In Minnesota, witness testimony often drives criminal prosecutions, but a witness’s credibility is not off-limits. The defense has the right to challenge how truthful, consistent, and unbiased a witness actually is. When those challenges land, they can reduce the weight of the state’s evidence, create reasonable doubt, and in some cases, unravel the prosecution’s entire theory.

Prosecutors in Minneapolis and throughout Hennepin County lean heavily on eyewitnesses, informants, and cooperating co-defendants. Each of those witness types carries vulnerabilities: prior