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"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am directing you. I am striking that witness' testimony
and you are not to consider it in your deliberations." Would you like to learn what this is about?
Come join me as I share with you this great information. Hi. I'm Gerry Oginski. I'm a
New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer practicing law in the
state of New York. So let's say a witness is called to the stand and now this witness
testifies. He now is being asked lots of questions about what it is that he saw, what it is that
he understood occurred. And now the defense has an opportunity to cross-examine that witness.
But let's say there's a problem with this witness' testimony and now the judge makes
a decision about striking this witness' testimony. The jury has now heard the questions, they
have now heard the answers from this particular witness and he's come to the decision that
this person's testimony is not admissible. He then turns to the jury and says, "Ladies
and gentlemen. You are to disregard this witness' testimony." You've now been listening to this
witness for the last two hours testify about this particular thing. (And there's a cool
bird flying right by, maybe you can see it the background! It's so neat!) Alright, so
let's say this witness has been testifying for a couple of hours. The judge turns to
the jury and says, "Listen. You are to disregard this witness' testimony." Can the jury unring
the bell? Now I've talked about this before. What it does it mean to unring the bell? Well
what it means is that the jury is now heard all this information. They've heard all the
questions, they've heard all the answers the witness has given. They've seen how the witness
has behaved on the witness stand and demeanor. And now they are being told disregard everything
you've just heard and ultimately when the case finishes and you now go to deliberate,
you are to disregard that entirely and don't consider that when you now decide who's right
and who's wrong. And that's really difficult for anybody. Why? Because not only have they
heard that information but the judge is highlighting the fact to disregard everything. If the judge
does not give the correct of an instruction and now the defense loses the case, they may
have grounds to appeal the case on the basis that the jury considered that information
that they never should have heard as part of their verdict and that's why we now won
the case. So why do I share this quick information with you? I share it with you to give you
an insight and an understanding into what goes on during the trial process in the state
of New York in an accident case, in a medical malpractice case or even a wrongful death
case. You know, I realize you're watching this because you likely have questions or
concerns about your own particular matter. Well if your matter happened in New York and
you do have legal questions, what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me.
I can answer your legal questions. This is something that I do every single day and I'd
love to talk to you. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email at Gerry@Oginski-law.com. That's
it for today's quick video. I'm Gerry Oginski, have a wonderful day!