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Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary

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Refresh One's Recollection: To show a witness a document in an effort to help the witness remember something. A party may try to refresh a witness's recollection only after demonstrating that the witness does not remember. The party may then show the document to the witness, ask the witness to read it silently, and then ask whether the document refreshes the witness's recollection. If the witness answers in the affirmative, the party then takes the document away from the witness and asks the witness to answer the question that led to the failure of memory. The testimony the witness gives after reviewing the document is sometimes referred to as "present recollection refreshed."

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