How Do I Get A Witness To Testify?

One question I am often asked is “how do I bring a witness to court”? There are two ways to have a witness testify. If the witness is a friendly witness, such as a relative, friend or neighbor you could ask the person to voluntarily come to court and testify on your behalf. The second way of ensuring a witness is present in court and will testify is to serve the witness with a subpoena. A subpoena is a court order that tells a witness when and where they must be present in court. Even if you believe that the witness will come to court voluntarily it is always a good precaution to subpoena all witnesses. Even if a witness says that they will appear in court they may have a scheduling conflict or not be able to take the time off from work. A subpoena orders their attendance in court. If the witness refuses to attend the hearing the court can compel the witness’s attendance at court to testify.

In a criminal proceeding the subpoena must be personally served on the witness. If the witness is not personally served they cannot be ordered to appear in court.

Who can serve the subpoena? A subpoena may be served by anyone (except the defendant) who is over the age of 18. Ideally, you should have an investigator or process server serve the subpoena. This individual will need to complete the proof of service.

In some circumstances you may require the witness to bring documents with them to court. These documents may be business or school records. Should you need to the witness to bring records to court and then testify regarding the records you will need to serve the witness with a subpoena duces tecum. This subpoena tells the witness what records to bring to court.

Properly serving a witness with a subpoena is the only way to ensure that a witness will appear in court and testify on your behalf. To ensure that all evidence is presented on your behalf contact Orange County criminal attorney Maltaise Cini. With over twenty years of experience attorney Maltaise Cini will make sure that all witnesses are properly served and that your witness will appear in court to testify. Attorney Maltaise Cini may be reached at 949-660-1389.