When a Witness is Mistaken or Lies

Knowing the witness is not enough. In my view, since people tend not to admit their mistakes, and rarely their falsehoods, the best way to challenge credibility is to know the witness better than the witness knows himself or herself.

In capital cases, a defense lawyer does not have the luxury of a strategy that, from the outset, assumes critical witnesses are telling the truth or are without mistake.  Too much is at stake to allow that strategic judgment to be made until after the trail of the witness’s life has been raked and sifted for evidence pertaining to credibility.  It has been said that cross examination is the greatest device ever invented for discovering the truth, but cross examination, especially for credibility, without this type of thorough investigation and exacting preparation is a fool’s errand. While not every witness in every case needs to face a credibility challenge, Mr. Iaria has developed the tools and skills necessary to do so when such an approach is called for.