As for the insufficient detail in "embroiled with the police", that's relevant to the question of how much police influenced to flow of events on its own initiative, not the independence of witnesses... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
So they were absolutely not independent, but you may separately talk about the degree of prior agreement between what they said -- just like in the case of any other non-independent witnesses. Do you want to walk yet another round?... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I'm not sure 'independent' legally means much, fairleft
it is not certain whether the two witnesses are 'independent' or not, and how 'independent' their testimony was at the police station
Given how competently and honestly the police has handled everything else in this case, I would be exceedingly surprised if they had properly separated the witnesses while interviewing them.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.