Fabricated Burden Shift
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Evidence1
Example wrong choices
17233_galilee_charter_sailing · EVIDENCE · Choice AThe court must decide whether Ruth is telling the truth before the jury may consider her testimony.
Why it's attractive
It slides from FRE 104 preliminary questions (admissibility, qualifications, privilege) into witness truthfulness, which FRE 104(e) reserves for the jury.
Why it's wrong
It slides from FRE 104 preliminary questions (admissibility, qualifications, privilege) into witness truthfulness, which FRE 104(e) reserves for the jury.
17233_galilee_charter_sailing · EVIDENCE · Choice CThe burden shifts to Ruth to prove her credibility by a preponderance of the evidence.
Why it's attractive
It reverses the direction of the burden of persuasion and invents a new burden of proving credibility.
Why it's wrong
It reverses the direction of the burden of persuasion and invents a new burden of proving credibility.
17233_galilee_charter_sailing · EVIDENCE · Choice DThe jury must disregard Ruth's testimony because any prior inconsistency destroys her personal knowledge of the collision.
Why it's attractive
It pushes the real effect of impeachment (affecting credibility) too far to "destroy personal knowledge," which would force the jury to disregard the testimony outright.
Why it's wrong
It pushes the real effect of impeachment (affecting credibility) too far to "destroy personal knowledge," which would force the jury to disregard the testimony outright.
Practice the questions that use this trap as a distractor and get full Wrong Answer Forensics on submit.
Practice questions using this trap →