Rare is the witness who isn’t anxious, worried, scared–even
terrified–during deposition or cross-examination. Often this leads to a rapid
pace of speech. Not only that, but witnesses tend to believe that if they just
blurt out their response, they’ll get this dreadful experience over with
sooner.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with speaking quickly, in and of
itself, but speaking quickly often means the client fails to think things
through. Failing to think through a response can often lead to flawed testimony
if not downright disastrous testimony. Unfortunately, simply telling a witness
to “slow down, speak more slowly” may work for a response or two, but with the
pressure of nerves, the witness’s pace then picks up rapidly.

One technique that works well while preparing the witness
for their testimony is to encourage the witness to speak in full sentences and
to do so by first repeating part of the question. This has two advantages.
First, it forces the witness to listen better to the question asked. You can’t
very well repeat part of the question if you haven’t carefully listened to it.
Secondly, it slows the response down. The witness is forced to think through
their whole response, to concentrate. And that ensures better testimony.

For example, in response to “How soon after this meeting of
May 22 did you visit the construction site?” “I visited the construction site
next on May 30” slows the response down, as opposed to a simple “May 30.” It
also helps the witness stay on track with the subject at hand.

This is even more critical with a compound question. For
example, “Do you know whether you saw water in the trench or ever examined that
trench before May 30?” The quick response of “No” could be inaccurate as to
either seeing the water or examining the trench. A full-sentence response, such
as “I did examine the trench before May 30, and I did not see water in the
trench before May 30” may be wordy but could be more accurate.

Full sentences work to slow the witness down so that their
brain is engaged before the response and to produce a more accurate response.