Evidence and Evidence Handling
Evidence questions test whether you can recognise what will be admissible, keep it unaltered, and prove that you did. The recurring themes are relevance, classification, continuity and documentation.
Relevance and classification
Evidence must be relevant and material. Direct evidence proves a fact in issue; circumstantial evidence supports an inference. Evidence may be testimonial, documentary or real. The best evidence rule prefers the original document; hearsay is generally inadmissible unless it falls within an exception such as business records or admissions. Weight is affected by reliability, bias and opportunity to observe.
Chain of custody
Continuity is the thread of accountability from seizure to court. Record for every exhibit: what it is, where and when it was found, who found it and from whom; seal it in a bag or envelope, initialling and dating across the seal so tampering is visible; enter it in a log and record every transfer with date, time, from, to and purpose; store it in a locked, access-controlled place. Photograph the item in place before moving it, and wear gloves where contact matters.
Documents and digital evidence
Copy paper records and work from the copy, preserving the original. Do not switch on a seized device: powering it up can alter metadata and trigger remote wiping. Preserve it in place, note make, model, IMEI or serial and the state of the screen, and hand it to a qualified examiner for a forensic image with a hash value.
Worked example
During a consensual workplace search the client hands you a notebook containing handwritten entries about diverted invoices. You photograph the notebook where it lay, note the page number, bag it, initial the seal and log the transfer. At trial, counsel asks how you know the page was not added later. Your photographs, contemporaneous note and unbroken log answer the question; a notebook carried loose in a briefcase for three weeks would not.
Traps
Opening a sealed bag 'to check'; recording conclusions instead of describing the item; failing to note the time you took possession; letting the client keep the exhibit; and paraphrasing a document instead of quoting it verbatim with page references.