Connecticut General Statutes 54-86 – Depositions
(a) In any case involving an offense for which the punishment may be imprisonment for more than one year, the Superior Court or a judge thereof may, upon the application of the accused, or of the state in the case of a witness who is infirm and seventy-five years of age or older, order that the deposition of a witness shall be taken before a commissioner, judge or magistrate, to be designated by the court or judge, if it appears that his or her testimony will be required at trial and that, by reason of bodily infirmity, age or residence out of this state, he or she will be unable to testify at trial.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 54-86
- Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
- Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(b) Reasonable notice of the time when and place where the examination will be had and of the interrogatories to be propounded shall be given to the state’s attorney or assistant state’s attorney for the judicial district in which the prosecution is pending; and such attorney may, within such time as the court or judge limits, file with the clerk of the court additional interrogatories to be propounded to the witness to be examined.
(c) Depositions so taken, opened by and filed with the clerk within such time as the court or judge directs, may be used at trial.