More free advice from Gideon: cross-examination techniques
Update: Since none o’y'all want to show your appreciation for this fine Free InformationTM, I had to pull out all the stops and insert this picture of J. Scalia. Now comment, or he’ll tell you how rude you are.
Original: We, here at A Public Defender, are a magnanimous sort. We have some amount of knowledge and we like to share it, however infantile or irrelevant or useless or wrong it may be. It is one of our hallmarks and we know you love us for it.
After all, who else would give poor, overworked, overwhelmed and overburdened law students some nifty pointers on objections. Who else would divulge the secrets of the law school experience and share our collective wisdom gained through that process?
No one, that’s who.
So, kids, sit back, grab some popcorn, uncork that Rioja (that’s for you Charon), light that joint*, shoot that dope* and get ready to learn.
This time, we won’t be presenting you with a list. Lists are so 2008. I’ve got something better. A live demonstration. All you ever need to know about cross-examinations and objection techniques and biased judges and, of course, how to roll over, is in this video. You can thank me in the comments.
(The video, unfortunately, is below the jump, because some people are still stuck in 1954, using IE6, which apparently can’t handle a simple Flash embed and crashes constantly. For those of you using IE6 [seems to work in IE7] (and really, please shoot yourself now), you can watch the video here. HT)
| Stacey Castor questioned about day her daughter fell ill |
*Joke. Don’t do it.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Gideon on February 16, 2009 at 9:13 am, and is filed under prosecutors, psa. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |



about 2 years ago
The combination of the video and the pic of Nino Scalia is just too much for me to take. Now I need a nap.
about 2 years ago
I knew the pic of Scalia would draw you out. Don’t forget to eat your dinner before the nap
I kid, I kid.
about 2 years ago
Does anyone think that the DA’s tactics are effective? I’m out of my league, since I don’t do courtroom stuff, but this doesn’t seem like the best way to cross-examine.
about 2 years ago
It’s probably a very good representation of “how not to”.
about 2 years ago
Yeah, I just kind of tune him out, and I am pretty pro-prosecution. I would think that when the witness really doesn’t have a leg to stand on, you simply calmly ask hard questions.
By the way, what’s your beef with Scalia? He’s clearly on your side when it comes to the jury trial right. Moreover, it’s difficult to argue that he’s inconsistent when it comes to criminal laws. I would suspect that if he were a trial judge, he would be very fair and consistent.
about 2 years ago
I have no beef with Scalia. I think he’s a wonderful caricature.
about 2 years ago
“caricature”? I guess unlike the judge who tosses around the “n-word” in a police station.
about 2 years ago
Yes, he’s become a caricature of himself.