Also known as: sequestered witnesses · sequester
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A witness whom a court has ordered excluded from the courtroom during the testimony of other witnesses. The order prevents the witness from hearing prior testimony and adjusting statements to match what has already been said.
DataCore sues MetroLink for service outages. After DataCore moves to exclude witnesses, MetroLink asks both its network chief and billing director to remain at counsel table. The court permits only the network chief to stay as the designated representative and directs that the billing director leave the courtroom as a sequestered witness.
During a criminal trial the judge bars the defendant from speaking with counsel overnight. The Supreme Court holds that the prohibition violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, so the defendant cannot be treated as a sequestered witness cut off from legal advice.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The court must exclude ordinary fact witnesses from the courtroom so they cannot hear other testimony. A corporate party may keep one designated representative present, and any witness shown to be essential to the presentation of the case may also remain.
Yes. Once a party properly requests exclusion, the court must order it in civil and criminal proceedings alike, subject only to the listed exceptions for parties, designated representatives, and essential persons.
No. The rule permits only one designated representative for a non-natural-person party. Additional employees may remain only if the party shows each is essential to presenting the claim or defense.
…power to control the progress and, within the limits of the adversary system, the shape of the trial includes broad power to sequester witnesses before, during, and after their testimony. Holder v. United States , 150 U.S. 91, 92 (1893); United States v. Robinson , 502 F.2d 894 (CA7 1974); United States v.…