I’ve seen memory-impaired witnesses suddenly experience remarkable mental clarity as the cross examining attorney begins marching toward the stand with their deposition transcript in hand. I’ve also seen one simply invent a new lie on the spot, but by that point we already knew were going to win anyway.
Yes, it’s a very thin line between “I don’t remember” and “lying” and jury’s ARE INDEED, on average, pretty smart about it. I’ve had six civil jury trials to the mat (a verdict) and won all six of them. 3 of them on the same issue in Austin’s “Environmental Court” (financial consequences of losing are VERY devastating). Try to imagine 3 Liberal Austin juries picked from a random jury pool ruling for that ole straight white guy developer 3 different times over 2 years. Even Liberals can pick out the liar when their 3 feet from the witness stand looking him/them in the eye. With an honest judge and a good attorney the system will work for you. And, the attorney is only as good as you help him to be.