Courtroom Testimony
All law enforcement officers will be required to testify regularly during their careers. Whether a seasoned veteran, a rookie fresh out of the academy, or somewhere in between, officers will receive instruction, tips, and techniques to help prepare them for their courtroom experiences. This helps officers feel more comfortable in the witness chair and become more effective witnesses.
Course Length: 2 Hours
Meet your Instructor
Linda Tally Smith
Expertise:
Felony Prosecution Attorney, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 54th Judicial Circuit, KY
Linda Tally Smith has dedicated her twenty-five year career to felony prosecution since graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1994. She served three terms as the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 54th Judicial Circuit, which serves Boone and Gallatin Counties in Kentucky -- from 2000 to 2019. She was President of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association in 2005, and served two terms as the governor’s appointee on the Prosecutor’s Advisory Council. She served on the Kentucky Coalition Against Sexual Assault in 2005, which resulted in a revamping of the Kentucky Penal Code relating to sexual assault, child abuse and registration of sex offenders. She has also served on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Prosecutor Salaries and Staffing, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Sentencing, and the Criminal Justice Council Sentencing Subcommittee. In both 2005 and 2010, she was selected as the Outstanding Commonwealth’s Attorney for Kentucky, and received the Governor’s Award for Impaired Driving Enforcement in 2010. In 2012, Linda was given the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Commonwealth’s Attorney in Kentucky – the Carroll M. Redford Award as Kentucky’s Outstanding Prosecutor, selected by her peers and members of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Association. Her work on multiple homicides has been featured on A&E’s Cold Case Files, CourtTv’s Forensic Files and Medical Detectives, Investigation Discovery’s Catch My Killer The Object of Murder, Dateline NBC and ABC Primetime Live. Linda was an instructor with the Kentucky Prosecutor’s Institute from 2004 to 2018, and has taught crime scene investigators at the University of Tennessee’s National Forensic Academy (Law Enforcement Innovation Center) since 2005.She resides in Union with her husband, Jeff, who is a 1995 graduate of the U.K. College of Law who currently serves as a District Judge for Boone & Gallatin Counties. Linda and Jeff have three children: Jake, Sophie & Sadie.