The Lawyers tries to achieve what he wants during cross examination

The Lawyers tries to achieve what he wants during cross examination

Raph Waldo Emerson once said,
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

A lot of work and preparations required to achieve what you need. So, be focus on points which are specific to the case and related to the facts so that state of fresh and right mind can be beneficial and fruitful in a case in which required and desired answers can be obtained. A wise and prudish technique can be planned in advance before entering the court room. The lawyers may access the witness informally to identify the mind and character of a person during an interview and such kind of informal interviews can be helpful to discredit the testimony of the witness. It is not an easy task to do in easy way without any struggle.

Cross-examination is a method through which to take truth out of the mouth of the witness. The object of cross-examination is not only to ask questions but also to keep in mind how to control the adverse witness during cross-examination. In a few cases during cross-examination even you make efforts but you cannot get your required answers and results and if the lawyer is not aware and well prepared then the case may be defeated and it may go in favor of an adverse party and the required results cannot be obtained until challenge the witness evidence and as well due to insufficient knowledge most of the advocates loses their results during cross-examination.

So, Obtaining information and struggle prior to cross-examination which develops the approach of advocates to reach the authentication of the witness testimony but when the examiner needs to obtain the required answers then it needs much more efforts to get fruitful results. Struggle and hardworking with devotion in case preparation helps to test knowledge of the witness in a trial during cross-examination. Preparation in advance well before the cross-examination is a wise step and it also consider good idea of advocates. By using different techniques and tactics the examiner tries to achieve what he wants and definitely when the efforts make by the advocates with well preparation then the results can easily be obtained.

If we overview the historical period of Cross-examination then we found it is an old method and it is very difficult to assess when people did not question to the speaker to know the credibility of his statement. The very first time this technique of cross examination was used and the information found in the Bible It is found in the book of Daniel, chapter 13, telling the whole story of Susanna and the elders when the tribe of Susanna were about to put her death then the young Daniel interrupted and raised his voice that without asking any question and to test the truth you have put a daughter life in death row then the real accused was condemned. With effect from that story the concept of cross-examination was initially emerged and now it is in full swing around the world during trail and it considers a major tool of lawyers during trial. Failure to examine a witness background and knowledge of the witness can die the case.

In Islamic Republic of Pakistan law, The QSO, 1984 is incredibly important legal instrument and it altered the Evidence Act of 1872.This order was created by President Zia-ul-Haq in 1984 to deal all the laws related with evidence in all courts of Pakistan. Chapter 10, of Qanun-e-Shahdat, 1984 deals witness cross-examination of a witness and the whole articles tells the whole procedure of cross-examination in this portion of Qanun-e-Shahdat, 1984.

Many journals and articles were written by different authors and columnist related to cross-examination and its aspects in a very comprehensive way which helps the readers and cross-examiners to understand the whole method and procedure of cross-examination with different angles. Ervin A. Gonzalez wrote in a journal “To Prepare And Conduct Effective Cross-Examination Of An Adverse Witness” which was published by American Bar Association in 2000.This article is very helpful regarding the information related to conducting an effective cross-examination of an opposite party. In 1987, a journal was written on a title of “strategic cross-examination by Stuart B. Walzer in which strategic steps of cross-examination was discussed which was related to special issue on evidence and is very helpful journal to know the strategy of cross-examination during a trial. Another author, Leon Jaworski wrote in his journal “Cross-Examination of Witnesses” which is very helpful for law practitioners how to cross-examine the witness testimony during a cross-examination.
Moreover, during cross-examination a lawyer can impeach the witness evidence and how to impeach the witness is important and related to this aspect. U.S department of of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration publication “Cross-Examiner for Prosecutor” and the method of impeachment must be an effective to test the credibility of the witness evidence. Another Maryland Bar Journal which was published in July 2015 in which the witness’s altered evidence or testimony may arise many questions which discredit his previous statement. WillianR.Rakes, James J.O’Keefee wrote regarding methods of impeachment witnesses in 2007.In 1992, James W.McMLHANEY published a journal of “cross-examination” in which he described about the asking of cross-examination and gave his view about leading question and suggested to ask short questions and simple questions during cross-examination. John Zavitsanos wrote about witness credibility and how to achieve and destroy its credibility in his research paper which is also very helpful for the lawyers during cross-examination. Maureen A. Howard newspaper article “Lair! Lair! Impeaching the witness on cross-examination” in which he wrote about the right of impeachment by the lawyer during cross-examination.

Canadian Bar Association in 2011 wrote a research paper “Impeachment Done Right”. This method is used to expose the omission in the witness evidence.

Those lawyers who are well prepared before cross-examination of a witness, they can easily bend rules as their specific points. Cross-examination is a technique which is used to assess the worthiness of witness evidence and also to identify the strength and weakness of the witness. But for assessment it is necessary to prepare well and work hard before cross-examination. Effective way of asking question is possible if the lawyers make good preparations and get a lot of knowledge before starting cross-examination. A lawyer cannot get required answers form the witness without preparation in advance. In cross-examination if a lawyer is experienced and have lot of knowledge regarding witness testimony and thinking of witness then the lawyer can be challenged witness credibility of evidence. Lawyer can point out doubtfulness of the witness statement before the trial court. Impeachment is main tool which is used by the advocates during cross-examination to test the knowledge of the witness in order to achieve expected answers. On different aspects of witness evidence, impeachment can be challenged like if witness statement is inconsistent or if witness is convicted or witness memory is damaged etc. and the court raised objections and express doubt on witness testimony.

Cross-examination is an art of an experienced lawyers and this art is learned from practice and experience. A lawyer cannot be considering expert in this art of asking question during cross-examination until unless experience and practice. Through different training programs this art can also be learnt and it can be helpful how to ask question to a witness with by using different methods and techniques which may cause fruitful in cross-examination.

In this research article, primary data was gathered form Qanun-e-Shahdat Order, 1984 and secondary data is gathered through different law journals, research papers, articles etc.