Rule 11-607 Who may impeach a witness.

If a witness testifies in court, any side in the case can challenge that witness's honesty or reliability, even the side that put the witness on the stand in the first place. This means a lawyer isn't stuck fully backing up their own witness if that witness says something surprising, contradicts earlier statements, or turns out to be unreliable.

This rule exists because sometimes a witness doesn't say what the party calling them expected, or new information comes up that raises doubts about what they said. Instead of forcing everyone to pretend the witness is completely trustworthy, the rule lets both sides point out problems with what the witness said, including the side that called them to testify.

In practice, this means no witness gets special protection just because of who asked them to testify. Their words and credibility can be questioned by anyone in the courtroom, which helps the judge or jury get a fuller and more honest picture of what really happened.