§ 8.01-403.Witness proving adverse; contradiction; prior inconsistent statement (Subsection (c) of Supreme Court Rule 2:607 and subdivision (a)(i) of Supreme Court Rule 2:613 derived from this section).

Trial witnesses do not always cooperate with the side that called them. Section 8.01-403 addresses what a lawyer can do when their own witness turns hostile on the stand. The general rule stays protective of witnesses called by a party: that party cannot attack the witness’s credit through general evidence of bad character.

But when the witness proves adverse in the court’s own judgment, the calling party gets a specific tool with the court’s leave: proof that the witness made a statement at another time that is inconsistent with the present testimony. There is a foundation requirement before that proof can come in — the circumstances of the earlier statement, enough to pin down the particular occasion, must be described to the witness, who must then be asked whether he made the statement.

Because a prior inconsistent statement used this way is about credibility, not substantive proof, the section gives either party the right to ask the court to instruct the jury accordingly: not to consider the inconsistent statement for anything except contradicting the witness.