RULES ON EVIDENCE

By: P2LT RAINIER RHETT G CONCHA (JAGS) PA

WHAT IS EVIDENCE?

 EVIDENCE - Is the means,

sanctioned by the Rules of Court, of
ascertaining in a judicial proceeding
the TRUTH respecting a matter of
fact

 Credible
 Competent
FOUR COMPONENTS OF EVIDENCE
 Evidence as means of ascertaining
 Sanctioned by the rules of court
 In a judicial proceeding
 The truth respecting a matter of fact.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EVIDENCE?
 There is a presumption that the court is
not aware of the truthfulness of the facts
of the case.
 It is therefore, incumbent upon the
parties to prove a fact in issue through
the presentation of admissible evidence.
WHEN IS EVIDENCE REQUIRED?

 When the Court has to resolve a

matter of fact
WHEN NOT REQUIRED
 When there is no factual issue.
 Where the case on presents a
question of law
 By agreement of parties
 Matters of judicial notice
FACTUM PROBANDUM

 The ultimate facts or the fact to be

sought to be established.

 Vs. Factum Probans

Which refers to the evidentiary
material. (material evidence directly
proves a fact of a case)
WHEN IS EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE?

 When it is RELEVANT to the issue

 And is not excluded by:
 Law;
 Constitution;
 Rules of Court
RELEVANT EVIDENCE?

 The RATIONAL RELATIONSHIP or

LOGICAL CONNECTION to the fact in
issue as to induce belief in it’s existence or
non-existence.
DIRECT VS CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

 Direct – proves the fact without need of

inference or presumption.

 Circumstantial – Collateral matters

taken either singly or collectively may
infer a probable consequence
RULE 130 RULES OF ADMISSIBILITY
 Sec. 1. Object as evidence – Objects as
evidence are those addressed to the senses and
is relevant to the fact in issue, it maybe
exhibited to, examined or viewed by the court.

 Sec. 2. Documentary evidence – consists if

writings or any material containing letters,
numbers, figures or other written expressions.
BEST EVIDENCE RULE
 Original Document must be presented, no
other evidence shall be admissible other
than the original.
 Exceptions
 1. original is lost or destroyed;
 2. Original is in the custody or under the
control of the other party
 3. numerous and 4. Public record
 PAROL EVIDENCE RULE
 1. When the terms of an agreement have been
reduced to writing it is CONSIDERED AS
CONTAINING ALL THE TERMS AGREED
upon there can be, between the parties.
 2. NO EVIDENCE OF SUCH TERMS
OTHER THAN THE CONTENTS OF THE
OF THE WRITTEN AGREEMENT
 3. Will only apply if a. document is of
contractual in nature and b. only between
parties. Prohibits varying of term.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE PAROL EVIDENCE RULE

 1. Intrinsic ambiguity, mistake of fact or

imperfection in the written agreement;
 2. The failure of the written agreement to
express the true intent and gagreement of
the parties thereto;
 3. Validity of the written agreement;
 4. Existence of other terms (updated)
TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE

 Who can be witnesses?

 All persons who can perceive, and
perceiving, can make known their,
perception to others, may be
witnesses.
 DISQUALIFICATION OF WITNESSES
 1. By reason of Mental Incapacity or
Immaturity
 2. By reason of Marriage (ex. Civil and
crim case against the other, latters direct
ascendants or descendants);
 3. By reason of Privilege Communication:
husband and wife during and after
marriage; Attorney; Doctors, Priest and
Public Officer; 4. Parental and Filial
privilege.
ADMISSIONS AND CONFESSIONS
 Admission – The act, declation or omission of
a party as to a relevant fact may be given in
evidence against him.
 Admission by third party; co-partner or agent,
conspirator, privies, privies, silence, and
 Confession – The declaration of an accused
acknowledging his guilt of the offense charged,
or of any offense necessarily included therein,
may be given evidence against him.
 HEARSAY RULE
 Testimony generally confined to
PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE; Hearsay
excluded.
 A witness can testify to those facts which
he knows of his personal knowledge; that
is, which are derived from his own
perception.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE HEARSAY RULE
 1. Dying declaration;
 2. Declaration against interest;
 3. Act or declaration about pedigree
 4. Family reputation regarding pedigree
 5. Common reputation
 6. Part of res gestae (startling occurrence)
 7. Entries of official records, course of
business;
 8. Learned treatises and 9. Former proceeding
 OPINION RULE
 General Rule – The opininion of a witness
is not admissible, except:
 1. Opinion of expert witness
 2. Opinion of ordinary witness in:
 A. Identity of a person whom he has
adequate knowledge;
 B. Handwriting
 C. Mental Sanity
PRESENTATION OF EVIDENCE
 1. Examination to be done in open Court
and under oath and affirmation.
 Proceedings shall be recorded

 Other things to consider

 A. evidence maybe liberally construed
 B. Maybe waived
 C. There are no vested rights
RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF WITNESS
 A witness must answer questions
 1. Protected from irrelevant, improper or
insulting questions, and from harsh or
insulting demeanor;
 2. Not to be detained longer
 3. Not to be examined except as to matters
pertinent to the issue
 4. Right against self incrimination
 5. Tend to degrade reputation
ORDER OR EXAMINATION OF WITNESS
 Direct examination – The examination in
chief of a witness by the party presenting
him on facts relevant to the issue.
 Cross-examination – Made the adverse
party as to any matter stated in the direct
examination or connected therewith,
 To test sufficient fullness and freedom to
test his accuracy and truthfulness and
freedom from interest or bias.
REDIRECT AND RE-CROSS
 Redirect examination – Re examanation
by the party calling him, to explain or
supplement his answers given during the
cross examination.

 Re-cross examination – on matters stated

in his re-direct examination, and also on
such other matters as may be allowed by
the court in its disretion.
LEADING AND MISLEADING QUESTIONS
 Leading – Questions which suggest to the
witness the answer which the examining
party desires is leading question.

 Misleading – One which assumes as true a

fact not yet testified by the witness or
contrary to which has previously stated. It
is not allowed.
EVIDENCE HANDLING AND DOCUMENTATION

 When it comes to identifying, collecting and preserving any

type of evidence from a crime scene, whether it is large or
trace, biological or material evidence, proper collection
methods must be followed in order to assure that the evidence
arrives at the crime or forensic lab safely and without the
possibility of contamination.

 Many cases are thrown out of court because of improper

handling of evidence, and proper education, training and
attention to proper procedure and protocol is essential in the
evidence recovery of crime scenes.
IMPORTANCE
 No matter how much evidence a crime scene
investigator or team compiles, it is imperative
that such evidence is properly handled, collected
and sealed in order to prevent accusations or risk
of improper collection procedures ruling such
vital evidence inadmissible in a court of law.
INTRODUCTION
 Evidence must be collected according to
established rules of procedure and protocol.
 In order of collection, the most fragile evidence
must be collected first. A crime scene investigator
may start with hairs and fibers and fingerprints
and then work his or her way through the
evidence, peeling back one layer at a time.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 Audit – An inspection of the paper and electronic
tracking of a random sampling of in-custody
evidence sufficient to
Biological evidence --evaluate the
The phrase biological
evidence refers to samples of biological
integrity of the
evidence tracking andswabs,
materials (e.g. buccal storage system.
swabs taken with
sexual assault kits, blood, saliva, semen,
 Biologicalfingernails
evidence -- The
or fingernail phrase
scrapings, tissue biological
samples, skin cells, bodily fluids)
evidence refers to samples of biological materials
(e.g. buccal swabs, swabs taken with sexual
assault kits, blood, saliva, semen, fingernails or
fingernail scrapings, tissue samples, skin cells,
bodily fluids)
 Biological material – Biological material is
defined by Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 278A as “a
sexual assault forensic examination kit, semen,
blood, saliva, hair, skin tissue or other
identified biological substance.” Biological
material recovered from crime scenes
commonly appears in the form of hair, tissue,
bones, teeth, blood, semen, or other bodily
fluids.
 Room temperature -- Temperature that is equal
to the ambient surroundings; storage area may
lack temperature and humidity control
methods.1
 Chain of custody – The chronological documentation of the
seizure, custody, control, transfer
 (temporary or permanent), and disposition or destruction of
evidence.

 Frozen -- Temperature is maintained at or below –10°C (14°F).

 Inventory – An accounting of every item of property in the

evidence custodian’s custody, its
 location, and storage condition (physical condition of
evidence/packaging).

 Refrigerated -- Temperature is maintained between 2°C and

8°C (36°F and 46°F) with less than
 25% humidity.
USE OF GLOVES
 Use a new pair of disposable (latex or nitrile) gloves to
collect and handle each item of evidence.
 Change gloves between the collection of each item of
evidence to reduce the possibility of secondary
transfer of DNA.
 Avoid touching other objects while handling evidence.

 Avoid blowing into gloves prior to putting them on.

 For safety, it should be assumed that ALL items are

contaminated with blood borne pathogens.
STORAGE OF SMALLER PACKAGED ITEMS
 Small items should be individually packaged

 Small items that are individually packaged may be stored

together in a larger secondary container in layers, depending
on the circumstances. For example, if clothing from a victim
and clothing from a suspect are collected, it is acceptable to
store the individual packages of the victim’s clothing in one
larger container (e.g. box), and to store all of the individual
packages of the suspect’s clothing in another larger
container. However, the victim’s clothing and the suspect’s

 clothing should be stored in separate secondary containers.

DRYING WET EVIDENCE
Any wet evidence should be dried completely prior to
packaging, including evidence wet from environmental
exposure such as rain.

In particular, wet evidence potentially containing biological

material should be dried completely before being stored
(examples: blood-soaked garment, semen or urine stained
clothing).

Although plastic should never be used to store evidence

containing biological material, if necessary, wet evidence may
be transported to the drying area in plastic. Once dry, the
evidence should be packaged and stored as described below.
HOW TO PACKAGE BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE:

 All biological evidence should be labeled as such

so that it can be tracked and stored appropriately.
 Determining whether evidence contains

biological material.
If the collecting officer is unsure if an evidence
item contains biological material, he or she should
consult with an official familiar with the particular
case
 Individual items should be sealed in separate

packages and separately labeled.

RECOMMENDED PACKAGING MATERIALS.

  DO NOT use plastic to store biological evidence.

  Always use paper to package evidence items containing biological material.

  Examples of appropriate storage containers for biological evidence include:

 • paper bags
 • manila envelopes
 • glassine envelopes
 • coin envelopes
 • butcher paper
 • cardboard boxes
SEALING AND LABELING
 Packages should be sealed with tamper-resistant
evidence tape indicating the date and initials of
the individual packing the evidence. The seal
should be such that the individual’s initials
extend from the tape on to the packaging margin.
This makes repositioning the tape difficult after
opening, thereby demonstrating if tampering has
occurred.
ADDTIONAL
 the exterior packaging of all items should be labeled at the
time of initial packaging with the following information:

  Date collected

  Location of evidence collected

  Date entered into agency tracking system

  Officer who entered item into tracking system

 Name of suspect(s) or defendant(s) ( if known, including aliases)

  Name of victim(s) (if known)

  Type of crime (if known)

  Docket numbers (if known)

  Agency case numbers (police, lab, etc.)

  Property number (if different)

  Item description

  Whether item contains biological material

EVIDENCE STORAGE RECOMMENDATIONS
 Shelf conditions
In order to prevent items from being lost or
misplaced, if you store multiple items of evidence
from different cases on one shelf, these should be
placed in bins or marked in an identifiable
manner.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS
 All evidence should be kept out of direct sunlight.

 All evidence should be stored in a temperature controlled

environment. Room temperature storage is acceptable for non-
biological evidence when necessary.

 Biological evidence should be maintained in accordance with

ideal storage conditions. It is important to note that the ideal
storage condition varies for different types of biological evidence
(see Evidence Storage Condition Charts below).

 If uncertain as to whether an item contains biological evidence,

store as if biological evidence is present.
SECURITY

 Access to evidence storage areas should be limited to personnel designated by the

agency as evidence custodians.

 • Any time an individual enters the storage area, this should be documented in a
manual log or other established security system.

 • Any time an individual accesses a specific item of evidence, this should be

documented in the evidence tracking system (where available) or in a manual log.

 • Security and evidence access logs should be maintained for, at a minimum, the
period of time equal to the retention of the evidence as described below.