41
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
The common law adversarial system is just that: the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The defense is not obliged to call evidence at all. They are allowed to though: they will ...
- 25.6k
36
votes
Can punishments be weakened if evidence was collected illegally?
united-states
Under U.S. law, illegally obtained evidence cannot be used to convict someone of a crime, but if they are convicted anyway, it has no impact on the punishment imposed.
- 195k
33
votes
Accepted
How did Dominion legally obtain text messages from Fox News hosts?
Because the hosts are part of the defendants.
A party in a lawsuit can demand documents to be turned over to them from the opposing party. That is called Discovery and participation is mandatory. Not ...
- 33.5k
24
votes
Can messenger chat be used as evidence in courts?
Online conversations are generally allowed evidence.
However, EVERYTHING in the chat should be considered, as well as any later actions.
Were there later conversations that said something different?
...
- 2,636
23
votes
What would you be charged with for covering up a rightful death?
Probably murder.
Because "victim 2 was then shot by this man in self defense" hasn't been determined by a neutral third party investigation or jury - it is just his own rationale for ...
- 3,587
22
votes
If the Jury considers evidence that should be discarded in the US, what would the result be?
The jury would never hear the recording
The recording and its provenience would be provided to the prosecution who would, rightly, have issues with its admissibility. The defence and prosecution would ...
- 198k
20
votes
Accepted
Is it allowed to non-consensually submit someone's diary as evidence?
united-states
Is a personal text (like a diary), submitted without the consent of
the author, admissible evidence?
Usually, it is admissible evidence. There is no legal right to keep your diary ...
- 195k
18
votes
How is the burden of evidence distributed between parties?
I'm curious as to how the US legal system determines who should
present evidence and how much evidence is required by them to prove
one side of an argument against a counterargument.
In General
...
- 195k
18
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
Yes
The common law legal systems all require proof beyond reasonable doubt of each of the elements of the crime. If the prosecution fails to provide enough evidence to meet that burden on any of the ...
- 198k
18
votes
If the Jury considers evidence that should be discarded in the US, what would the result be?
If the jury brings in a verdict of "not guilty", even if they do so based on evidence that they should not have considered or for some other improper reason, the defendant is released and ...
- 29k
17
votes
Accepted
Notice of uncontroverted facts in criminal trials
This is known as Judicial notice and is used in many jurisdictions. It is normally supposed to be used only for facts about which there could be no possible controversy. The Wikipedia article linked ...
- 113k
15
votes
How did Dominion legally obtain text messages from Fox News hosts?
This was apparently part of the normal discovery process. Discovery can compel disclosure from parties and even non-parties upon subpoenas. The lawsuit is in the Superior Court of the State of ...
- 43.4k
15
votes
What would you be charged with for covering up a rightful death?
sweden An Offence against the peace of the grave
Gravfridsbrott
Brottsbalken 16 kap. 10 §
A person who, without authorisation, moves, damages or treats with disrespect the corpse or ashes of a ...
- 251
15
votes
Can punishments be weakened if evidence was collected illegally?
united-states
The premise that covid contact-tracing data can by law only be used for identifying possible covid carriers is unsupported, see this. HIPAA limits how medical information can be ...
- 210k
14
votes
Accepted
Can Law Enforcement in the US use evidence acquired through an illegal act by someone else?
Yes:
So long as law enforcement did not compel the hackers to hack the data and the data was recovered by Law Enforcement through their investigation of the Hacker's breeching the server's security. ...
- 22.8k
14
votes
Obtaining information that requires a court order but before to going to the court?
There are two cases to distinguish: information that the other party does not want to give without court order, and information that the other party may not give without court order. Only the former ...
- 5,508
13
votes
Can messenger chat be used as evidence in courts?
Generally speaking, yes.
This issue arose in the trial of Michael Avenatti. There, Avenatti tried to exclude screenshots of his Whatsapp messages with Donald Trump, claiming that the government needed ...
- 57.2k
11
votes
Can law enforcement dig up endangered plants to recover evidence of a crime?
The Meme is Incorrect
Law enforcement in the united-states may disturb or dig up plants that are listed as endangered species while unearthing evidence of a serious crime.
16 U.S. Code § 1538 ...
- 113k
11
votes
Accepted
Legal/jurisprudential term to refer to any evidence that can be interpreted either way
While not a "one word answer", the phrase that I most frequently see for that concept is "susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation".
The concept, by the way, is ...
- 195k
11
votes
Why didn't the Crown inform the witness about the defense's evidence beforehand?
The defence sees the prosecution evidence; witnesses don’t
From context, it appears that Ms. DeCoutere was a prosecution witness, not the defendant. As such, she would not be privy to the evidence ...
- 198k
11
votes
Can evidence that 100% proves guilt (but was obtained 100% illegally) sway a jury to convict?
The 4th Amendment exclusionary rule applies automatically in cases where law enforcement obtains evidence illegally (subject to exceptions not applicable here).
In its 1920 decision in Burdeau vs. ...
- 195k
10
votes
Accepted
Is propensity evidence ever allowed as circumstantial evidence?
The short answer is that propensity evidence can only be circumstantial evidence and that it is generally inadmissible.
But we should start by clarifying what "circumstantial evidence" means....
- 57.2k
9
votes
Meaning of "Strike from the Record" in legal code? Is there *any* memory/record once "stricken"? By who/what handled/processed? Proof of striking?
My understanding is that "the record" only refers to the official record of the proceeding, e.g. the transcripts that would be kept on file and used as the basis for formal decisions. Such ...
- 29k
9
votes
Are there any criminal jurisdictions where burden of proof rests so entirely on prosecution that defense does not need to deal with evidence?
"burden of proof is nominally with the prosecution in most circumstances, but in practice it seems to be somewhat shared"
The issue is in your interpretation of the phrase "burden of ...
- 6,325
9
votes
Accepted
Does the exclusionary rule attach to the illegality of the search or to the person whose rights were violated?
In order to challenge a search at trial via an evidence suppression motion, the particular defendant has to have Fourth Amendment "standing"1 with respect to that search: Rakas v. Illinois, ...
- 43.4k
9
votes
What would you be charged with for covering up a rightful death?
Charged?
new-south-wales
Crimes Act 1900
Murder or manslaughter s18
An assertion of self-defence would not necessarily be agreed with by the prosecutor. Especially in circumstances where it seems the ...
- 198k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible