ABSTRACT
A Deposition is an oral testimony of a witness taken in an out-of-court setting. is testimony could be used for discovery purposes and could be used later during the trial in a court. In a majority of U.S. states, depositions are referred as examination before trial (EBT). e testimony is taken from the expert witness under oath and the oath is administered by an o°cial court reporter. is o°cial court reporter records proceedings of the deposition. ere is really no dierence between the testimony in the courtroom and the testimony taken at a deposition except that there is no judge presiding in the latter situation. Usually, the witness, the attorneys, and the court reporter are present. Depositions are usually conducted in an opposing attorney’s o°ce or a court reporter’s o°ce and rarely at the workplace of a witness. e trial judge will make rulings over inadmissible matters. e attorney representing the opposing side calls for a deposition to ˆnd out the facts and issues involved in a case. During deposition, only the attorney questions the witness. e person who is deposed is called the deponent. Since you are testifying under oath as an expert witness in toxicology, there will be penalties for perjury for knowingly testifying something that is not true. Whatever a court reporter records, a transcript will be made and a copy will be provided to the expert toxicologist giving a deposition testimony to make corrections if needed. Except for minor corrections, making substantial changes to answers to a speciˆc question will seriously aect ones credibility. Because of the deposition testimony, the opposing attorney knows what you are going to say at the trial. e purpose of taking a deposition is to gather information and to ˆnd out what is going on in the case. Opposing counsel would like to know the facts, the events, and how they occurred; the weaknesses in their
case; and the strengths and weaknesses in the retaining counsel’s case. It is also used to conˆrm what the opposing counsel knows and the best legal and factual theories he or she has about the case. Depositions are very useful and may become the groundwork for preparing to go to trial. Depositions allow opposing counsel to get spontaneous and unrehearsed answers from the expert witness.
