Trial Objections from Beginning to End: The Handbook for Civil and Criminal Trials

Abstract

The defense lawyer pauses during his direct examination. He wants the jury to torturously anticipate his next question. Seated on the witness stand in a white lab coat, an orthopedic surgeon stares intently back at the lawyer. The jury focuses upon the doctor. The judge leans forward and slightly over the bench. No one moves. Silence cuts through the courtroom. Finally, the question is posed to the witness, "Doctor, based upon your education, background, and years of medical experience as an orthopedic surgeon, is it your opinion that the plaintiff did not possibly suffer an acute herniation of their cervical disc at C5-C6, as a proximate result of the automobile accident on the date in question?" Plaintiffs counsel hesitates rising from her chair. She has about one eighth of a second to recognize and determine whether any, or all, portions of the question are objectionable. Is the question leading; does it call for speculation; or is it compound? If she determines the question is objectionable, she has another one eighth of a second to evaluate those objections for their legal viability. Next, she has the luxury of yet another one eighth of a second to decide whether she will object or not, weighing how bad she will look before the jury if she is overruled.

Finally, she has her last one eighth of a second to rise, speak, and articulate her objection, because in this eternal one half-second of direct examination during trial, the doctor has just begun to move his lips and respond to the question. If the lawyer takes any more than one half of a second to state her objection, the witness will have likely answered the question and the objection would be, even if valid, an act of futility in the minds of the jurors. This is the reality of the burden a lawyer faces when objecting to evidence during trials.

Objections can be made to questions, answers, exhibits, and virtually anything else that occurs during a trial." This article will identify, analyze, and explain the most essential objections that would be made in a civil or criminal trial in the order in which they would appear.