Court procedures involving witnesses.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — My Cousin Vinny
estcst-3 — 9 years ago(July 05, 2016 05:38 PM)
Any lawyers here? I'm wondering if a witness in a trail would be allowed to sit in the gallery after testifying or not. When Gambini is using the tape measure for the eye site test I'm pretty sure we see Tipton in with the spectators. Would this normally be allowed?
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JosephASpadaro — 9 years ago(July 07, 2016 05:51 AM)
Generally speaking, anyone in the public including a witness would be allowed to sit in on the trial.
Now, one side or the other can request that the judge prevent that.
Sometimes that is done so that one witness (let's say Witness #2) cannot get the benefit of hearing the testimony of another witness (let's say Witness #1).
So, one of the lawyers and the judge will not want Witness #2 to hear what Witness #1 has to say. The fear being that Witness #2 will change his story to make sure that it "matches" what Witness #1 said. -
JosephASpadaro — 9 years ago(July 07, 2016 05:54 AM)
You specifically asked about
after
the witness testifies.
That's not so clear-cut.
Yes, a witness will leave the stand. And he will be "finished" testifying.
However, we don't know if he might be called back again later, for some reason.
So, it's not always that clear-cut and "black and white" that the witness is in fact "finished" testifying.