PART III – RULES OF
EVIDENCE (suggested time 2 hours)
1. Identify the definition of the term “evidence.”
2. Identify what “chain of custody” is and to what type of evidence it applies.
3. Identify what the “best evidence rule” is, and what it is designed to do.
4. Identify the following regarding hearsay and the Hearsay Rule:
a. Why hearsay is generally inadmissible as evidence.
b. For what hearsay may be used even if it cannot be used in trial.
c. When a police report is hearsay.
d. The nine exceptions to the Hearsay Rule discussed in class, including the two specifically for police reports.
e. What must be shown by the prosecutor in order to use each of these nine exceptions to Hearsay.
5. Identify the following regarding eyewitness identifications:
a. The overriding requirement for admissibility of eyewitness identification evidence.
b. The general circumstances under which each is most appropriately used.
c. The two requirements for admissible one-on-one confrontations based on Supreme Court decisions.
d. The criteria which will be used by the courts to determine admissibility where the one-on-one confrontation takes place some greater time after the crime occurred.
e. Two types of situations where a one-on-one identification of an arrested person may be appropriate.
f. The role of an attorney in eyewitness identification procedures.
g. Any restrictions on use of identifications where there was no police involvement.
6. Identify the following regarding the Exclusionary Rule, its associated doctrine, and the exceptions to these:
a. The effect of the Exclusionary Rule on evidence gathered improperly.
b. The effect of the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine.
c. The intended purposes and controversial actual effect of the Exclusionary Rule.
d. What principle makes the Exclusionary Rule still necessary for proper functioning of our legal system?
e. The four exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule discussed in class.
f. What the prosecutor must prove in order to use each of these four exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule.