Paint a picture with direct testimony.
Face it, direct testimony is frustrating. Both the attorney and the witness want to break loose with a long narrative answer. But, of course, you can't do that so what comes out question by question seems to be a very slow, disjointed narrative. However, it doesn't have to be that way.
A direct examiner can actually paint a vivid picture in the jury's mind with a serious of short declarative answers. For example, consider the following passage from Pastime, a detective novel by Robert B. Parker (Spencer for Hire remember). Read through it and see whether or not these consice sentences with very few adjectives paints a picture in your mind:
I went to Chez Vous, which was located next to an ice cream parlor behind a bookstore in a small shopping center on Massachusetts Avenue. Four desks, four swivel chairs, four phones, four side chairs, and a sofa with maplewood arms and a small floral print covering. The wall was decorated with flattering photos of the property available, and the floor was covered with a big braided rug in mostly blues and reds. Two of the desks were were empty, a woman with blue'black hair and large green-rimmed glasses sat at one of the remaining desks speaking on the phone. She was speaking about a house that the office was listing and she was being enthusiastic. The other desk was occupied by a very slender blonde woman wearing a lot of clothes. Her white skirt reached her ankles, nearly covering her black-laced high-heeled boots. Over the skirt she wore a longiish ivory-colored tunic and a black leather belt with a huge buckle and a small crocheted beige sleeveless sweater, and a beige scarf at her neck, and ivory earrings that were carved in the shape of Japanese dolls, and rings on all her fingers, and a white bow in her hair.
Now take this paragraph and come up with the direct questions which will move the witness through this description at an even pace. Get someone else to be the witness and practice your direct examination based on the facts in the paragraph.
I would suggest that when you are working up your own case for direct start with a story that has all the relevant facts that you need to get in and then work your questions so that the witness delivers the story sentence by sentence or even phrase by phrase.
