Few things are more enjoyable to a cross examiner than exposing a witness who has intentionally lied during direct examination. In addition to destroying the credibility of the witness, catching the witness in a lie serves the additional dual purpose of undercutting your adversary’s cause while at the same time, strengthening your position in the eyes of the jury. Far more challenging and a little less dramatic than attacking the witness who has been caught in a bold-faced lie, or exposing the one who has been convicted of a crime, is the task of attacking the average, law-abiding witness who is simply biased in favor of the adverse party. Cross, in this situation, must focus on exposing any motive that the witness has for telling less than the truth such as the witness’ bias, prejudice, sympathy, empathy, hostility, friendship, and any other interest the witness has in your adversary’s case.1
To properly attack the biased witness, the underlying facts supporting that bias must be carefully elicited on cross-examination. Crucial to achieving this goal is the thorough preparation of a detailed list of those factors before ever setting foot in a courtroom. This list can serve as a road map for a powerful cross on bias. That cross, if successful, will not only expose the witness’ bias, but will also allow the examiner to argue on summation that the witness may have concealed the truth and deceived and misled the jury by withholding important information.
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