Don’t try to anticipate where a line of questioning is going. Just respond to the
immediate question being asked of you.

GT21310