Speaker 1: I've seen so many lawyers fail a cross-examination. They either ask bad questions, or they have a terrible technique, or they simply don't know how to do cross-examination at all. And sadly, a bad cross-examination can make your case disappear in an instant. And that sucks. But fortunately for you, in this video, I'm going to break down one very simple but incredibly effective technique for cross-examination coming up. What's up, everybody? I'm attorney Eric Skramlin, and this is LawVenture. And hey, if this is your first time checking out the channel, be sure to hit that subscribe button down there somewhere, so you will have access to all the amazing videos that we have in store for you. Odds are, if you're watching this video, you're an attorney, or you're a law student, or you're a mock trialer, and you're trying to figure out how to do cross-examination. So before we get started, take a minute and get a copy of Jarrett's free objection cheat sheet. It's great because it's 21 objections, 21 responses, 21 breakdowns of the most common objections in trial. And it's free, and there's a link for it in the description below. Okay, back to cross-examination. Cross-examination is one of, if not the hardest thing to do in trial. I've been a prosecutor my entire career. I've had the opportunity to try hundreds of cases to judges, juries, grand juries, preliminary hearings, suppression hearings, you name it. I've had the opportunity to do it. I also had the opportunity to compete in national mock trial tournaments, both in college and law school, which is where I started to learn these techniques. And in real life, I see attorneys struggle with cross-examination because it truly is an art form. As a prosecutor, I've experienced success and failure with cross-examination. I've been there. I've also witnessed other attorneys have success and failure with cross-examination. A good cross-examination can absolutely add to your story, to your theme, to your theory. But a bad cross-examination can be disastrous, and you can tank your entire case in a moment. So no pressure, right? In order to have a successful cross-examination, you need to understand how cross works, and there are many trains of thought on how to do it, what techniques to employ, and you'll develop that. If you're a new attorney or you're an experienced attorney and you're finding yourself in the courtroom more, you're going to find a style that works for you. But in this video, what I'm going to break down is a technique that I use almost every time I do cross-examination. It's very simple and it's very effective. So regardless if you are in mock trial in college or law school, or if you're a brand new attorney and you just got a job at the DA's office or the public defender's office and you're trying to figure out how to do cross-examination, or maybe you're a more experienced attorney and you're looking to buff up your trial skills or you've transitioned your practice into the courtroom. Regardless of the case, this technique, the one fact, one question technique can be very effective and it can be used in a lot of different circumstances. Before I explain how this technique works, I have to go over a few ground rules. Now, like I mentioned before, there are many trains of thought, there are many different techniques and approaches to cross-examination, but I have to lay a few ground rules. These rules are going to be absolutely essential for this technique to work. Rule number one, never push the witness off the cliff. What I'm talking about here is the Perry Mason moment. Maybe you're a prosecutor and you have the defendant on the stand and you're going to get them to confess to the crime. Or you're a defense attorney and you got a witness up there and they're going to confess to the crime and now your client is innocent. It never works and it can have disastrous consequences. Jarrett actually refers to this as the Scooby-Doo moment in that video sliding in up above there. If you haven't seen that video, pause this, check that video out because Jarrett breaks down why this is a very common mistake and why it can have very disastrous consequences for your cross-examination. Make sure you check that video out, come back and see me. I'm not going anywhere or add it to your playlist because it's going to fit with what we're talking about here with this technique. Rule number two, only ask leading questions. What am I talking about leading questions? Well, these are the types of questions that suggest the answer. So you wouldn't say, what color is your car? That would be an open-ended question. Instead, you would suggest the answer. You would say, your car is red, isn't it? That's a leading question. Now, again, there are many different trains of thought on what techniques work the best. And some attorneys like to ask open-ended questions on cross. But for this technique to be effective, it's going to be imperative that you ask leading questions only. Rule number three, less is more. A lot of times I see attorneys fail on cross-examination because they just get up there and they ask question after question after question. And a big mistake is all they're doing is they're just getting the witness to rehash what they already testified to on direct examination. How is that going to do your case any good if you're just going up and simply re-asking the questions that your opponent asked on direct? Really, all you're doing is just reiterating those answers in front of the jury. So don't think that you have to go up there and do a blistering one, two-hour cross-examination. Some of the best cross-examinations that I've ever seen have been very short. Even just a few questions can be very effective. Don't go up there and try to get everything out of the cross. Less is more. This is a very simple technique and an essential rule for the one fact, one question technique. And finally, rule number four, always maintain control of the witness. What I mean by that is this is cross-examination. You have to be the star of the show. In a way, you're testifying and you're getting the witness to either agree or disagree with your question. You don't want to give that control over to the witness by asking those open-ended questions or a common mistake that I see a lot. You don't want to give over control by arguing with the witness. You want to insist on responsive answers, but never be drawn into an argument with a witness. Always maintain control. This technique is going to lead to better control. The best way that I can teach you how to do the one fact, one question technique is by giving you a hypo, a fact pattern. And then we're going to walk through it. And I'm going to teach you how to create or draft a cross-examination using the one fact, one question technique. And in order to do that, I'm actually going to use a fact pattern similar to what Jarrett used in the Scooby-Doo video. So if you still haven't seen the Scooby-Doo video, now's a good time to pause and check it out and then come back. So for this fact pattern, I want you to imagine, if you can, that you're a prosecutor. And you're prosecuting a DWI case, driving while under the influence. So a drunk driving case. And the essential facts of the case are as follows. The defendant goes to a bar. And at the bar, the defendant admits to having two shots and a beer while he's at the bar. And there's even a witness at the bar that testifies that she saw the defendant order two shots, one right after the other, and drink them really quickly. Then he orders a last beer, slams that, gets into his car, and then crashes into a light pole down the street from the bar, and is charged with DWI. You're the prosecutor. You have to prove that he committed the offense. I should also mention here that if you're a prosecutor, you know that the defendant doesn't have to testify, doesn't have to say anything, and you can't comment on it. But defendants do testify. And that's an amazing opportunity for you as the prosecutor to really add to your case and really see if you can take the defendant's case because he's testifying and you get to cross-examine him. So this technique can give you a fighting chance at really tearing up their case. All right, it's time for us to write a cross-examination. But first, remember some of the rules that I talked about in the beginning of this video. And one of those rules was only ask leading questions. Let's take a look at what might happen if you ask open-ended questions. Prosecutor, what happened the night of the wreck? Well, I was at this bar, you know, but I wasn't drunk or anything like that. I just had a shot and then I ordered water and I sat there. And after about an hour, you know, clearly when I felt fine, I drove. And then when I got in my car, I had an allergic reaction and I crashed my car. It wasn't because I was drinking. It's because I have a medical condition. The defendant has essentially taken over the cross-examination at this point. By asking the open-ended question, you lost control of the cross. And the defendant took over the cross and started to explain away every, all the good stuff that you had that you could use against them in cross. So you can see you don't wanna ask these open-ended questions. Instead, we're going to use leading questions. And now more specifically, we're gonna ask them in a very specific way. Let's take a look at how we can change those open-ended questions into leading questions, i.e. questions that suggest the answer. The night of the incident, you were at Diamond Little's bar. You ordered a shot. You ordered a beer. Do you see how when we suggest the answer, we only leave room for one conclusion? Therefore, we are getting the witness to agree or disagree with the premise that we give them. It gives us much more control and it points us in the direction we wanna go. So the witness can't take over and explain it the way he wants to explain it. So you can see what we did here was we suggested the answer. And not only that, we suggested an answer that fit with our theme, with our theory that the defendant was intoxicated. So you don't wanna give control over by asking those open-ended questions. Instead, you wanna be very intentional about picking the points you wanna make and then framing those questions to suggest the answer that you wanna get out. Now let's combine everything we learned. Let's remember the rules from earlier. Let's use leading questions and let's transform these questions into one fact, one question. Let's go back to the night of the incident. You were at the bar, ordered a shot, drank the shot, ordered another shot, right? And then you drank that shot. Do you see now that you're putting one fact, one question and you're bringing your witness into a rhythm? Let's go back to the night of the incident. You were at the bar, right? Yes. You ordered a shot. Yes. You ordered a second shot. Well, I wasn't drunk. Remember, keep control. You just go back to the question. You ordered a second shot. Yes. You're asking very simple questions that suggest a very simple answer and it almost seems unreasonable for the witness to not agree with the premise you're trying to make when you're keeping it this simple. Let's take a look at some more examples. Let's go back to the night of the incident. You were at the bar. Yes. You ordered a shot. Yes. Drank the shot. Yeah. Ordered another shot, right? Yes. Drank that shot too. Yes. Then you ordered a beer. Yes. Drank the beer. I did. Stood up. Yeah, I guess. Grabbed your keys. Yes. Walked to your car. Yeah. Got behind the wheel. Yes. Started the engine. Yes, I did. Drove into a light pole. Yeah. See how we are bringing the witness into a rhythm by asking very simple questions that suggest only one answer. One fact, one question. And then you're asking these questions in a rhythm that's bringing them along. Now, not every witness is just gonna go along with everything you say. There's all kinds of different witnesses out there and I've certainly had my share of each type. Some will agree with everything you say and they'll get pulled into that rhythm. Some will wanna argue with you. The key is, go back to the rules, don't give up control of the cross-examination. If a witness tries to argue with you or disagree or what's common, they'll turn around and ask you a question back. Like for example, you ordered a beer. Well, what time are you talking about when I ordered that beer? Just go right back to your question. You were at the bar. Yes. You ordered a beer. Yes. Just go right back to that question. Don't argue. Don't invite objections by being argumentative and don't turn over control by slipping into asking an open-ended question. Stick with your script and stick with that topic. I was able to get the defendant to admit to consuming alcohol, operating a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle on a roadway, these are all elements of my offense that I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. That's a majority of the elements and I was able to get those through simple admissions in less than 20 questions. Let's review what I consider some real key takeaways here. Number one, avoid asking that ultimate question. Push him up to the edge, then back off. Number two, leading questions only. Never give up control of your cross-examination by giving the witness an opportunity to explain. Number three, less is more. You don't have to have the world's longest cross-examination. I was able to establish three or four of the elements of my case in less than 20 questions in our example. And finally, don't argue with the witness and stay in control of that cross. I hope I was able to provide some value for you. This video really just scratches the surface and it's really difficult to teach techniques like how to do cross-examination in a video format like this because you're really only truly gonna learn when you get in the courtroom and you practice it. So I encourage you, if you're a young attorney and you just got a job at that prosecutor's office or public defender's office, take advantage of being in the courtroom and doing as many trials as you can. If you're a more experienced attorney, look for those opportunities where you can go to court and practice some of these techniques. By practicing it, you will get better at it. Remember to hit that subscribe button down there so you'll have access to our future videos. Jarrett and I wanna help you take your cross-examination skills to the next level. See you guys next time.