Judicial Notice, Character & Relevant Evidence in Criminal Trials - Prof. Lance Selva, Study notes of Criminal Justice

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Judicial notice of facts  Notorious fact; any well informed person would generally be informed of aspects within their community ◦ i.e. main St. runs east-west ◦ i.e. MTSU is in Murfreesboro ◦ i.e. most people have low blood pressure and poor circulation ◦ i.e. from conception to birth generally takes slightly over nine (9) months  Manifest fact; facts which are not generally known and accepted, but are easily verified by resorting to easily accessible, well-established sources ◦ i.e. using a calendar to determine a date from three (3) years prior Judicial notice of law  Mandatory; laws that must be taken into consideration by judges ◦ i.e. the constitution ◦ i.e. federal public laws  Legal precedents must be cited to support the argument Character evidence; a type of person that someone may be (references a person in general terms)  It is restricted from being introduced in a civil case due to its low probative value ◦ (exception) Quasi-criminal act; self-defense claim ◦ (exception) Defamation of character; slander and libel claim  It is never introduced in a federal case  Prosecutor cannot be the first to bring up character, only the defendant can initialize it ◦ Once the defendant has brought in character evidence, the prosecution may then do so ◦ There are are three (3) ways in which a defendant can bring up character evidence ▪ Present testimony regarding specific acts demonstrating that character trait  i.e. guy who routinely gets drunk at bars ▪ Present witnesses who will testify and present evidence regarding their personal opinion for the character trait that is at issue ▪ Present witnesses who will testify as to the persons general reputation in the community  Rule 404 (federal – misconduct); discusses character evidence and its admissibility in a case  Rule 404(b)(federal) exceptions: ◦ If a defendant claims he could not have committed a particular crime because he had no knowledge of how to do so, prior criminal acts of a similar nature could be used to show he did have knowledge ◦ If a defendant exhibits a specific pattern of behaviors, his criminal record can be admitted to show the common scheme or plan of his criminal acts ◦ If the defendant is an alleged serial offender, the prosecution can show that the defendant's past crimes have similar distinctions. This is the prosecution's means to show a defendant's motive or modus operandi, if he commits more than one crime in the same manner, with unique characteristics ◦ (Doctrine of chances) When a defendant's crime involves something unusual, and so similar to another event involving the defendant, that it is unlikely to be coincidence or the result of chance, the jury is entitled to hear those prior unusual events. For example, a serial murderer who always restrains his victims using the same material, like stockings or rope, or using a particular knot Authentication  Recognition testimony; identifiable earmark used to prove authenticity ◦ i.e. a gun owner places a notch in the handle of his pistol to identify it in court  Chain of custody; handling and proper storage of evidence Photographs; must accurately and faithfully represent a specific time, place and setting  X-Rays must be performed by a certified operator; qualifications are a must Real evidence; evidence which can be seen and touched, so that no inferences are needed  A physical body, or portion of a body, may not be shown due to an expectation of privacy ◦ i.e. a woman in a breast reduction cannot be made to physically present her breast in court  i.e. a scar from a fight  i.e. a bag of weed in a simple possession case Prima facie; signifies that on first examination, a matter appears to be self-evident from the facts  denotes evidence which — unless rebutted — would be sufficient to prove a particular proposition or fact Why may relevant and probative (persuasive) evidence excluded from trial?  Legal relevance; is the evidence unfair for a defendants rights, it allowed ◦ i.e. Bringing a dead baby into a courtroom for a vehicular homicide case  It was obtained illegally Time issue; something is more probative and relevant if it occurred recently  Staleness (remote); when an unreasonable amount of time has passed, which indicates little probative value (i.e. a person threatens another's life, then two (2) years later they are killed)  i.e. The husband who burned down his house after fighting with his wife the night before Limited admissibility; evidence is allowed only for a limited purpose – it is not all-inclusive  i.e. bring up a prior robbery to show that a suspect has a violent nature in an assault case In a criminal trial, when a person is charged with one crime, evidence of his other crimes or misconduct is admissible if the evidence is being offered to establish that there is a factual basis which substantiates that the act actually occurred  Judge balances probative value against the possible prejudicial outcome  The defendant may introduce evidence of the character of a victim, where the conduct of the victim, in conformity with their character, could prove the innocence of the defendant (excluding rape victims) Relevant evidence; evidence which proves whether something happened, or didn't happen Material evidence; testimony, documents, and physical proof relevant to the issues in a case Circumstantial evidence; inferences based on pieces of info without direct knowledge/evidence Direct evidence; inference does not need to be made based on facts to make a determination