The answer is merely an description of what the document is ( e.g., “This is one of my bank statements,” or “this is an invoice I received”). The witness must know what the document is and be able to identify it. The simple response is that the objection is premature because you have not yet offered the document into evidence. Sometimes counsel opposite may object to admission of the document before you have even offered it. Some judges prefer that you hand the document first to the court reporter and have it marked for identification before handing it to the witness, but I have found that to be a minority. The attorney on the other side has the right to examine anything you hand to a witness. It’s also required that you furnish him or her a copy per Uniform Chancery Court Rule (UCCR) 3.5. Hand the document to the witness, and, at the same time, hand a copy to counsel opposite.For purposes of this post, the term “document” used here includes all objects identified in MRE 1001 (1) and (2), as well as all tangible items that can be offered into evidence. If you can understand the process, step by step, you can plan it out to navigate the expected hurdles. It can be daunting for young lawyers to tiptoe through the evidentiary minefield of the courtroom, but perhaps the most intimidating of all is to get a document into evidence, a process fraught with objections and roadblocks.
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