Whistle-Blower’s Complaint Is Said to Involve Multiple Acts by Trump

[6andcounting]

(11-11-2019, 04:31 PM)Dill Wrote: Imagine that one of your clients, with bruises all over her face, tells you she has been beaten by her husband. If you testify that she told you her husband beat her, yours would be "2nd hand" testimony in this sense. Same for the doctor who treats your client and the police officer who takes her initial statement, and the neighbor who heard her screaming "stop beating me."  NONE of you WERE THERE IN THE ROOM.  2nd hand.

If the husband defends himself by claiming all the testimony is 2nd hand and anyway you are all Democrats and he is a Republican, you have an analogy to the current GOP defense of Trump. The wife's testimony would not be 2nd hand, but would be biased, especially if she has accused her husband before.

The neighbor's testimony wouldn't be hearsay as they witnessed the event in real time. The bruises themselves would be actual evidence. The doctor's diagnoses to the injuries wouldn't be hearsay as they examined the patient, but the doctor's account of what went down as learned from the victim telling the story to the doctor would be 2nd hand info. The victim's statement in itself would be 2nd hand info for the officer, but any other evidence or observations the officer made while on scene would be a first hand account. 

A husband word vs wife's word isn't going to lead to any convictions. Bruises, neighbor witnesses, diagnosed injuries from a doctor and officer's observations of the scene would all be used against the husband.