Unorthodox legal practices
I had a strange experience the other day when I went to court to give a deposition about something I saw recently. To cut a long story short, my wife and I witnessed a theft. She got the registration of a vehicle involved and I could identify the driver.
So, anyway, where we live (in Spain) they act fast, and they day after finding the van and the driver the Police summoned us to court. The procedure here is that you make a deposition to the Police, and also run through the same deposition with the Clerk at the court and make another - presumably they are looking for any discrepancies or what matches. This we did - imagine my surprise when I was asked.
"Do you recognize the man who was driving the van"? (I had, he was sat in the waiting area). Just as I was about to say yes, this was followed up by"Is it the small thin man"?
Talk about a leading question.... In the waiting are at the time was me, my wife, two older guys who looked like lawyers and yes - the fan driver. He was hard to miss even if I'd had no idea what he looked like.
They knew they had their man and there was no way he was getting out of it.... In most countries a question worded in that way would have got a case thrown out. Of course had I not been sure I would have said so - but it does make you wonder how many people would just say yes under the circumstances, even if unsure.
So, anyway, where we live (in Spain) they act fast, and they day after finding the van and the driver the Police summoned us to court. The procedure here is that you make a deposition to the Police, and also run through the same deposition with the Clerk at the court and make another - presumably they are looking for any discrepancies or what matches. This we did - imagine my surprise when I was asked.
"Do you recognize the man who was driving the van"? (I had, he was sat in the waiting area). Just as I was about to say yes, this was followed up by"Is it the small thin man"?
Talk about a leading question.... In the waiting are at the time was me, my wife, two older guys who looked like lawyers and yes - the fan driver. He was hard to miss even if I'd had no idea what he looked like.
They knew they had their man and there was no way he was getting out of it.... In most countries a question worded in that way would have got a case thrown out. Of course had I not been sure I would have said so - but it does make you wonder how many people would just say yes under the circumstances, even if unsure.