C) Fill in the gaps with the terms from part b)

The prosecuting counsel calls his ……. They come into the court and 'take the stand' in the witness box. They swear an oath and if they have lied to the court at any time during the trial, they may be charged with perjury and sent to prison.

Then the prosecuting counsel begins his ……. and asks the witness questions in order to i dentify him/her to the court.

When prosecuting counsel has finished his ………, the judge asks the defence, " Does the defence have any questions to this witness? " The defence counsel may ……… the witnesses. The aim is to show that the evidence the court has just heard is inaccurate, biased, irrelevant or doubtful. Cross-examining counsel can ask as many leading questions as he likes.

After the defence counsel has finished with the witness, he says, " I have no further questions, Your Honour." The judge then says to prosecuting counsel, " Do you wish to …? " The prosecution may then re-examine the witness, but only on matters which have arisen in cross-examination. He may not ask leading questions. At the end of the re-examination the judge says, " The witness may stand down. "

When the …… has finished making out its case, the defence begins to make its own and calls the defendant first. The defendant is called before the other ……….. witnesses.

The case proceeds as for the prosecution witnesses. Only the defence conducts examination-in-chief and the prosecution cross-examines the defence witnesses.

 

Exercise 15

A) Fill in the table with the information from exercises 7-14.

participant of the trial	functions
judge
	to listen to the evidence, to pass a verdict
bailiff	to look after the defendant, ……
defendant
	to give evidence
prosecuting counsel
defence counsel
court clerk	to read the charge, ………

 

B) Writes 8-10 sentences about the functions each participant of the trial has.

 

Exercise 16

Grammar focus 10. Conditional II.

Group work. Discuss these cases in small groups and try to come to a decision about them. Then compare your results.

 

Remember, that in the UK magistrates cannot send people to prison for more than six months. If they feel that offenders ought to be sentenced to a longer term, magistrates can send them for trial.

Here are some expressions which you will need for your discussion:

1. to refer a person to the social services

2. to send a person home without any punishment

3. to sentence a person to a fine

4. to make a person pay for what he has stolen

5. to make a person pay for the damage

6. to send a person for trial

 

Use this model:

 

If ___ II FORM OF THE VERB, ___ WOULD + INFINITIVE…..

If I were a magistrate, I would refer a person to the social services.