What's the factual opinion on this court scenario for a script?

[harmonica44]

I have asked other writers before, about whether or not a defense attorney can speak to a witness in a case.

I was often told no, they are only allowed to do so at depositions with the prosecutor present. I have a story I would like to develop better, and in this story, the defense attorney and the witness are working together in a scheme, but will be tricky of they are legally allowed no contact.

So since I was told by many people that they cannot talk to witnesses, I found some lawyers and asked them for research. However, they all said that you can and that they have done so, many times. I even found this article that says that they can as well:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...-case-interviewing-prosecution-witnesses.html

Now in my story, of course it is illegal for a defense attorney and a witness to be working together. I just need them to legally get together and talk for their plan to work, where the case will not be thrown out, just because he called her about it, or met up with her about it to ask questions.

Now it seems that the lawyers I have talked to, say it is perfectly legal, but all the writers and other people I have talked to, say it is not. Which is it though? There must be some law that says if you can or not, instead of everyone being in disagreement all the time? Why can no one agree on what the law actually is? Can the judges even agree?

 

[FantasySciFi]

... in this story, the defense attorney and the witness are working together in a scheme, but will be tricky of they are legally allowed no contact.

I think it comes across as witness tampering

If they are scheming together, then it's definitely on the illegal side anyway.

... There must be some law that says if you can or not, instead of everyone being in disagreement all the time? Why can no one agree on what the law actually is? Can the judges even agree?

Because the law is often based on specific conditions being met and precedents, all the details are important. Some conditions are subject to interpretation by judges and juries often turning on a single word or phrase. For example "What constitutes 'substantial damage'?"

A lawyer can definitely speak to a witness. In litigation, there are no property rights in a witness, and the lawyer can speak to any witness so long as he identifies himself as the lawyer for the client. ... I'm a lawyer, so I know.

The difficulty which H44 seems to vacillate on are two points:
1. The witness is also the victim raped by the defending attorney's client
2. The witness refused to testify so was arrested and jailed/sequestered by the prosecutor to serve as a hostile witness in the proceedings.

In a criminal case where the hostile witness is detained by the state, does the state have property rights over the witness? Would that require supervised visitation of the defense attorney to avoid 'tampering'? (Would you want a mob lawyer talking to a witness in protective custody?) This would probably also be an issue for an inmate compelled to testify in case that happens in a prison. As a ward of the state, how does one prevent influence of the witness when the state is either the prosecution or defense? For an ordinary civil or criminal case, it is more straightforward. H44 has sought to complicate the situation. This is not a normal witness.

I'm genuinely curious what happens when the witness is hostile, sequestered or a ward of the state.

Okay thanks. ... Is that really necessary, to create a new character and have to hire an extra actor just for that?

Only if you can't think of another way of handling it. Being a screenwriter means being creative. Being a director means being creative. So be creative.