Legal analysis of short story narratives and questions

¶ … exhibit at issue is the testimony of the police officer. A police officer testified that he recovered $350.00 in the apartment. The cash was in a closet, and was accompanied by a toy gun that closely resembled a handgun.

Relevant factors:

Police found $350 in cash in mixed bills and a toy gun which closely resembled a real handgun. A reasonable person would not have cash and a handgun in his closet.

The cashier could hear the robber taking money from the cash register, but could not see what the robber did. The cashier believed that $500 had been taken from the register.

It is not possible to prove with certainty that the recovered bills were from the bills actually taken in the robbery, but the mix of denominations in the seized bills was consistent with what had been in the cash register, according to the cashier.

Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, admissible evidence is evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial, which is intended to convince the judge and/or jury of alleged facts material to the case. It can include oral testimony of witnesses. The basic prerequisites of admissibility are relevance, materiality, and competence. Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency in reason to make the fact that it is offered to prove or disprove either more or less probable. Evid. Code § 210; Fed. Rules Evid. 401.

Testimonial evidence is the most basic form of evidence and the only kind that does not usually require another form of evidence as a prerequisite for its admissibility. See Evid. Code § 702(b); Fed R. Evid. 602. It consists of what is said in the court at the proceeding in question by a competent witness. In general, a witness is competent if he meets four requirements:

He must, with understanding, take the oath or a substitute. Evid. Code § 710, 701; Fed. Rules Evid. 603.

He must have personal knowledge about the subject of his testimony. In other words, the witness must have perceived something with his senses that is relevant to the case. Evid. Code § 702; Fed. Rules Evid. 602.

He must remember what he perceived.

He must be able to communicate what he perceived. Evid. Code § 701(a)(1).

The police officer's testimony is admissible. The police officer meets the competency requirements. There is an assumption that he has taken an oath. He has personal knowledge about the subject of his testimony; he remembers what he perceived and is able to communicate it.

The second exhibit at issue is the evidence concerning the ten adult magazines. There were ten adult magazines recovered from the apartment. The store cashier stated that the store carried the same issues of all ten of those magazines and that the magazine rack was near the cash register, but he could not state definitely whether or not any of the store's magazines were missing because the store did not keep an inventory of those items.

Relevant factors:

There were ten adult magazines recovered from the apartment.

The store cashier stated that the store carried the same issues of all ten of those magazines and that the magazine rack was near the cash register.

He could not state definitely whether or not any of the store's magazines were missing because the store did not keep an inventory of those items.

The magazines do not definitely connect the defendant to the robbery.

Many stores could have had the same magazines available at that time.

Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, admissible evidence is evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial, which is intended to convince the judge and/or jury of alleged facts material to the case. It can include "circumstantial evidence" which is intended to create belief by showing surrounding circumstances which logically lead to a conclusion of fact. The basic prerequisites of admissibility are relevance, materiality, and competence. Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency in reason to make the fact that it is offered to prove or disprove either more or less probable. Evid. Code § 210; Fed. Rules Evid. 401. To be relevant, a particular item of evidence need not make the fact for which it is offered certain, or even more probable than not. All that is required is that it have some tendency to increase the likelihood of the fact for which it is offered.

The magazines are circumstantial evidence and do not definitely connect the defendant to the robbery, but they are still admissible as evidence.

The third exhibit at issue is a security camera videotape: A police detective testified that she obtained the tape from the security department of a hospital one block from the robbery scene. When played, the tape shows a person who appears to be Johnson standing near a wall, looking from side to side, with the caption on the tape reading "09/17/2004-0950 HRS."