TITLE SIX — WITNESSES
Rule 608. A Witness’s Character for Truthfulness or Untruthfulness
Reputation Evidence. A witness’s credibility may be attacked or supported by testimony about the witness’s reputation for having a character for truthfulness or untruthfulness. But evidence of truthful character is admissible only after the witness’s character for truthfulness has been attacked.
Specific Instances of Conduct. In general, specific instances of misconduct showing the witness to be untruthful are not admissible for the purpose of attacking or supporting the witness’s credibility.
Form of Proof. Character under this rule is proved by reputation only. Testimony in the form of the character witness’s personal opinion of the principal witness’s truthfulness is not admissible, as Rule 610 provides.
Foundation for a Reputation Witness. Before testifying to reputation, a character witness must show:
an acquaintance with the principal witness, or with the community in which the principal witness is known, sufficient to make the character witness aware of the principal witness’s reputation;
that the reputation testified to is that held in a community in which the principal witness is generally known, which for the purposes of this rule includes the residents of this State, the persons who interact with the principal witness in the game environment, and the persons who participate with the principal witness in a channel or other community of this State in which the principal witness is known by username; and
that the reputation is current, or was current at a time not so remote as to deprive it of probative value.
Scope of the Testimony. A character witness shall testify only that the principal witness’s reputation for truthfulness is good or bad, and shall not recount the incidents on which the reputation is said to rest, except as subdivision (6) permits.
Cross-Examination of a Character Witness. On cross-examination of a character witness, the court may allow inquiry into whether the character witness has heard of specific instances of conduct of the principal witness bearing upon truthfulness, where the cross-examiner has a reasonable and good-faith basis in fact for the inquiry and discloses that basis to the court upon request, outside the hearing of the jury. The answer is conclusive; extrinsic evidence of the instance is not admissible. The court shall consider under Rule 403 whether the danger of unfair prejudice substantially outweighs the probative value of the inquiry.
When Character Has Been Attacked. For the purposes of subdivision (1), the character of a witness for truthfulness has been attacked by evidence of the witness’s reputation for untruthfulness, by evidence of a conviction offered under Rule 609, by cross-examination under subdivision (6), or by an assertion, in questioning or in argument, that the witness has fabricated the testimony. Evidence of a prior inconsistent statement, of bias, or of a defect in capacity is not by itself an attack upon character for truthfulness and does not open the door to evidence of truthful character.
Matters Not Governed by This Rule. This rule does not restrict:
proof of bias, prejudice, interest, or a motive to fabricate, which may be proved by specific instances and by extrinsic evidence under Rule 607(3);
proof of a prior inconsistent statement under Rule 613(1); or