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  • Swearing in a witness

    From Mike Anderson@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 19 14:15:43 2021
    https://www.gocomics.com/herman/2021/07/18/?ref=comics

    Cartoon with the following dialog/panels:

    Clerk: Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole
    truth and nothing but the truth?

    Witness: No.

    *Silent look from the judge towards the witness*

    Judge: *looking forward again* Next witness.

    ============================================

    What would realistically happen in a case like this? I believe the judge
    can find the witness in contempt of court and lock him away until/unless
    he testifies, right? But what if the witness is locked away and
    continues to refuse to be sworn in? They can't exactly put the trial on
    pause (although they could continue with the other witnesses, if any,
    and try to come back to that one.) The witness definitely can't be
    charged with purjury. And if he holds out till the end of the trial, he
    may have been the one to make the difference between the jury saying "we
    find her guilty" and "we find her not guilty."

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  • From Rick@21:1/5 to Mike Anderson on Mon Jul 19 16:20:00 2021
    "Mike Anderson" wrote in message news:sd4kmc$6vl$[email protected]...

    https://www.gocomics.com/herman/2021/07/18/?ref=comics

    Cartoon with the following dialog/panels:

    Clerk: Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole
    truth and nothing but the truth?

    Witness: No.

    *Silent look from the judge towards the witness*

    Judge: *looking forward again* Next witness.

    ============================================

    What would realistically happen in a case like this? I believe the judge
    can find the witness in contempt of court and lock him away until/unless he >testifies, right? But what if the witness is locked away and continues to >refuse to be sworn in? They can't exactly put the trial on pause (although >they could continue with the other witnesses, if any, and try to come back
    to that one.) The witness definitely can't be charged with purjury. And if
    he holds out till the end of the trial, he may have been the one to make
    the difference between the jury saying "we find her guilty" and "we find
    her not guilty."

    But this is no different from any other situation where a witness is unavailable. Sometimes a witness is missing or can't be located to receive
    a subpoena, sometimes the witness is ill or unable to testify for medical reasons, and sometimes the witness is dead. And sometimes the identity of a key witness just isn't known to the attorney. There are any number of
    reasons why a needed witness doesn't testify and, yes, one such reason is
    the witness refuses to testify. It happens. And when it does, the
    inability or refusal of a witness to testify can certainly make a difference
    in a case.

    --

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