wgor11
contradict/deny Hello, are both versions correct? The witness contradicted the defendant's testimony. The witness denied the defendant's testimony.
Oct 24, 2014 1:53 PM
Answers · 3
This one is difficult. The first answer is correct. The second one would almost never be correct. Deny requires a direct challenge of some kind. That is, someone must directly make a request, statement, or other kind of challenge against the person who can then deny it. The challenge must always be clearly defined. Testimony probably would not make such a direct challenge or statement. If the defendant's testimony directly accused the witness of a specific crime, the witness could then deny it. However such testimony would be very rare. Normally testimony consists of many different statements together. Contradict is different because it does not require such specific things. It can make the challenge against something else by saying that something else is false. It does not require such clear definition. For example, you say "I went to the store," and I say "I was at the store, but I did not see you there! You are lying." I have contradicted you, but I have not denied you. You made no challenge against me. I did challenge you, however. I have accused you of lying. You could now deny that you are lying. Note that if I had not said "You are lying," then you still could not deny my statement, because it is not clear what the challenge is. I did not make a direct, clear challenge.
October 24, 2014
1. "The witness denied the defendant's testimony" is not correct. One can deny the truth of a testimony but not the testimony itself. The verb "deny" may not be so used. 2. Grammatically, "the witness contradicted the defendant's testimony" is correct.
October 24, 2014
The first means that he said that the testimony was wrong - he remembered the events in the testimony in a different way. You don't "deny a testimony". You can "deny an allegation" - this is what an accused does in court if he believes he is innocent. Please ask for more clarification if you need
October 24, 2014
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