What is required for a witness to be impeached using bad acts?

For a witness to be impeached using bad acts, the key requirement is that the acts must be relevant to the witness's truthfulness. This means that the conduct in question needs to reflect on the witness's character for honesty or integrity. Impeachment by bad acts is a way to challenge a witness's credibility by showing that they have engaged in behavior that casts doubt on their reliability or truthfulness in their testimony.

While factors such as whether the act is public knowledge, its recency, or consensus among participating parties might influence the judicial process regarding the admissibility of evidence or its weight, the primary focus remains on the relevance of the act to the witness's propensity for truthfulness. This ensures that only pertinent information, which speaks to the witness's character for truthfulness, is considered in the context of impeaching that witness's reliability.