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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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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Police believe unreported rape left evidence
Police know there's a serial rapist in a particular area. He's left no DNA and victims never saw his face. Police learn that a unknown female victim from that area was examined by a sexual assault ...
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How do you collect evidence to sue for robocalling?
What's the best way to collect evidence to be prepared to sue for robocalling like in King v Time Warner Cable, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-02018 (conclusion in html / ...
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Usage-Based Insurance Devices (Like Progressive's Snapshot) - Evidence of Liability and Public Policy
In the United States, the biggest auto insurance carriers such as Progressive, Allstate and State Farm, have all begun offering optional potential policy discounts if the covered driver agrees to ...
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How does the law deal with translating inherently ambiguous writing systems?
During a trial, sometimes the prosecutor must present written materials (emails, text messages, files) obtained from the defendant as evidence in order to prove something. Sometimes this evidence can ...
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Obtaining information that requires a court order but before to going to the court?
I'm struggling with the following dilemma.
Some information is not accessible without a court order, for example, some data stored in Apple / Google / Facebook servers.
Going to the court directly is ...
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What does it mean when a court case is "dismissed"?
I've heard a number of conspiracy theorists say that court cases related to 2020 election fraud were "dismissed without looking at the evidence".
According to wikipedia there have been 55 ...
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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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Are editable word documents ('.docx' files) accepted in court as evidence?
I keep most of my business documents in Microsoft Words (.docx) file format. Problem is these documents can be edited and tampered with. For my signatures, I just copy and paste a signature image onto ...
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Supreme Court Cases That Have Been Decided on Statistical Evidence---Are There Any?
Have there been any Supreme Court cases that have been decided based on statistical evidence?
If so, which ones; and what was the evidence presented?
In 1897, Oliver Wendell Holmes (before he became a ...
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Acknowledgement of guilt
Theoretical question:
What happens if you come to police and report your own crime that happened some time ago, but the police can't find any evidence it happened.
Let's say you come and say you ...
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Are "evidentiary" standards similar or different in a civil versus criminal case?
In one important respect, civil and criminal cases differ in the required level of proof. That is civil claims need to be proved by a "preponderance of evidence," while criminal charges need ...
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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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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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Is following the flow of traffic a valid speeding defence in Texas?
As per the summary at http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html, Texas is one of the three states where there are no absolute speed limits -- a speed in excess of a posted limit is prima facie evidence that ...
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Are there "rape shield" laws in the UK?
This question is prompted by the BBC program "Is This Rape?" which is currently on iPlayer.
The program contains a story of a fictional sexual assault, which goes to court (starts in the program at ...
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How common actually are perjury proceedings?
I’ve read a number of tenant advice materials that caution that landlords frequently lie at court and so one really has to be prepared for this to potentially happen.
Meanwhile, I have read a number ...
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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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How does a police officer / the state prove a particular breathalyzer reading was taken?
If a police officer takes a breathalyzer reading of someone, what kind of record proves to a court what the reading was? General US information and/or info about California are both appreciated.
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Is it a criminal offense for a defendent to introduce inadmissable evidence in a criminal case?
Consider a criminal trial by jury. If the defendant attempts to introduce inadmissible evidence, is there any penalty preventing them from doing so? For example, under Rape Shield laws, an accuser's ...
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Notice of uncontroverted facts in criminal trials
Section 128 of the New Zealand Evidence Act 2006:
(1) A Judge or jury may take notice of facts so known and accepted either
generally or in the locality in which the proceeding is being held
that ...
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Why what you say to the police can be used against you, but not in your favour?
I'm asking this question from the viewpoint of an almost complete newbie in court law.
I've heard stated by plenty of lawyers that you should never talk to the police, and the only thing you should ...
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Discovery of Evidence - Context, Significance and Meaning?
(In US criminal proceedings) The Prosecution must provide all evidence against the Defendant to the Defense before the trial begins in the "Discovery process".
Is the Prosecution also ...
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How is a judge to evaluate a witness's credibility?
How is a judge to evaluate a witness's credibility?
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If a court witness self-implicates are they automatically charged?
If a witness under oath in court gives evidence that reveals they have committed a previously unknown crime or offence, are they automatically charged or is there another process that may or may not ...
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How to gather Compelling Evidence to prove that business is fraudulent?
My friend's small business agreed to a one-month risk-free trial service from one Credit Card Processor company. However, she did not like the service, because it did not live up to verbal promises ...
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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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Text message legally binding?
I owed my landlord from a small claims case. I was making payment towards the debt until I lost my business. Recently I contacted her to negotiate the pending debt. She sent me a text responding ...
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Does video evidence need to be attested to by a human?
If video filmed by (say) a smartphone is used as evidence, does the person who filmed it have to submit an affidavit saying "I filmed that at location X at time Y"? Or can the video be used ...
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Can a person be found guilty based purely on statistical evidence?
Imagine that there is a home care worker Alice who takes care of some great number of outpatients. Some significant proportion of them have reported thefts, although none of them suspect Alice. Since ...
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Would I be risking being guilty of destruction of evidence any time I clear data off my computer? where are the limits?
I've heard it claimed everyone is guilty of a crime, whether or not they realize it. As such my computer likely possesses all kind of evidence against me, even if it's mostly trivial things. Maybe I ...
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Is it legal to install hidden cameras in a public place within the UK?
In recent years, fly-tipping (dumping domestic/business waste) has become quite prevalent in a number of spots around my area. The local authority has erected numerous very visible signs, warning fly-...
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Was the EncroChat Hack Legal? If not, is there a legal mechanism which could allow the evidence to be used?
Disclaimer: I am aware there are a lot nuances within law, particularly within each country, as such this question only concerns the wider EU law and UK law as these are the courts I am interested in ...
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Can a witness avoid testifying based on lack of memory?
If a witness has been deposed and effectively denied having any recollection of events relevant to a case, can that testimony be used to keep her from taking the stand?
I'm imagining something like a ...
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Is it legal to record TSA agents?
Flying through security checkpoints in the US, I have seen and experienced passengers getting chewed out for choosing opt-out pat-down screening, with agents being extremely annoyed about the extra ...
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One Identical Twin Proven Guilty
An unlikely scenario but one I've always wondered about:
Let's say that a murder was committed. There is a pair of identical twins. Both twins had means, motive, and opportunity for the murder.
It ...
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How is authenticity of a given evidence determined?
I was reading this question on security SE. The title of the question is: "What are legal/ethical concerns to bear in mind, when hacking websites with open invitations?"
This answer suggests to "log ...
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Can I use a recorded phone call as evidence in a federal court case if I'm a participant in the conversation (in two single-party consent states)?
Would it be legal for me to record a phone call, without the other party’s explicit knowledge or consent that it was being recorded beforehand, as long as I, a participant in the conversation, consent ...
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How can testimony not be hearsay
The first defining condition for hearsay under Federal Rules of Evidence 801(c)(1) is that it is a statement which the declarant does not make while testifying at the current trial or hearing. As I ...
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What consequence if an attorney loses critical evidence of their client?
Client gives notice to attorney of potential issue. Later, some tangible item, such as a document, causes emotional distress / mental breakdown of the Client that escalates the issue to a potential ...
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What will a judge do if a witness refers to an event previously stricken from the record? (USA)
Some context. Suppose the prosecutor enters into evidence body camera footage from a police officer. On the tape, the suspect makes a lewd remark, and another officer offers a witty comeback. The jury ...
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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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Are citizen-recorded videos catalogued as evidence by the police exempt from public records requests?
Presuming videos recorded in public, are such videos generally open to public inspection?
If not, are such videos open to public inspection in non-criminal proceedings, for e.g. in traffic ...
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Why is a witness evidentiary if it cannot be disproven?
I am having trouble understanding the logic of the law discrepancy between hearsay and witness testimony in towards proving guilt rather than innocence.
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Is this hearsay?
In this situation, the attorney is attempting to find out on direct exam. whether the witness had a conversation with the defendant, who is being sued for securities fraud, about business matters:
...
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Is a judge or jury "to assume or presume" testimony not given after invoking the fifth amendment would have been negative in a civil trial?
In CNN's ‘Very bad strategy’: Legal expert reacts to Trump’s latest attack on judge after 03:11 there's the following exchange with former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti:
CNN: And of course, when ...
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Does lack of evidence constitute evidence?
This question is about the debate in the comments to this question.
Question
Does lack of evidence constitute evidence?
Transcript of Comments
...I am curious how a prosecutor would prove that a ...
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H&R Block gave me someone else's personal info by mistake. What do I do?
I needed to amend my 2013 tax return so I went to H&R Block, my first mistake. A few weeks later I went back to the H&R block office to pick up my amended return and other supporting documents....
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In a criminal trial, is the prosecution allowed to discuss its plea bargaining with the defendant?
Suppose that someone is charged with a crime. Before they are arraigned, they negotiate with the prosecution about a potential plea bargain, but do not reach one and instead go to trial.
During the ...
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How can I prove that I owned an object before a certain date?
I received a widget on January 1.
A law is passed criminalizing ownership of widgets.
It is an affirmative defense that the widget owner had it before January 10th.
How can I prove that I owned the ...