The Cooperating Witness: Angel, Demon, or a Little of Both?
Cooperating witnesses can be among the most powerful—and most problematic—tools in criminal litigation. Their testimony can expose criminal conspiracies, dismantle organized crime networks, and establish the guilt of otherwise difficult-to-prosecute defendants. Yet the same witnesses may bring scrutiny, credibility issues, personal agendas, inconsistent statements, and powerful incentives to tell the government what it wants to hear.
This practical CLE course examines the strategic, ethical, and evidentiary challenges involved in developing, evaluating, preparing, and presenting cooperating witnesses in criminal cases. Drawing on decades of federal and state prosecution experience involving violent crime, complex conspiracies, RICO prosecutions, and Continuing Criminal Enterprises cases, the presentation explores the process from the initial proffer session through plea negotiations, trial preparation, direct examination, and cross-examination.
Topics include evaluating a cooperator’s credibility, identifying and corroborating critical information, understanding cooperation agreements and sentencing incentives, navigating Brady, Giglio, and discovery obligations, and strategies a defense counsel uses to attack a witness’s motives, reliability and expose the incentives to testify in order to upend a cooperators effectiveness.
Through practical examples, courtroom lessons, trial twists and turns and strategic insights the participants will learn how to recognize the value and risks of cooperating witnesses, avoid common pitfalls, make better-informed decisions about their use at trial and practice pointers used to diminish cooperators effectiveness.
SPEAKER:
Allen J. Litchfield — Retired First Assistant United States Attorney
Mr. Litchfield served for 34 years as a federal prosecutor after beginning his career as an Assistant District Attorney. He prosecuted violent crime, complex conspiracies, RICO cases, and Continuing Criminal Enterprise offenses.
With the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma, he served as Criminal Chief, First Assistant United States Attorney, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force lead attorney, and a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Mr. Litchfield has extensive experience working with cooperating defendants and witnesses in complex investigations and trials. He brings practical insight into evaluating, preparing, and presenting cooperators, as well as addressing their credibility, motivations, vulnerabilities, and value in criminal prosecutions.
Disclaimer: All views or opinions expressed by any presenter during the course of this CLE is that of the presenter alone and not an opinion of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the employers, or affiliates of the presenters unless specifically stated. Additionally, any materials, including the legal research, are the product of the individual contributor, not the Oklahoma Bar Association. The Oklahoma Bar Association makes no warranty, express or implied, relating to the accuracy or content of these materials.