Villarreal v. Texas · ¶38

This means that, as even Texas acknowledges, a court cannot prohibit a lawyer from asking his client about a new potential witness or a piece of evidence mentioned for the first time during the defendant's testimony, or a defendant from asking his lawyer about compliance with the court's evidentiary rulings. See Brief for Respondent 27–28. What it may prohibit is discussion of testimony for its own sake. Such discussion threatens to shape the defendant's testimony and undermine the trial's search for the truth.

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