Witness Order

Clois Dean Asbury was convicted of DUI 7th offense, leaving the scene of a crash, and an implied consent violation. The case has some instruction for us as prosecutors. In this case the prosecuting officer was called as the fourth witness. As the prosecuting officer, he was not subject to the sequestration rule. The Court found this did not have a prejudicial effect, but the Attorney General conceded that failure to call the witness first was an error, although a harmless one. The Court in this case agrees.
The simple lesson is, if you choose to use the prosecuting witness subsequent to other witnesses, keep him/her out of the room, until he or she testifies. That should avoid the problem.
Read the case at:
http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/asburycloisdeanopn.pdf