Woodlands Criminal Defense Attorney - Texas Rules of Evidence Series RULE 610

Woodlands Criminal Defense Lawyer - Brian Foley

Rule 610 is one of those rules that is accepted to the point that I have never seen it come up in a courtroom. The rule is that a witness's religious beliefs or opinions are not admissible to attack or support the witness's credibility.

It means you can't say, "Well sir isn't it true that you are a rastafarian and therefore a liar?" Now if you were prosecuting the person for possession of marijuana then I think an argument could be made that you could offer their religion and the practice whose main ritual is the smoking of "ganja" or marijuana. Of course you would have to allege that it was in response to some defensive theory under rule 404 (b).

I think the last time this was attempted was 1906 when a defendant tried to prove that a prosecution witness did not believe in heaven, hell, or god. Brundige v. State, 95 S.W. 527, (Tex. Crim. App. 1906).

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Rule 610

Evidence of a witness’s religious beliefs or opinions is not admissible to attack or support the witness’s credibility.