Questions tagged [evidence]
For questions concerning evidence - including the handling of evidence, rejection or admittance of evidence in a court of law, and serving evidence in civil matters.
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Can a lawyer subject the court to a (temporary) ruse for a legitimate purpose?
This question is about the legality of a possible defence tactic that might be used in a criminal trial. It is a variation on things you see in lawyer movies fairly commonly. Suppose that a criminal ...
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If police collected evidence based off of a call they suspected, but couldn't prove, was fraudulant would the evidence be upheld?
I'm asking this hypothetical situation mostly as I was considering writing a story with the premise and want the story to be legally accurate, but also because I'm frankly curious how the law would ...
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Can a search based on evidence obtained illegally be a legal search?
I was watching a TV programme last night and the main characters broke into a building to look for something however they didn't find anything. While receiving a dressing-down for their actions from a ...
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Status of ipse dixit statements
Is ipse dixit ("he said it himself") specifically allowed or prohibited in law? I.e. a trusted witness (e.g. an expert) says something is true, but provides no evidence to back it up. It's presumed to ...
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Is lawyer going to be prosecuted if it is proven that he/she certainly knew that his/her client is guilty but continued to deny it in court? [duplicate]
If, say, during the process a client, who is accused of committing a murder, admits that he did it to the lawyer and demonstrates some undeniable proofs, like video of him committing a murder in a ...
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Can an email to a 3rd party be admitted as an evidence in the court? (Family Law UK)
I am the applicant. Yesterday in the position statement of the respondent there was the following statement:
“There is now produced and shown to me marked JS1 a true copy of his email to my friend ...
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California Recording Law - Do recordings need to be used as stated?
In California, two-party consent recording law requires that consent be obtained by all parties before recording phone calls. I've pasted relevant parts of this law below.
Further, subsection (d) of ...
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Standard of proof required to prevent dismissal of criminal charge before trial
In New Zealand, a judge may dismiss a criminal charge before trial if "the Judge is satisfied that, as a matter of law, a properly directed jury could not reasonably convict the defendant" (CPA s147(4)...
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Why can't a lawyer just blame a random witness for harming a plaintiff?
It seems generally uncontroversial that in examining a witness at trial, a lawyer may not ask questions implying that the witness has engaged in some wrongdoing unless the lawyer has some basis for ...
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Is making my co-tenants sign a contract to pay their share of the bills helpful in court?
I share a house with three other people, and as I was the first to move in, I had to sign up for some of the bills with my name. However, some of my co-tenants are rather slow and unwilling to pay ...
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When does an attorney have to "voluntarily" disclose information to the other side?
My understanding is that in criminal cases, the prosecution must disclose exculpatory evidence that they have come across, to the defense.
Is there a similar rule in civil cases? Suppose someone who ...
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How does "innocent until proven guilty" apply to non-payment?
Say I make a big win at a casino and walk out with a suitcase full of cash*. I decide I want to buy a car with it, so I head down to a car dealership, and buy a car - which I pay for by handing over ...
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A police officer finds new evidence before a retrial, who should they give it to?
Scene: Someone committed a murder. Lots of false evidence led an innocent man to be found guilty at his last jury trial. But, a few minutes before starting the new trial, a police officer finds true ...
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No evidence is required for an indictment by a grand jury?
I just read the indictment of Christopher Collins, a congressman, for relaying insider information on a company with publicly traded stock, and for "lying" to a federal agent, ie for denying he ...
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Can a judge put me under oath for closing statements?
For a municipal traffic ticket trial in USA, can a judge put me under oath as I am about to give a closing statement? I declined to testify and accepted to give a closing statement instead. The judge ...
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What remedies are there if it was subsequently discovered that a witness lied at trial?
Suppose this is a tort case (my understanding is unlike a criminal case there is no double jeopardy in tort cases), where a plaintiff was suing a defendant for a lot of money in a tort.
A witness ...
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Why was video evidence released after the trial ended in the Daniel Shaver murder case?
From the wikipedia article it states:
On May 25, 2016, Myers ordered portions of the video released. The released video omits the shooting itself.
The full unedited body camera footage of the ...
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Can I have my personal information redacted from evidence in a case that doesn't directly involve me?
There is a case in the United States that has made its way through a city's municipal court, the district court, and is now going to be in the state's supreme court (Pennsylvania). I live in a ...
user3580
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Why does double jeopardy apply even when the acquittal was due to insufficiency of evidence?
In the United States, the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. constitution has been held to prohibit retrying a person for a crime they were previously acquitted of, even if the acquittal was merely ...
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how to prove perjury?
How is perjury proved in a rental arbitration hearing? The testimony is sworn. Of course, people make mistakes, mis-speak etc. But if verbal sworn evidence is self-contradicting does rise to the ...
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What is the history of rules requiring prosecutors to disclose evidence?
I was surprised to discover that Brady v. Maryland was decided as recently as 1963. Not knowing enough about the context in which it was decided, I am having trouble understanding exactly what ...
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loaded questions in pseudo-legal scenario
How is a loaded question dealt with in a legal, or legalistic, context?
Is there particular language which is typically employed, or is there a strategy which is particularly effective?
The specific ...
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Meaning of the term causal nexus?
I recently attended a talk related to government workplace harassment law. The presenter repeatedly used the term nexus (i.e., a causual nexus) to describe any situation where actions outside of the ...
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Difference between Motions to Strike, Suppress, and in limine?
In U.S. practice what are the differences between the following:
Motion in limine
Motion to Strike
Motion to Suppress
I gather that the first is only applicable before evidence is presented, and the ...
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Is evidence from a vigilante 'sting' operation accepted in UK courts?
This is a hypothetical question based on a trend seen on Facebook.
Sometimes vigilantes will set up a 'sting' operation. For example, they may pose online masquerading as a child to catch pedophiles.
...
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Can non-consentually recorded conversations be used as evidence?
A collection company calls a client. When the client is connected to the collection company agent. The agent informs the client that the call will be recorded. If the client states, "I do not consent ...
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What's the point of prohibiting leading questions when unfavorable answers can result in witness being declared hostile?
From what I understand, during direct examination:
It is assumed that the witness you called is favorable to your case, so you cannot ask them leading questions (in order to avoid coaxing them into ...
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Why would a Canadian Crown Prosecutor continue with a proceeding with no evidence?
If a proceeding has only conflicting witness testimony for the Crown, but forensic evidence that proves the defense s case, why would the Crown proceed?
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Must the State compensate individuals from whom property is seized as evidence?
Pursuant to the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement officers routinely obtain warrants under a "probable cause" standard to seize items that may contain evidence of a crime.
This is a taking of private ...
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Warrants and statements under oath
If an arrest warrant is issued does that mean a statement was made under oath? If so if a part of the statement for the arrest warrant is proven false what are the implications? In the case of a ...
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admissible or not
The prosecutor has the conversation from an anonymous app, only from the device of the accuser. Has nothing from the accused and the conversation doesn't identify the accused. The only thing ...
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How can I prove that content existed on the Internet?
I want to make a record that establishes that certain content existed on Internet at some point of time. It seems that
http://archive.is/
is a way to archive the page. But, are there any other ...
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Can DNA on drugs be used as evidence even if the drugs weren't in anyone's possession at the time it was found? (Canada)
Can DNA found on drugs be used as evidence in court or is that unconstitutional? DNA can be transferred from different sources so it doesn't necessarily mean the DNA holder has come in direct contact ...
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Do the laws of mathematics apply in Australia? [closed]
According to Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia "The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia". My question is, is this ...
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Screenshot of Text messages in court [closed]
I am the subject of a legal case where the opposing party alleges that I had sent some damaging texts to them on an unconventional texting app (e.g., Whatsapp). Some of the identifying characteristics ...
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Authenticate an email
I have received an email from Mr. A. In court Mr. A denies sending this email saying that I am making up with everything. How can I prove that this email was sent from Mr. A?
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What's the point of a subpoena if you can just invoke the fifth amendment?
I always thought a subpoena was an order to produce evidence or testimony, but I recently realized that you can just invoke the fifth amendment if you're served a subpoena.
Given the complicated ...
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How do U.S. lawyers meet file retention standards?
U.S. lawyers have to keep clients files for (six?) years.
What are accepted standards of file/document retention? Suppose they keep all their files in locked cabinets in an office building and there'...
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Admissibility of screenshots of personal accounts on company computers
There is a case in which employees of a company, all in Texas, engaged in skype conversations on their company laptops through personal skype accounts. The employees discussed starting a competing ...
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What if a juror admits to having disregarded a judge's faulty instructions?
There are a number of situations where this could arise, but I'll use the one that I'm most familiar with: the Frank Quattrone (mis)trial.
Frank Quattrone was an investment banker who was charged and ...
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Can my landlord charge me without advanced notice or evidence?
My roommate requested that our carpet be cleaned and told management that my dog had damaged the carpet. That was a lie, but my management went ahead and cleaned the carpet without doing an inspection ...
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Can more recent evidence be considered in an appeal?
I requested an impartial special education hearing to establish eligibility under IDEA for my son. I lost at hearing but won on review. (I am in a "two tier" state, New York.) The evidence ...
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Can someone get married for the sole purpose of invoking spousal immunity?
Edit: the question wasn't worded as well as it could be. I should clarify that I'm aware sham marriages are illegal. For the purposes of this question, let's assume law enforcement doesn't realize or ...
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does receiving a FAX acknowledgement prove that receiving machine received the FAX?
I send a FAX to a company. I receive an acknowledgement from my FAX machine that all the pages were transmitted and that the receiving FAX machine acknowledges that it received the FAX of a given ...
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Is signing a document useless if no one checks the signature?
I understand that signing something creates legal binding between parties as the signature should somehow match the person.
What if the person decide the sign with his left hand and just draw a line ...
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How long can the police hold a car that they're using for evidence?
My friend is going through the following in California:
She purchased a car roughly three years ago and uses it for everyday tasks. The police towed her car and told her that it was possibly used in ...
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Can a store accuse me of something and ban me without proof?
A chain store that I frequent has banned me from their store, citing that I was seen stealing merchandise. I've NEVER stolen anything from their store (or any other store of this chain) before, and ...
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Can a sworn declaration be notarized?
Say someone concocts a sworn declaration regarding income, and expects to use this as a means of either proving income to a seller/service, etc. Can the sworn declaration be notarized to make it valid?...
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How does the US legal system prevent successful evidence tampering from reducing total punishment?
Flavor text:
You're suddenly startled by the feds knocking on your door. Someone must have squealed about the methamphetamine operation you've picked up as a hobby to try and save some money for your ...
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Is it illegal for police officers to delete video evidence of an arrest?
With how common smartphones are these days, many people film encounters with police officers as evidence in case things go wrong. In stories that make the news, occasionally police dashcam videos show ...
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