Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time

by Gerry Spence

What is cross-examination? Cross-examination is simply storytelling in yet another form. Cross-examination is the method by which we tell our story to the jury through the adverse witness and, in the process, test the validity of the witness’s story against our own. The proper, standard cross-examination questions contain two parts: first a statement that forwards our story through that witness; for example—“No one, to your knowledge, Officer Jones, has been able to connect that gun to Mr. McIntosh, …” followed by the second part of every question, “isn’t that true?” Note again: the question itself is simply, “Isn’t that true?” The statement either is or is not true. Basic cross-examination is nothing more than a true-or-false test administered to the witness, in the course of which our story, as it concerns that witness, is told, question by question, to the witness. It makes little difference whether the witness answers yes or no. Question by question, our story is being told. It’s for the jury to determine whether the witness is telling the truth when he denies the statements contained in our questions. If we took each statement out of our cross-examination and joined them, we would have presented our story for that witness.