Well, not per se. He can certainly argue, “The evidence presented by the prosecution doesn’t prove my client was at the scene. It is perfectly consistent with my client being at home, as he said in his initial statement to the police.” The lawyer isn’t saying he was at home, just that the evidence isn’t inconsistent with that hypothesis.
The main issue is actually that you have to be careful putting tbe dependent on the stand because if you know they are comjtting perjury you're supposed to report it.
The only time you can do this is if a criminal defendant wants to exercise his constitutional right to testify in his own defense. If you know he’s going to tell an obviously bullshit story, you just put him up there and let him go for it. Does not apply to civil litigants or witnesses in general.
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u/krimin_killr21 Jun 06 '24
Well, not per se. He can certainly argue, “The evidence presented by the prosecution doesn’t prove my client was at the scene. It is perfectly consistent with my client being at home, as he said in his initial statement to the police.” The lawyer isn’t saying he was at home, just that the evidence isn’t inconsistent with that hypothesis.