Courtroom Testimony
Course Description:
This course is designed to improve your skills in testimony, increase your awareness of the court system processes, and help you understand your role in describing the elements of the crime to a judge and jury in a reasonable light. The initial investigation, arrest, or traffic citation is only the beginning stage of a long legal process. The instructors in this class will discuss details involved in the preliminary exam, suppression hearing, useful explanations of physical evidence, expert testimony, witness testimony issues, and closing statements. One of the most important tools often overlooked during the training cycle of law enforcement officers, is how to win in court when the defense attorney attempts to distract the jury with claims of insufficient evidence, lazy police procedure, and inconsistent witness testimony. The instructors in this course will provide useful tools on how to recover in the courtroom after a witness provides incomplete testimony, or fails to provide complete details on the witness stand out of fear of retaliation. This class will provide you with the foresight, to consider more investigative attention to detail at your next crime scene, and improve your future case’s courtroom presentation to win over the jury.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Prevent mistakes made before court begins; interviews, search, seizure, and pre text stops
- Report writing challenges exposed on the witness stand
- Understand what the lead investigator needs to know
- Determine when LEO should sit as lead with the prosecutor
- Understand the relationship with the prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge
- Iterate the stages of witness testimony, LEO testimony, and feelings during testimony
- Give expert witness testimony – drugs, guns, gangs, social media, cellphone data
- Successfully present evidence involving drugs, guns, social media, cellphone data
- Predict defense attorney tactics
- Get witnesses on board
- Analyze lessons learned, and the impact of jury’s decision
Prerequisites: None
Course Length: 2 days / 16 hours
Who May Attend: Law Enforcement