Trial Evidence Foundations

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This handy courtroom guide will keep you from missing any of the elements required to lay a proper foundation and alert you to when your opponent has. The latest edition features 34 sections that have been updated with 70+ case notes of recent significant federal and state decisions.

Some of the topics covered include—

Rule of Completeness

• When otherwise inadmissible evidence is offered to satisfy rule of completeness.

Impeachment by Prior Bad Acts

• Sexual assault allegations to rebut a fabrication defense.
• Civil judgments in criminal case arising from same facts.
• Past retention of classified documents in prosecution for similar new offense.

Impeachment by Prior Convictions

• Conviction for tampering with evidence as dishonest act under Rule 609(a)(2).
• Judge reverses ruling and allows prior conviction in when defendant is in middle of testimony.

Lay Opinion Evidence

• Testimony of business owners, officers, and executives about business operations and projects.
• Testimony of police sergeant on speed of vehicle based on accident reconstruction calculations.

Expert Opinion Evidence– Daubert Consideration

• Expert opinion on class action requirements; reliance on data and information provided by third parties.
• Expert opinion on class action requirements; reliance on data and information provided by third parties.

Authentication

• Phone calls by defendant from jail.
• Video recordings between drug traffickers and defendants.
• Copies of harassing emails from father to daughter.
• Text messages between man and ex-wife.
• Facebook posts.
• Victim’s transcriptions of text messages from defendant.
• Text messages retrieved from cell phone by forensic techniques.
• Types of circumstantial evidence that will corroborate identity of sender of electronic communications.

Hearsay and Hearsay Exceptions

• Text messages offered to show mother’s awareness of daughter’s molestation.
• Requirements for forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine.
• Evidence of flight requires extrinsic evidence of guilt.
• Requirements for adoptive admissions by silence.
• Declarant must be identified before his statement can be admissible as vicarious admission.
• Rule 36(b)(6) testimony is an evidential, not judicial, admission.
• Assessing context and trustworthiness of statements against interest.
• Terminally ill declarant’s affidavit accepting criminal liability was self-serving.
• State-of-mind exception not applicable to statements of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed.
• Historic cell site analysis evidence not admissible as a business record.
• Bolivian government reports not admissible either as business records or public records, or under the residual exception.
• Sexual assault as a startling event for purposes of excited utterance exception.

Attorney-client and work product privilege

• Privileged documents required to be produced as discovery sanction were not admissible at trial.

Subsequent Remedial Measures

• Evidence of subsequent remedial measures to show control over construction site.

Character Evidence

• Evidence of intemperate habits as proof of drunkenness in accident cases.
• Evidence of the medical examiner’s administrative shortcomings and lack of candor with superiors to impeach credibility.

Additional forms materials are available from James Publishing; access to those materials can be requested directly from James by following guidelines provided within the eBook or emailing forms@jamespublishing.com.

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