Essay Sample on Laws of Evidence

Introduction

The conviction or release of a suspect apprehended depends on the quality and validity of the evidence presented to the tribunal. For this reason, the United States courts and judicial system proposed and implemented the best evidence rule to ensure that the evidence met the crime. The best evidence rule stipulates that any evidence presented before the judges and the jury, whether in written documents, photographs or recordings, audio and visual, must be the original copies of it, and if not, a reasonable explanation is demanded got the missing of the originals. The failure of the proponent to produce the original evidence, or fail to account for their nonproduction meant that they could not either prove their case using secondary evidence as witnesses or testimonies. Slight bending of the word translates to a massive violation of rights, and therefore the word per word evidence is valuable. After the technological advancement and the emergence of xerography, courts started accepting duplicated of the original documentation as it was possible for the reproduction of the documents with limited to no human errors. The restyled rule 1002 states that "an original writing, recording, or photograph is required in order to prove its content unless these rules or a federal statute provides otherwise" (Miller 2012) The best evidence principle aims at expressing the obligation of the defendants to avail legitimate evidence that will smoothly facilitate the accurate resolution of disputes based on the issues of fact. This rule was put across to minimize misinterpretations by the litigants presenting the copied evidence and also a form of fraud deterrence. An original document is less prone to fraud as compared to oral testimonies about it, and so are the chances of its deviation from the meaning as compared to the paraphrased states. Technology is a helpful tool, but it has also elevated fraud tactics like signature manipulations. Therefore, the best evidence rule does not eliminate the presentation of fraud evidence but instead seeks to minimize their occurrences (Ford, 2014). The original documents also offer a complete view of the evidence and the contents within it, thereby promoting critical decision making and quick judgment.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Apart from the photographs, video recordings, and word documents, there is also another form of mining information to be used as evidence, and that is wiretapping. The most common wiretapping cases were those of Goldman's and Katz's versus the United States. The Fourth Amendment protects the American citizens from unwarranted searches and seizures and grants them their rights to privacy. The Goldman versus the United States case on the conspiracy to defraud a bankruptcy case ruled out the violation of the fourth amendment after police officers had planted a detectaphone at an office wall to enhance the sound waves from the conversation on the adjacent office. According to the court's ruling, there was no violation of the fourth amendment as the device was not in physical contact with the intercepted conversation. The Katz case also took a similar turn as the FBI attached an eavesdropping device at the exterior of the telephone booth thereby recording his conversation as he was transferring illegal gambling wagers to Miami and Boston from LA. Once again, his claim for the violation of his privacy was overruled as there was no physical intrusion into the booth. From the two, a prima facie presentation of it reveals the abuses of the petitioner's privacy, but the fourth amendment laws are drafted in a way that they coat the rights of the citizens in peal-able paints that can be easily scraped off. The argument of whether the detectaphone or the eavesdropping devices were in physical contact with the petitioner lacks a constitutional back up, and the utilization of wiretapping is majorly for security purposes, whether or not, it invades the personal space of the suspect.

Based on the demand for verifiable and accessible evidence, the wiretaps present a challenge when it comes to their storage. Just like the written evidence, the recorded ones can be altered too and thereby rejected at the tribunal, or they might be distorted and not accessible during court trials. One way of storing wiretapped data and information is through encryption. This is through the coding of the data to ensure not everyone can have access to it while at the same time protecting it from manipulation. This encryption got stored in flash disks, external storages, and other technological storage devices. When the recordings involve the use of tapes, the intercepted conversations should get presented to the judge for inspection and surveillance, and upon verification, they must be sealed following the judge's order and labeled (Department of Justice, 2005). A duplication of the tape must be obtained after the order for the unsealing of its original.

The fruit of the poisoned tree is a legal analogy in connection with the exclusionary rule that rules out evidence obtained from illegal arrests, coercing interrogations and unreasonable searches. It is a rule that seeks to uphold the fourth amendment by deterring the law enforcement from violating the citizens' rights and protection from unreasonable seizures and searches. Wiretapping is a violation of the fruit of the poisoned tree as it invades the personal space of individuals. Inasmuch as evidence is crucial for a case, it should be obtained in the right way and constitutionally. As earlier stated, the evidence is an essential tool in the decisions on cases, and their originality and validity therefore matter. The original documents often attract accurate and fair judgment, and a lack of them usually is a deal breaker. Upon the displacement of the original evidence by the court, the duplicates can come in handy, and if not available or applicable, secondary evidence, including testimonies and witnesses will apply.

Conclusion

The courtroom is often dominated by cases, pieces of evidence and testimonies and in most cases, the term "guilty" or "innocent" relies on the validity of the evidence. To ensure that the evidence presented before the court is authentic, the amendment of the best evidence rule became a vitality. It is a rule that stresses on the originality of evidence to eliminate any chances for fraud, human error while copying the evidence, or the misinterpretation of the evidence. The wiretap is one of the most commonly used data-miners when looking for evidence, but it goes against the fruit of the poisoned tree as it at times, if not at all times, violates the privacy of the citizens while trespassing within their personal space.

References

Colin Miller. (2012). Evidence: best evidence rule. CALI eLangdell Press. pp1-31

Cynthia Ford (2014). What the best evidence rule is, and what it isn't. Faculty publications. Pp. 25

Department of Justice. (2005, June). Electronic Surveillance Manual.Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://www.justice.gov/criminal/foia/docs/elec-sur-manual.pdf.