CALCRIM No. 226

Y ou alone must judge the credibility or believability of the witnesses. In

deciding whether testimony is true and accurate, use your common sense

and experience. Y ou must judge the testimony of each witness by the

same standards, setting aside any bias or prejudice you may have.

Y ou may believe all, part, or none of any witness’s testimony. Consider

the testimony of each witness and decide how much of it you believe.

In evaluating a witness’s testimony, you may consider anything that

reasonably tends to prove or disprove the truth or accuracy of that

testimony. Among the factors that you may consider are:

• How well could the witness see, hear, or otherwise perceive the

things about which the witness testified?

• How well was the witness able to remember and describe what

happened?

• What was the witness’s behavior while testifying?

• Did the witness understand the questions and answer them

directly?

• Was the witness’s testimony influenced by a factor such as bias or

prejudice, a personal relationship with someone involved in the

case, or a personal interest in how the case is decided?

• What was the witness’s attitude about the case or about

testifying?

• Did the witness make a statement in the past that is consistent or

inconsistent with his or her testimony?

• How reasonable is the testimony when you consider all the other

evidence in the case?

• [Did other evidence prove or disprove any fact about which the

witness testified?]

• [Did the witness admit to being untruthful?]

• [What is the witness’s character for truthfulness?]

• [Has the witness been convicted of a felony?]

• [Has the witness engaged in [other] conduct that reflects on his or

her believability?]

• [Was the witness promised immunity or leniency in exchange for

his or her testimony?]

Do not automatically reject testimony just because of inconsistencies or

conflicts. Consider whether the differences are important or not. People

sometimes honestly forget things or make mistakes about what they

remember. Also, two people may witness the same event yet see or hear

it differently.

[If the evidence establishes that a witness’s character for truthfulness has

not been discussed among the people who know him or her, you may

conclude from the lack of discussion that the witness’s character for

truthfulness is good.]

[If you do not believe a witness’s testimony that he or she no longer

remembers something, that testimony is inconsistent with the witness’s

earlier statement on that subject.]

[If you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something significant

in this case, you should consider not believing anything that witness says.

Or, if you think the witness lied about some things, but told the truth

about others, you may simply accept the part that you think is true and

ignore the rest.]

New January 2006; Revised June 2007, April 2008, September 2020