Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
I was going through a couple of old cases looking for some information to use in a current case. Here’s a interesting curative instruction. Coming across this lead me to muse about how strange and how frequently seasoned law enforcement witnesses “forget” that there are certain words or issues they are not supposed to testify about. It’s gotten so bad that I have a standard motion in-limine on HLD. Here’s how one judge dealt with a forgetful law enforcement witness (after he’d agreed with my motion in-limine that the law enforcement witnesses should be instructed on HLD stuff prior to testifying).
The “error” came out in the witness’s first sentence.
MJ: Please be seated. The court will come to order.