Can a ruling by a judge be thrown out because the court forgot to administer...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shloimy
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Shloimy

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...the oath to the defendant? I was in court and the judge or clerk forgot to administer the oath to the defendant and witness. Is this a mistrial and grounds for reopening of the case. Will the court consider my request or wont even bother going to back to the recordings.

Thanks
 
Unless they were already prior sworn in, yes it is a technicality. But hey, cases have been won and lost on technicalities. It is worth a shot. It is an important part of a hearing. And if you filed your request or complaint about this issue, they HAVE to hear you.
 
Not likely to be helpful to you. If you were in court at the time, you were required to object to the testimony on the basis that it was not under oath. Having failed to object, you waived the error. You can't just let an error occur without calling it to the attention of the court so that the error can be corrected. That is called "making your record." By failing to object, you didn't make your record.
 
The defendant does not have to take the oath anyway, unless he is to give evidence. Were you the defendant? In which case what does your lawyer say? Or were you just in the public gallery? If so, you have nothing to do with it. The court will only listen to the sides actually involved in the case. The public are only there to observe and listen, they take no part in the proceedings.
 
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