§ 135.135 Exclusion of witnesses during examination of others

When someone is testifying in court, the judge can send other witnesses out of the room. This means witnesses who haven't given their testimony yet don't get to hear what earlier witnesses say.

The point of this is to keep testimony honest. If a witness hasn't heard what others already said, they can't shape their own story to match or contradict it. This applies whether the witness is testifying for the state (the prosecution) or for the defendant.

The judge decides whether to use this rule. It's not automatic, and the judge can choose which witnesses to exclude and when. This usually comes up during hearings or trials where multiple people are going to testify about the same events.