Memorandum
To:
From:
Date: 08/31/2012
Re: Laws of Evidence Assignment #2
Statement of Assignment
You have asked me to analyze and determine whether the evidence that prosecution would like to introduce at trial can be admitted based on the Federal Rules of Evidence. Pursuant to your request, this memo includes my analysis, reasoning, and conclusions regarding the admissibility of such evidence.
Statement of Facts
The defendant was prosecuted for the murder of his wife. The victim’s body was never recovered, no murder weapon was ever found, and there were no witnesses to the crime. At trial, prosecution would like to introduce the following as evidence: 1. A computer disk, found in the defendant’s desk, that contains a
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See Fed. R. Evid. 403(2011). In order for it to meet the requirements to be excluded, the danger of unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, the jury being misled, undue delay, time being wasted, or unnecessary presentation of cumulative evidence has to greatly outweigh the probative value of the evidence. If harm that is not related to the legal issue of the case will be done to a party by the introduction of the evidence, then the evidence prejudicial. A fact often possesses both probative and prejudicial effects, in which case it is then left up to the court to determine if the prejudicial effects outweigh the probative value enough to exclude the evidence, or if the probative value of the evidence outweighs the prejudicial effects enough to deem the evidence as admissible. Prejudicial evidence tends to discredit the accused and make the jury dislike him/her more, and offers little or no insight to the matter of the case or assistance in the search for the truth.
ANALYSIS ISSUE I
Is the computer disk that was found in the defendant’s desk containing a file named “murder” which appears to be a twenty six step guide on how to carry out a murder admissible evidence in this case? Although this evidence does not necessarily prove that the defendant is guilty of murdering his wife, it does have the tendency to prove that the defendant was interested in gaining the knowledge of how to carry out a
* 2. newly-discovered evidence which, if introduced at the trial, would probably have produced a
The case that I will be discussing is the cold murder case of Lucille Johnson from Salt Lake City, Utah. Unfortunately, at the time of the murder the investigators didn’t take certain evidence serious in the case. The investigators thought that it was just evidence that had no meaning. None the less, it ended up convicting the murderer, John Sansing.
The case I chose to write on is based on a DVD that we watched in class called ‘Beaten by a hair’. In this case, a woman was reported missing after she went to work and never returned home. After the police discovered a bloody pillow case in the woods, near her house, they linked it to the missing pillow case in the woman’s room, and then realized that they had a murder case on their hands. A mystery in the case was that one of the local neighbors had mentioned seeing the woman leave through the front door of her house but the evidence says different, so investigators had to find out who left the house that morning. I am interested in this case because it was very intriguing how the forensic officers put all the pieces
In this position paper I have chosen Bloodsworth v. State ~ 76 Md.App. 23, 543 A.2d 382 case to discuss on whether or not the forensic evidence that was submitted for this case should have been admissible or not. To understand whether or not the evidence should be admissible or not we first have to know what the case is about.
The card at the crime scene is part of the evidence in the case because it was used to taunt the cops. Another part of the evidence is the bullets in the bodies of the victims. They can be used in the case to match the gun to the killing and to see if it was from the same gun and the angle that it came from. Also, the van that they were driving is a part of the evidence. The rifle that was used in the case was a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle. Which was found at the
Forensic evidence plays a huge role in most criminal cases. After the Daubert trial, forensic scientific evidence was reevaluated in criminal and civil cases. Scientific and forensic types of evidence can be extremely helpful in proving the case. It can help identify the suspect in a criminal case. That will help put a criminal in prison. There are many different types of forensic evidence that can be considered as scientific evidence. The different types include DNA matching, fingerprint identification, and hair evidence. The methods used to show these types of evidence are usually beyond the scope of knowledge that judges and juries know. Those types of forensic evidence are usually introduced as scientific evidence. Scientific evidence can sometimes be omitted from a courtroom or
Circumstantial evidence is probably one of the biggest ethical concerns when people are being convicted of crimes. Circumstantial evidence is: “Evidence not bearing directly on the fact in dispute but on various attendant circumstances from which the judge or jury might infer the occurrence of the fact in dispute”. (Dictionay.com, 2010). Many
I am sided with the right to allow DNA Analysis for a crime a suspect is convicted for committing but is pledging not guilty in the trial. About 0.5% convictions of crime are the innocent serving jail time in prison or death row and are not even the actual suspect of the crime scene putting other people at fault of those who have not done any harm. This even violates an individual’s right of freedom as they are being wrongfully accused and imprisoned. These people who are being accused should have the right to be proven they are not the suspect by true accurate DNA analysis over false eyewitness or misidentification as even it can be used as an importance of pulling vital clues regarding the perpetrator of a crime in which a victim’s condition is unrecognizable to family or friends.
Examples of evidence: physical or chemical evidence left at the scene of a crime by a victim or suspect; recovered (stolen) property; or property currently under observation which is suspected to have been used in, or be the result of, the commission of a crime.
The California Evidence Code as well as the Federal Rules of Evidence have very specific provisions that govern how and when character evidence can be used at trial. Those
When was the last time she accessed her computer? What is her background in computers, what is her skill level? I need some background on the former employee, her computer habits and activities prior to the files being found on her computer. I must collect digital evidence while keeping the data unaltered, first thing. This data will be used later in the prosecution of the case. This can be done through calculating and recording an evidence file. Next is imaging of the computer media with a write-blocking tool. I must keep the chain of custody. The computer's RAM is examined for evidence. During the examination step, verify and catalog the presence and integrity of the original evidence and any copies. An analysis is made with specialized equipment to find out exactly what's stored on the digital media. This includes a manual review of all materials found on the media, a review of the Windows registry, techniques to crack passwords and retrieve protected data, keyword searches and extraction of email and pictures for further review.
The rules of evidence are prescribed by Congress and can be found in Title 28 of the
“had a due process right to present and have considered by the jury all relevant evidence to rebut
Evidence is the key element in determining the guilt or innocence of those accused of crimes against society in a criminal court of law. Evidence can come in the form of weapons, documents, pictures, tape recordings and DNA. According to the American Heritage College dictionary, evidence is the documentary or oral statements and the material objects admissible as testimony in a court of law (476). It is shown in court as an item of proof, to impeach or rehabilitate a witness, and to determine a sentence. This paper will examine two murder cases, O.J. Simpson and Daniel Taylor.
harassment at the workplace is going too far. It used to be a threat of one's