Witness Truthfulness: Specific Dishonest Acts on Cross

Revised stem

In a negligence action arising from the collapse of a temporary platform at a private Easter choir rehearsal, Lydia testified for the plaintiff. The defendant later called Stephen, who testified that Lydia's reputation for truthfulness was bad. On cross-examination of Stephen, the plaintiff's counsel asks, "Isn't it true that last year, when you requested reimbursement for a youth-choir retreat, you signed a mileage form saying you drove the van even though you had ridden with Mary?" This question is:

Answer flow

01 Identify Stephen's role: he is a witness who gave reputation-for-truthfulness testimony.

02 Name the method: plaintiff's counsel asks Stephen a question on cross-examination.

03 Name the act: allegedly false mileage paperwork, a specific dishonest act.

04 Apply FRE 608(b): specific dishonest acts may be asked about on cross if probative of truthfulness.

05 Cut A because it ignores the cross-examination truthfulness lane.

06 Cut C because impeachment witnesses can be impeached.

07 Clash B against D: both say proper, but D names the right target, Stephen's credibility.

08 Choose D.

A / trap

tiered_absolute / overbroad character rule

Improper, because character cannot be proved by specific instances of conduct.

A states a familiar character-evidence warning too broadly. FRE 608(b) permits cross-examination about a specific dishonest act if it bears on truthfulness.

B / trap

wrong_element / proper result wrong reason

Proper, because it will show the witness's standard for judging another person's reputation for truthfulness.

This is the dominant trap. The question is proper, but not because it calibrates Stephen's reputation standards. It attacks Stephen's own credibility.

C / trap

flat_misstatement / witness-immunity myth

Improper, because a party may not impeach a witness called only to impeach another witness.

An impeachment witness is still a witness. Nothing in the stem gives Stephen immunity from a proper credibility attack.

D / correct

residue / FRE 608(b) cross-examination lane

Proper, because it bears on the witness's credibility.

The question asks Stephen on cross about his own prior dishonest paperwork. That act is probative of Stephen's truthfulness, so the question is proper in the court's discretion.

C3 locks

Red axis: Cross-examination about the witness's own dishonest act is different from proving the act with extrinsic evidence.

Purple profile: The answer set uses two proper/improper pairs, so the because-clause target decides the proper-answer clash.

Blue signal: The question is asked to Stephen on cross, which keeps the inquiry inside the FRE 608(b) lane.

Orange repair: Student habit to repair: treating every specific act as barred character proof without checking the cross-examination truthfulness exception.

Reusable keys

Gold Key / GK-EVIDENCE-TRUTHFULNESS-01
A witness may be asked on cross-examination about a specific dishonest act if the act is probative of that witness's truthfulness; the examiner may not prove the act with extrinsic evidence just for that attack.

Silver Key / SK-EVIDENCE-BECAUSE-CLAUSE-01
When two answers give the same proper/improper result, decide by the because-clause target.

Trap Key / TK-EVIDENCE-IMPEACHMENT-WITNESS-MYTH
A witness called to impeach another witness is still a witness whose own credibility can be attacked.

LeadMe steps

01 Ask whether the lawyer is asking on cross or offering extrinsic proof.

02 Identify whose credibility the question attacks.

03 Connect false reimbursement paperwork to truthfulness.

04 Reject the broad character-specific-act bar because this is cross-examination.

05 Reject the impeachment-witness immunity answer.

06 Compare the two proper answers by their because clauses.

07 Pick the credibility target answer.

Drill seeds