The Role of Witness Testimony in Assault Defence Cases

Witness testimony can play an important role in both the prosecution and the defence in a criminal case. How to select and prepare witnesses for trial, and how to examine and cross-examine them is a deep and rigorous subject in the study of criminal law theory whether the case involves assault, murder, or white-collar crime.

How important the witness testimony is in a trial depends on what the witness knows and can testify to, but it is also more than that. Witnesses lend a human element to trials and can be very persuasive to jurors (and judges.)

If you have been charged with assault or another criminal offence, you can suggest witnesses to your lawyer, but it is your lawyer who will decide which witnesses will work best for your case. Also, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Witnesses who appear drunk or spaced out or sloppy will be less credible or believable than witnesses who arrive to court on time, clean, well-dressed, and well-prepared.

And it is not just how you look. Witnesses who sound arrogant or condescending or racist will also come across as less likeable which in turn affects their credibility. What is most important is that the witness tells the truth and looks like a person telling the truth. The purpose of the court action is fundamentally to allow truth and justice to come out of it.

In some cases, if a witness is extremely vulnerable, young, and/or frightened of the defendant or proceeding, the court can make some special allowances, such as allowing a support person nearby or a therapy dog in the courtroom to comfort the witness or testifying behind a screen or even in another room. Sometimes special precautions are taken to protect the safety or even the identity of the witness, such as not allowing any media coverage during the trial.

If you are the defendant in an assault case or another criminal case, your lawyer may take steps to try to exclude certain testimony from the prosecution side based on technicalities. Let you lawyer figure out how to proceed with witness testimony. This is his or her job, not yours.

Whatever witnesses your lawyer chooses for your side of the argument, the lawyer will spend ample time talking to the witnesses long before they go to court, in order to know exactly what they will be saying under oath. And your lawyer will be well prepared to question the witnesses of the Crown side. An old saying in legal circles is never ask a witness a question that you do not already know the answer to. No lawyer wants surprises in court. 

If you have been charged with Assault, please contact Gagan Nahal for a free consultation in Vancouver at (604) 527-4769 as soon as possible. Mr. Nahal’s law practice focuses on criminal defence law, and he has extensive experience in this area of the law. 

Gagan Nahal is a criminal defence lawyer based in Surrey, British Columbia, although he has represented clients across Canada. He works vigorously and tirelessly defending his clients. 

If you have any questions about this article or you would like to talk to Mr. Nahal, please call him directly at (604) 527-4769.