Where VARE recordings and pre-interview assessment reports are available, a trial judge may decline to permit cross-examination of intermediaries on a voir dire in aid of an application to exclude the VAREs, on the basis that the recordings themselves provide sufficient material to assess any alleged unfairness. The question of whether intermediary conduct caused unfairness is a matter for the trial judge on the exclusion application and may call for expert evidence rather than cross-examination of the intermediaries about their motivations.
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