Questions tagged [rules-of-evidence]
Rules that apply to the admission of evidence in a trial.
86
questions
1
vote
0
answers
63
views
Is McGee v State of Indiana 131.2 cited in The Verdict a complete fiction?
In the 1982 movie The Verdict (and, possibly, in the original novel as well), the respondent's lawyer cites "McGee v State of Indiana, United States 131.2" (at 1:57:10):
The admission of a ...
- 25.6k
0
votes
2
answers
74
views
Can exclusion of evidence as to a question subject’s past habits and proclivities stand in any other context than that of a complainant’s consent?
If I am accused of drunk and disorderly conducts and my alibi/defence is that I am a teetotaller since the last 10 years and even before that only seldom and very lightly drank, this makes it very ...
- 9,091
1
vote
1
answer
82
views
Are evidentiary rules concerning admissibility of observations about a complainant’s habits or character against fundamental rights/precepts?
In many jurisdictions, the criminal standard of proof is, subject to Blackstone’s ratio, “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Yet some rules such as s276, Canadian Criminal Code, state, simply and plainly, ...
- 9,091
4
votes
1
answer
215
views
Is a statement saying that a party committed a crime by a non-benefiting accessory to the crime considered a party-opponent admission?
I was taking an MBE Prep Test for the hell of it, and I found this question's answer to be controversial.
"Several persons together stole a painting from an art museum. One of them, who was the ...
- 43
13
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Can punishments be weakened if evidence was collected illegally?
Suppose police are investigating a burglary case. Under law, COVID-19 contact tracing data can only be used for contact tracing and nothing else. However a team decides to analyze the data anyway to ...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
235
views
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 ...
- 735
12
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What would you be charged with for covering up a rightful death?
I'm referring to a specific situation that occurred in the TV show 24.
Due to previous complex circumstances, a man (call him "Bob") destroys a van that is the scene of a murder and hides 2 ...
- 1,588
-1
votes
4
answers
223
views
Can evidence that 100% proves guilt (but was obtained 100% illegally) sway a jury to convict? [closed]
Raymond the Rapist raped Dan the Dad's child. Dan takes Raymond to court, but there's 0 evidence, and it's basically a he-said-she-said deal, and there's nothing Dan can do to convict Raymond. So Dan, ...
- 3,555
8
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Can messenger chat be used as evidence in courts?
My roommate agreed that I don't need to pay rent for the days I am not in apartment. I have to go to Texas for a 6 month period. I informed my roommate before adding him as roommate. We had this ...
- 183
-1
votes
3
answers
168
views
Perverting the Course of Justice - Does deception fit this crime? [closed]
My question: Does Perverting the Course of Justice 'apply' to those who try and garner 'evidence' using somewhat deceptive means, even if the evidence they intend to gain is accurate and lawful?
...
-1
votes
2
answers
37
views
Questions regarding lack of evidence/reasoning for initial interaction with law enforcement and how that affects any infraction discovered thereafter [closed]
State: UT
County: Salt Lake County
People:
Man#1=Protagonist
Woman#1=WitnessOne (Life Partner)
Woman#2=WitnessTwo (Friend)
Woman#3=Antagonist (Fellow employee)
Employer=HotelChain
Events:
During a ...
2
votes
0
answers
35
views
Is evidence gathered under the aegis of a fake/incomplete/otherwise falsified warrant admissible in court? [duplicate]
If a police officer bangs on my front door, as his partners is loudly declaring he possesses "a warrant to search the premises!" when, in actuality, he's waving about his cruiser's ...
- 121
19
votes
2
answers
6k
views
How did Dominion legally obtain text messages from Fox News hosts?
In the current case of Dominion v Fox News, we saw that text messages from Fox News hosts have been admitted as legal evidence in court.
My understanding was that text messages either had to be turned ...
- 309
10
votes
7
answers
5k
views
If the Jury considers evidence that should be discarded in the US, what would the result be?
This comes from the movie A Guilty Conscience, which may be one of the best movies of the past 20 years in Hong Kong and its box office is the highest ever.
Movie Spoiler Warning
What if the defendant'...
- 585
3
votes
4
answers
2k
views
In-court identification of defendants
(Inspired by Can a lawyer subject the court to a (temporary) ruse for a legitimate purpose?)
Under which circumstances are witnesses asked to identify people present (in particular defendants) in the ...
- 594
11
votes
1
answer
771
views
Does the exclusionary rule attach to the illegality of the search or to the person whose rights were violated?
Police blatantly illegally searches Bob's house and finds very strong evidence that Bob and Rob independently committed a horrific crime each. A variation: the crime is the same and Bob and Rob ...
- 25.6k
2
votes
1
answer
69
views
In what states of the U.S., and under what conditions can a priest be compelled to testify of information a penitent disclosed to them?
If the states where it is privileged, and may not be admissible in court are fewer, which states are they?
Does it matter if information disclosed during priest-penitent communications had been known ...
- 109
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How do you prove a fact at issue in litigation?
Many questions on this site ask some variant of the question: "how does one prove something in court?" Paraphrasing a few:
How do you prove that someone forged your signature?
How do you ...
- 43.2k
6
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why didn't the Crown inform the witness about the defense's evidence beforehand?
In 2016 ONCJ 155, the judge says with regards to a witness:
[72] In an effort to explain to the Court her continued socializing with Mr. Ghomeshi following the alleged choking incident and over the ...
- 852
3
votes
2
answers
221
views
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 ...
- 31
5
votes
1
answer
106
views
Can CCTV cameras share an IT network in the UK?
I've just had a conversation with a company who are a "Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board accredited intruder alarm system installer", who told me that their CCTV cameras and ...
- 153
3
votes
2
answers
201
views
Can an audio recording prove a defendant's innocence?
Defendant is in jail for a gun charge. The gun is not his, nor did he know it was in the vehicle.
Defendant's girlfriend has an audio recording of the gun's owner admitting to owning the gun but ...
- 31
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Self-incriminating statements carry weight of proof
If someone is recorded confessing to a crime, can the recording serve as evidence solely because it contains the self-incriminating statement? Putting as an example:
Carlos had his wallet stolen.
In a ...
- 73
1
vote
1
answer
178
views
Would proof of the convict being blackmailed into confession be enough to exonerate them in certain cases?
Imagine a convict who was blackmailed into confessing to a crime (this blackmail happens prior to the crime). Not only that, they were also blackmailed into doing certain incriminating actions, such ...
- 990
-1
votes
1
answer
76
views
Motion to strike a dismissed PO
How can a plaintiff avoid being faced with unfair prejudice after a defendant does a motion to strike all evidence from a dismissed PO? Since without the evidence the plaintiff can't defend their ...
3
votes
1
answer
191
views
Is an officer's testimony in a military court considered coerced and thus inadmissible in criminal court proceedings?
I was watching a Law and Order SVU episode which involves two court proceedings.
The first is an article 32 hearing which is introduced in the episode as the military equivalent of grand jury. ...
- 254
2
votes
3
answers
111
views
When is evidence deemed adduced in bench (judge-alone) criminal trials?
Background
This question is answered easily for jury trials: something is put in evidence ("adduced") when the jury hears / sees it and there is no direction from the judge to disregard it. ...
- 25.6k
0
votes
1
answer
41
views
Is the U.S. Dep't of State yearly Report on Human Rights Practices deemed part of the record by the operation of law or you must cite it?
The reports are lengthy, ranging between ca. 20-70 pages for a particular country, and the greatest use of it is to draw an inference from the admissive assertion relative generally to torture and ...
2
votes
1
answer
118
views
How do I print or present emails to support my defense in an unlawful detainer?
When presenting digital evidence in small-claims court, what is the correct way to do so?
For example, if I have voluminous quantities of e-mails, digital ledgers, and other digital documents along ...
6
votes
1
answer
103
views
Can a municipality ignore the rules of evidence for charges relating to violation of a municipal ordinance?
My Township has an ordinance relating to grass needing to be cut on a regular basis. The penalties for violating include fines up to $1,000 and jailtime. Presumably the latter is not used on the ...
- 2,154
1
vote
1
answer
67
views
What are the constraints on a civil suit (witnesses, evidence, topics) - and are they public
I am currently watching the Depp/Heard trial, and there seems to be a lot of stuff that cannot be shown, or said, and a lot of people i would expect to make a statement are absent.
My guess is that ...
- 131
0
votes
1
answer
157
views
Watching the series Anatomy of a Scandal; would a rape case on such minimal evidence make it to court in real life?
In the Netflix series, Anatomy of a Scandal, the protagonist James Whitehouse is being tried on a charge of rape by a former colleague and affair partner who says that Whitehouse raped her during a ...
- 478
0
votes
4
answers
277
views
What happens if there are multiple suspects but not enough evidence to convict any of them?
For example, suppose there are two houses side-by-side. One day someone throws an incendiary device from one house to the other, causing a fire. The facts of the case are:
There are four people in ...
- 2,407
1
vote
2
answers
266
views
What happens if someone provides evidence in court without the knowledge of the judge?
It is my understanding that the judge must accept (almost?) all evidence admitted into court. So, this leaves me with three questions:
What happens if an official shows evidence that the judge hadn't ...
- 990
2
votes
1
answer
331
views
Consequences of introducing inadmissible evidence to the judge and jury
Evidence may be inadmissible, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be ineffectual in its influence of the jury, and the judge. For example, evidence proving a horrendous crime done by the accused,...
- 990
17
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Is it allowed to non-consensually submit someone's diary as evidence?
In episode 12, season 4 of The Office, called "The Deposition", the diary of a witness (Michael Scott) is used as evidence, without the witness's consent. The diary was taken by the suer, ...
- 990
4
votes
3
answers
668
views
Can a rape victim's DNA be used against them in criminal proceedings?
This question arose after a recent revelation from the San Francisco DA, who said that DNA of rape victims that were gathered when performing a rape kit test1 was used to identify a criminal suspect ...
- 1,091
9
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Legal/jurisprudential term to refer to any evidence that can be interpreted either way
Some time back, I had read a specific phrase used to refer to situations where some "evidence" can be interpreted either way.
For example:
Person A dies in a hospital and a syringe is found ...
- 193
-4
votes
2
answers
124
views
Dealing with expert opinions
Every Economist who is consistent with their discipline subscribes to
the subjective theory of value; how does a Judge who wants to be
consistent with Economics and coincidentally also is a B.A in
...
- 250
2
votes
2
answers
223
views
Is it true that you shouldn't publish evidence that you intend to use in court?
I've heard in a few places that you shouldn't make public pieces of evidence that you plan to use later to support a case against some person/entity.
But I'd like to ask if this is actually true and ...
- 395
5
votes
3
answers
2k
views
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 ...
0
votes
1
answer
123
views
Attorney Client Privilege: Disclosure within Evidence
Florida Statues Provides
A person who has a privilege against the disclosure of a confidential
matter or communication waives the privilege if the person, or the
person's predecessor while holder of ...
- 6,955
4
votes
4
answers
430
views
Why did US law go with inadmissibility, and not reactionary punitive action, to prevent illegal evidence collection?
As I've understood it, the exclusionary rule is a prophylactic rule aimed to prevent the cultivation of illegal evidence collection by removing the utility of illegally-collected evidence through ...
- 990
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is propensity evidence ever allowed as circumstantial evidence?
I, being a non-expert in any country's/state's law, was somewhat surprised when it was said that propensity evidence isn't, in Wisconsin, legal evidence; see between 5.57 - 8.15 in this video about ...
- 990
2
votes
1
answer
190
views
If a cop is mistaken in his belief that X is true, where X would typically be grounds for reasonable suspicion, does he have reasonable suspicion?
If a cop is factually mistaken (but sincerely mistaken, not a liar) in his belief that X is true, and if X would typically constitute grounds for reasonable suspicion (were it to be true, which it isn’...
- 59
1
vote
0
answers
89
views
Was the withholding of high-quality drone footage a Brady violation?
In the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, the defence filed a motion for a mistrial during jury deliberations. One of the grounds for a mistrial, they argued, was that a low-resolution recording of the drone ...
- 1,091
4
votes
3
answers
240
views
Does partiality discredit witnesses?
In criminal trials, when a regular (non-expert) witness does not like the defendant (and admits it when asked), does that alone give a valid reason to discredit them to any extent at all?
Can the jury ...
- 25.6k
6
votes
1
answer
178
views
Can you de-identify a lawfully recorded audio-only call to lodge with the court and offer into evidence?
Bob, while providing lawful notice of call recording by beep-tone warning notification, records calls with a company that does not record calls where it ordinarily conveys information that exposes it ...
- 457
3
votes
1
answer
417
views
What 2012-2015 SCOTUS decisions make "letter[s] from the grave" inadmissible into evidence?
I've read this interesting bit:
In a 2008 trial where a man was accused of poisoning his wife with antifreeze, Schroeder allowed into evidence a letter the wife wrote a neighbor accusing the husband ...
- 3,086
10
votes
10
answers
7k
views
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
In criminal trial processes that I'm aware of, particularly adversarial, burden of proof is nominally with the prosecution in most circumstances, but in practice it seems to be somewhat shared - both ...
- 852