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Evidence Act 2006

Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality - Veracity and propensity - Evidence of veracity

38: Evidence of defendant’s veracity

You could also call this:

"Can the court talk about how honest you are if you're the defendant?"

Illustration for Evidence Act 2006

If you are a defendant in a court case, you can give evidence about how honest you are. The prosecution can only give evidence about your honesty if you have already talked about it in court or questioned the honesty of a prosecution witness. The Judge must also say it is okay for the prosecution to do this.

When the Judge decides whether to let the prosecution give evidence about your honesty, they can think about things like how much your honesty has been questioned and how long ago you were convicted of something. They can also think about whether you were asked questions by the prosecution that made you talk about your honesty. The Judge has to make a decision about what is fair.

You can find more information about changes to this rule in the Evidence Amendment Act 2016.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM393626.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law
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37: Veracity rules, or

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39: Evidence of co-defendant’s veracity, or

"Questioning a co-defendant's honesty in court: what you need to do"

Part 2Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality
Veracity and propensity: Evidence of veracity

38Evidence of defendant’s veracity

  1. A defendant in a criminal proceeding may offer evidence about his or her veracity.

  2. The prosecution in a criminal proceeding may offer evidence about a defendant’s veracity only if—

  3. the defendant has, in court, given oral evidence about his or her veracity or challenged the veracity of a prosecution witness by reference to matters other than the facts in issue; and
    1. the Judge permits the prosecution to do so.

      1. In determining whether to give permission under subsection (2)(b), the Judge may take into account any of the following matters:

      2. the extent to which the defendant’s veracity or the veracity of a prosecution witness has been put in issue in the defendant’s evidence:
        1. the time that has elapsed since any conviction about which the prosecution seeks to give evidence:
          1. whether any evidence given by the defendant about veracity was elicited by the prosecution.

            Notes
            • Section 38(2)(a): replaced, on , by section 13 of the Evidence Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 44).