Discuss the reasons and methods used to impeach a witness
What will be an ideal response?
Witnesses may be impeached for many reasons including: bias or prejudice as motivating factors, prior felony convictions, character, immoral acts, bad reputation, prior inconsistent statements, or inability to observe. The Federal Rules of Evidence provides specific methods of impeachment. Nonspecific methods of impeachment include: challenges of bias or prejudice, challenges to mental capacity, challenges to veracity of witness and testimony, and challenges of untruthfulness in character. Specific methods of impeachment include: challenges involving prior convictions, and challenges involving inconsistencies in past statements.
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Which of the following statements is false?
a. Dried bloodstains may be tentatively identified as blood by a peroxidase test. b. All bloods contain the enzyme peroxidase. c. A-B-O antigens are present in all human blood. d. The Kastle-Meyer test is used to determine whether blood is of ¬human origin.
The first drug court opened in 1989 in ____
a. Boston, Massachusetts b. Houston, Texas c. Denver, Colorado d. Miami, Florida
A person does not retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in trash once it:
a. leaves their immediate possession. b. is placed in plain view. c. is placed in an obscured area. d. both in plain view and in a public area.
Which is true concerning appeals? a. Most appeals by criminal defendants are successful
b. Most appeals by criminal defendants are not unsuccessful. c. The number of successful appeals roughly equals the number of unsuccessful appeals. d. Criminal defendants are no longer permitted to file appeals.