Rules of Evidence

midlands

The hundreds place of a rule…

The hundreds place tells us what section of the rules the rule is from

400’s

Relevance (and its limits)

600’s

Witnesses and their testimony

700’s

Expert & Layperson Opinions

800’s

Hearsay

900-1100’s

Misc. procedural rules

The ones/tens place

tells us what the rule deals with

Rule 01

Definitions & Scope

Rule 02

Admissible or not?

Rule 03

Exceptions

Procedural Rule: phrasing of questions suggests witness to answer a specific way

Objection Leading

Procedural Rule: did xyz happen AND zyx?

Objection Compound Questions

Example: The compound question, "Did you see the car speed up and run the stop sign?" would be broken into two separate questions: "Did you see the car speed up?" and then, "Did you see the car run the stop sign?"

Procedural Rule: question goes beyond the permissible/allowed boundaries of the case or the breadth of a witness’s prior testimony/knowledge

Objection Outside the Scope

Procedural Rule: Attorney asks questions in an overly challenging, offensive, aggressive, hostile & insulting manner

Objection Badgering the Witness

Procedural Rule: opposing council is overly hostile, challenging and prompting argument

Objection Argumentative

• Non-argumentative question: "Did you see the defendant running the red light?" 

• Argumentative question: "You expect this jury to believe that you got under your car, twice a week, every week, to check your brakes

Procedural Rule: witness asked about things that aren’t valid in court (yet)

Objection Testifying to documents not in evidence

Procedural Rule: Witness asked a repeated question

Objection Asked and Answered