§ 3.01 INTRODUCTION

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 3.01. INTRODUCTION

Most students have taken a course in civil procedure before they take the evidence course. The same cannot be said for criminal procedure. Thus, this chapter briefly summarizes some of the initial steps before trial, with more background information provided for criminal litigation. In addition, the order of proceeding at trial is discussed.

Several provisions of the Rules of Evidence explicitly refer to the Civil and Criminal Rules. For example, Rule 402 provides that relevant evidence is admissible unless there is a rule of exclusion, listing, inter alia, other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court. Thus, the testimony of an expert witness could be excluded as a discovery sanction.¹ The hearsay rule, Rule 802, is similar, recognizing exceptions based on "other rules" prescribed by the Supreme Court. The deposition requirements found in the civil and criminal rules are examples of such rules.²

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