Weird Colorado Laws – There Are No Liars in Colorado Courts – The Law Offices of Steven Rodemer, Colorado Springs

(Aspect I: ODD Rules IN COLORADO)

In courtroom dramas on Television or in the movies, there is certainly generally a scene where a witness, even right after swearing on a stack of Bibles and his dead mother’s grave that he will inform the truth of the matter, the total real truth and nothing but the fact, normally takes the witness stand and then suggests some thing that is not genuine.

On-display, just one of the lawyers leaps to their feet, factors their finger at the witness, and shouts for the full courtroom to listen to:

“LIAR!”

In the Point out of Colorado, nonetheless, this can hardly ever come about – there are no “lies” or “liars” in Colorado courts.

In Colorado, as the Colorado Supreme Court docket wrote in the scenario of Crider v. Individuals, 186 P.3d 39, 41 (Colo. 2008), “it is incorrect for a lawyer to use any type of the phrase ‘lie’ in characterizing for a jury a witness’s testimony or his truthfulness.”

That distinct term is banned “for a range of causes. It is prohibited not only for the reason that it poses a danger of communicating the lawyer’s personal viewpoint about the veracity of a witness and implying that the attorney is privy to details not prior to the jury, but also simply just simply because the term ‘lie’ is an inflammatory phrase, very likely (no matter whether or not essentially developed) to evoke powerful and negative psychological reactions versus the witness.”

As much again as in 1981, the Colorado Supreme Court has said, as they did in the circumstance of Hughes v. State, 437 A. 2d 559, 571 (Colo. 1981), “In our feeling, ‘liar’ is an epithet to be utilised sparingly in argument to the jury. It is a flashboard a lot more most likely to make warmth in a contentious courtroom than it is to illuminate the search for real truth. […] We say this since a witness or a occasion may be mistaken, uninformed, or faulty in his information or conclusions in numerous means, and however not be a liar labeling a witness as a ‘liar’ or to argue that he has ‘lied’ is to say something really distinctive about his testimony.”

“Some text or analogies by their quite nature resonate much more powerfully in the heart and minds of the jury,” the Colorado Supreme Court docket wrote in the case of Domingo-Gomez v. Men and women, 125 P.3d 1043 1050 (Colo. 2005). This sort of phrases “evoke robust reactions in jurors and take them down the route towards a conviction where the proof does not always lead. The word ‘lie’ is these types of a potent expression that it automatically demonstrates the individual opinion of the speaker. When spoken by the State’s consultant in the courtroom, the phrase ‘lie’ has the hazardous potential of swaying the jury from their obligation to decide the accused’s guilt or innocence on the proof thoroughly offered at demo.”

In other words, if a law firm phone calls one thing a “lie,” it is these types of a shocking curse that a jury could not be in a position to get more than it, and could convict an normally harmless individual, just for the reason that they sense so strongly about “liars.”

Therefore, no attorney is authorized to at any time use any variation of the term “lie” in Colorado courtrooms.

While odd legislation are entertaining to examine about, we know that when you are sitting in the courtroom, it is seldom enjoyment or entertaining. The seasoned felony protection workforce at The Law Places of work of Steven Rodemer is below to enable you navigate the prison justice system and ensure your legal rights are secured during the approach. Contact us nowadays to assure you get the qualified lawful representation you have earned.