Del. R. Evid. 615

As amended through November 14, 2024

Rule 615 - Excluding Witnesses

At a party's request, the court may order witnesses excluded so that they cannot hear other witnesse testimony. Or the court may do so on its own. But this rule does not authorize excluding:

(a) a party who is a natural person;

(b) an officer or employee of a party that is not a natural person, after being designated as the party's representative by its attorney or;

(c) a person whose presence a party shows to be essential to presenting the party's claim or defense.

Del. R. Evid. 615

Amended November 28, 2017, effective 1/1/2018.

Comment

This rule tracks F.R.E. 615 except that "may" was substituted for "must" in the first line. It was believed that the court should be given latitude as to whether witnesses should be sequestered. It was recognized that in most cases a request for sequestration will be granted but that it is sometimes desirable not to sequester a particular witness, especially an expert witness.

F.RE. 615(d) has not been included in D.R.E. 615.

For prior cases illustrating the areas of law covered by this rule, see Fountain v. State, Del. Supr., 382 A.2d 230 (1977); Derrickson v. State, Del. Supr., 321 A.2d 497 (1974).

D.R.E. 615 was amended in 2017 in response to the 2011 restyling of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The amendment is intended to be stylistic only. The pre-2017 "Comment to D.R.E. 615 was revised only as necessary to reflect the current language of F.R.E. 615. There is no intent to change any result in ruling on evidence admissibility.