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Advocacy Assignment 4 1. Purpose of the Exercise.

To plan, structure, organize, prepare and present a cross examination (cross indoctrination) of a defendant. 2. Assignment. a. Cross Examination Performance. Begin by reading Mike Carrs article on crossindoctrination on the Advocacy Teaching Blog. The link to that article is: http://advocacyteaching.blogspot.com/2011/03/teaching-cross-indoctrination-instead.html. Prepare a 7-8 minute cross examination (cross-indoctrination) of the defendant in the Taylor case. All attorneys will play the role of the prosecutor when examining the witness. Your job is to advance your case theory and tell your story through the witness, using leading questions. Use single-fact, leading questions to advance your factual theory, legal theory, and case theme. Follow the organizational principles for a cross-examination found in the Rose text. Do not lose control of the witness, but remember, you dont have to be cross on cross. b. Rules. (1) There will be no direct examination of the witness for this exercise. Dont worry about what the witness did or did not say on direct examination. In this respect, this exercise is, admittedly, a bit different from an actual cross examination in a trial. But dont worry; Exercise 5 will come soon enough! The point of this exercise is for you to learn to tell your story through the witness using leading questions. Your story, of course, must be consistent with the facts in the case file. (2) You are not permitted to meet beforehand with your witnesses to discuss their testimony or prepare them for their examination. This especially applies in week two of the exercise, when you will be graded. In week two, your instructors will tell you DURING CLASS which attorneys and witnesses will be matched against each other. (3) Do not use diagrams or exhibits in this exercise. (4) When you play the witness in this case, your testimony must be consistent with the case file. c. Witness Duty. In accordance with the chart below, prepare to play the part of the witness. You should prepare by carefully reading anything in the case file pertaining to that witness. Recall the no-Jackass rule we discussed the first day of class, but keep in mind that you are being cross-examined. If the attorney does not control you with single-fact, leading questions, take advantage of the opportunity to explain yourself. Answer the question the attorney actually asks, not the one you think he or she meant to ask. Keep in mind that most defendants have a vested interest in ensuring that the cross-examination of them does not succeed. As a witness, you may take one notecard, prepared only by you, on the stand to help you remember facts.

I include here a quote from a judge who also teaches trial advocacy: Bearing in mind the issues of professionalism that are critical in this learning experience, we have always directed our student-witnesses that if a student-advocate asks a question that allows for argument, or is not a tightly worded cross examination question, that they have my permission to run on the examiner. But if a student/advocate asks a decent cross examination question, the student-witnesses are directed to answer directly. This is just fairness, and more closely resembles what would happen in a real courtroom (if the Judge is paying attention). 3. Evaluation Criteria. a. b. Uses single-fact leading questions Controls witness through the use of detail and single-fact leading questions

c. Cross-examination is effectively organized to advance case theory d. Goals of cross-examination are evident from structure and questions e. Avoids open-ended questions f. Does not argue with the witness, but rather controls witness through effective crossexamination basics g. Effective use of headnotes and other transitional devices 4. Witness and Attorney Roles. All attorneys will conduct a prosecution cross-examination of defendant Kelly Taylor. When you are not conducting the examination, be prepared to play the role of opposing counsel or the witness role. For week one of this exercise, your verbal performance is not graded. Your instructor will decide during class who will be the attorney, witness and opposing counsel for each performance. You should play all three roles at some point during class. Week two of this exercise, your performance will be graded. Your instructor will decide during class who will be the attorney, witness and opposing counsel for each performance. You should play all three roles at some point during class.

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