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W. Va. R. Evid. 607

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Rule 607 Who May Impeach a Witness

Article VI: Witnesses

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Rule Text

The credibility of a witness may be attacked and impeached by any party, including the party calling the witness.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Any side in a court case can question a witness's honesty or reliability, even if that side is the one who originally brought the witness to testify.

This matters because sometimes a witness ends up saying something different than what a party expected, or their testimony turns out to be shaky or inconsistent. Before this rule, some courts made you stick with your own witness and treat their word as solid, even if it fell apart on the stand. Now, if your own witness says something that hurts your case or seems unreliable, you're allowed to point out problems with their credibility just like the other side could.

In practice, this gives lawyers more freedom to challenge testimony that doesn't hold up, no matter who put the witness on the stand in the first place. It helps make sure the jury or judge hears an honest picture of how believable each witness really is.