Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 26. EVIDENCE

CHAPTER 1. STATUTORY PROVISIONS ON EVIDENCE

Part 3. Weight and Effect of Evidence

Witness Presumed To Speak The Truth -- How Presumption Rebutted

26-1-302. Witness presumed to speak the truth -- how presumption rebutted. A witness is presumed to speak the truth. The jury or the court in the absence of a jury is the exclusive judge of a witness's credibility. This presumption may be controverted and overcome by any matter that has a tendency to disprove the truthfulness of a witness's testimony. The matters include but are not limited to:

(1) the demeanor or manner of the witness while testifying;

(2) the character of the witness's testimony;

(3) bias of the witness for or against any party involved in the case;

(4) interest of the witness in the outcome of the litigation or other motive to testify falsely;

(5) the witness's character for truth, honesty, or integrity;

(6) the extent of the witness's capacity and opportunity to perceive or capacity to recollect or to communicate any matter about which the witness testifies;

(7) inconsistent statements of the witness;

(8) an admission of untruthfulness by the witness;

(9) other evidence contradicting the witness's testimony.

History: En. Sec. 601, p. 195, L. 1877; re-en. Sec. 601, 1st Div. Rev. Stat. 1879; re-en. Sec. 619, 1st Div. Comp. Stat. 1887; re-en. Sec. 3123, C. Civ. Proc. 1895; re-en. Sec. 7864, Rev. C. 1907; re-en. Sec. 10508, R.C.M. 1921; Cal. C. Civ. Proc. Sec. 1847; re-en. Sec. 10508, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 93-401-4; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 72, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 522, Ch. 56, L. 2009.