“_In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall ... be confronted with the witnesses against him._”(68) What does this mean? It means that the government, the prosecution, cannot prove guilt by witnesses who are not present in court where the defendant can see them, where they may be cross examined by counsel, where the jury may observe them, and study their conduct and demeanor, because this often helps in determining whether a person is telling the truth or a falsehood. In ordinary trials where property alone is involved, a witness may live in another State or at some great distance from the place of trial. Witnesses cannot be brought a long distance in those cases. In some States they cannot be compelled to attend a distance of more than seventy miles. In other States, not more than one hundred miles; so that to get their testimony, the parties take their depositions. This means that instead of bringing the witness into court, the parties obtain an order by which they can go to the place where the witness is. There he is sworn before a commissioner, or a notary public, examined, and his testimony is taken in writing. The testimony is returned to the court where the trial is to be held, and is then read to the court or the jury upon the trial. But in the trial of a person accused of a crime, depositions cannot be used against him. Statements of witnesses in writing, or in any other form, cannot be used by the prosecution. The witnesses must be physically in court before the accused, and there orally testify, and the defendant must have the right to cross examine them. But to give the accused person every possible aid in enabling him to have the truth brought before the court and jury, he may take the depositions of witnesses in his own behalf. That is, the prosecution—the State or the Nation accusing a man of a crime—must prove the truth of the accusation by witnesses personally in court confronting the defendant, but the defendant is given the privilege of taking the testimony of witnesses at a distance, in the form of depositions which are read to the jury. This provision of the Constitution may be very important to an innocent person sometimes. The importance of it may never appear to us until unfortunately we be wrongfully accused of a crime, and our life or liberty in danger. Then the Constitution further provides: “_In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the __ right ... to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor._”(69) This is also very important. “Compulsory process” means an order of the court, commonly called “subpoena”, which is served upon witnesses by the marshal, or the sheriff, or other authorized person, commanding them to appear in court for examination before the court and jury as to the truth of matters involved in the accusation against a person on trial.