Evidence – Shea
Spring 2008
Basics
Evidence
Material offered to the court and jury
2 types of evidence
Real evidence
Physical/material objects presented to the jury
Documents
Papers, documents
Difficult to get into evidence b/c of hearsay rule
Things
Can include anything (ie: bullets, fingerprints, gun, a party to the case, clothing, etc)
Testimonial evidence
People who have knowledge of the events are called as witnesses in court and through a series of questions tell their story
Anything can be evidence but you must first lay a foundation to bring something into court as evidence à rules of evidence provide the process for laying the foundation
Ways evidence relates to the fact in issue which the evidence is meant to establish:
Direct Evidence – establishes the fact at issue directly
Ex: A witness who saw a shooting testifies that he saw the D shoot the V à directly establishes that D shot the V
Circumstantial Evidence – evidence of collateral facts from which the existence of the fact at issue maybe reasonably inferred
Evidence that relates circumstantially to the fact at issue is sufficient alone to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
Ex: W hears someone say “Don’t shoot,” then sees a man run out of the building. W did not see D shoot V but there is circumstantial evidence to show that D was in fact the person who shot V. From this the jury could infer that D shot V.
Evidence that will not be offered into court as evidence
Irrelevant evidence
Evidence which does not relate to the fact at issue
Relevant evidence – tends to prove the existence or non-existence of a fact in issue à relates to a fact in issue
Immaterial evidence
Evidence which is not provable in this particular case
Even if it is relevant, it doesn’t matter b/c it is not provable to the jury
Ex: Contributory negligence in a worker’s compensation claim is immaterial in a worker’s compensation claim the worker will receive the compensation regardless of negligence.
Incompetent evidence
Competent evidence does not refer to evidence itself BUT rather to the person offering the evidence
Person is incompetent to testify à incapable of giving evidence to the jury
Person under a legally recognized privilege
Minors
Mentally incompetent
Dead Man’s Statute
Inadmissible evidence
Evidence which is not receivable under the rules of evidence
Partially Excluded
Evidence can be admissible for some purpose but inadmissible for another purpose in the same case
Federal v. NY
Federal:
Generally it is easier to get evidence admitted in federal court
There is a published Federal Rules of Evidence (aka: blue book we never look at)
In diversity cases the federal court is bound by State law regarding:
Presumptions (FRE 302)
Privileges (FRE 501)
Competency (FRE 601)
NY
Easier on the Ds
There is no official publication of the NY Rules of Evidence à most of the laws of evidence in NY are only in court decisions and some statutes
Judicial Notice
Judi
NOT take judicial notice
Rationale: Jury has a right in a criminal case to reject the judicially noticed fact but a jury cannot do this if judicial notice is taken after they are dismissed or on appeal and the parties do not have the opportunity to object to the fact being judicially noticed
Constitutional right of D to a trial by jury (6th amend) is being protected à jury gets to decide every element of the crime charged against D
Judicial notice of adjudicative facts in criminal cases are NOT binding on the jury
FRE 201(g): In a criminal case, the court shall instruct the jury that it MAY, but is NOT required to, accept as conclusive any fact judicially noticed
Judicial notice is proper in a criminal case but not mandatory on the jury
Judicial Notice of a Legislative Fact
Court may also take judicial notice of legislative facts
Legislative fact: Facts which the legislature rationally believed in fact and relied upon in enacting a law à the facts satisfy the rational basis test
For the Court to take judicial notice of legislative fact it need only have a rational basis it does not need to be indisputable
May be used to:
Determine the validity of a statute
To propagate common law
Note: FRE 201 Advisory Note (a) – [FRE 201] is the only evidence rule on the subject of judicial notice. It deals only w/adjudicative facts. NO rule deals w/judicial notice of legislative facts.
