When and how may a witness use notes on the witness stand?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

It is permissible for witnesses to use notes and reports to help refresh their memory while testifying; the human mind can retain only so much information. The witness is not and cannot be expected to remember minute details such as dates and numbers that are of lesser importance than the major facts of the case. However, the witness should constantly be aware of the proper use of notes and reports and the ramifications of their use.
There are two reasons why a witness may refer to notes and reports. The first is a need to remember a particular fact in question. In this case, an officer does remember the case and is permitted to use the notes and reports to help recall minor details. This use of notes and reports is perfectly permissible.
However, if the officer's references to the notes and reports are necessitated by an inability to remember anything about the events preceding the trial, the consequences of referring to notes and reports are entirely different.
In the rules of evidence, using notes and reports simply to refresh the memory is referred to as past recollection refreshed. As indicated, this is permissible but should be used with restraint, because it may indicate a lack of pretrial preparation. When notes or reports are used by a law enforcement officer in direct examination, the defense attorney has an absolute right to examine those notes and reports and test the witness's memory before allowing the witness to continue testifying under direct examination. This is done to ensure that the witness is, in fact, testifying from memory.
In the event that the witness cannot remember the facts of the case but uses the notes or reports as the sole basis of testimony without any independent recall, the term applied is past recollection recorded. In this instance the oral testimony of the law enforcement officer becomes worthless, as the knowledge is entirely based on the notes or reports. Should this occur, the prosecutor most likely will, at the insistence of the defense attorney, dismiss the officer as a witness and introduce the notes or reports as evidence in the trial. If the notes are meaningless to everybody but the law enforcement officer who took them and the report contains inaccuracies, the entire substance of the knowledge will be excluded from evidence.
For the various reasons just described, it is highly recommended that officers use loose-leaf notebooks during their investigations. In this way, materials not relevant to the particular case at hand can be removed before the trial and only the notes that are pertinent will be brought into the courtroom. If this is not done, the defense attorney may question the officer on any irrelevant part of the contents of the notebook and perhaps, by embarrassment, decrease the officer's credibility with the jury.