For any case that goes to trial, evidence plays a vital and decisive role in deciding the outcome. Legal testimony does not hold any weight if there is no definite evidence to back it up. Even if it is as small as an eyelash in the wrong place, it can go a long way to proving a defendant’s innocence or guilt.
However, not all crimes have a multitude of direct evidence to work with, and so involved parties will have to rely on circumstantial evidence to prove their claims. Circumstantial evidence plays a bigger part in charges like domestic violence in Las Vegas, where first-hand witnesses or on-scene evidence is often lacking. If you are facing domestic violence charges in Las Vegas for the first time, you’ll need to know why circumstantial evidence is important in domestic violence cases.
First of All, What is Circumstantial Evidence?
Circumstantial evidence is any kind of evidence that is not directly related to the alleged crime, but implies that the alleged crime took place. It could be any objects gathered from the crime scene long after the act happened, or any piece of second-hand information gathered from people near its vicinity. In some cases, it just has to be official records related to the concerned parties that can count as circumstantial evidence, like hotel check-in records, travel records, credit card payments and the like.
To take a domestic violence situation as an example, circumstantial evidence may include items like testimony and records of the time the defendant and the victim are at home, testimony from bystanders who were not directly involved with the concerned parties, and testimony from responding officers. These pieces of evidence aren’t always directly obtained from the scene itself, but if their implication of an act of domestic abuse happening is proven true, they can do much in leading to a conviction.
Why Should You Be Concerned?
As stated earlier, evidence plays a vital role in any crime; moreso if the case in question does not have any other witnesses besides the victim and the defendant. As domestic violence cases are often very intimate crimes done in the privacy of a person’s home, it can be next to impossible to find witnesses willing or able to provide credible testimony that can implicate a defendant. As such, prosecutors will often turn to circumstantial evidence to secure a conviction.
While circumstantial evidence can be inaccurate at times, many convictions in the past have hinged on a combination of these pieces of evidence to confirm a defendant’s guilt, perhaps at a higher percentage than most people believe. The Nelson Serrano case is one example where circumstantial evidence relating to business partnership disputes and money laundering would be instrumental in convicting the defendant for the murder of his business partners. The questionable financial records, as well as second-hand testimony from the relatives of the victims, formed a strong case against the defendant and led to his conviction for multiple murders. Considering how decisive circumstantial evidence was in the proceedings of this case, you can imagine how difficult it can be for your domestic violence hearing if you can’t disprove circumstantial evidence placed against you in court.
Circumstantial Evidence and You
Defending against circumstantial evidence in a domestic violence proceeding can be tricky; as stated in the previous section, it is oftentimes an intimate crime, and if you fail to account for this kind of evidence, you can be convicted on the implication that they’ve established. The natural reaction would be to gain your own set of evidence and testimony to disprove the prosecution’s claims, but you can just be as handicapped as the other party when it comes to domestic abuse cases.
The first and most important thing you must remember is to always consult with your domestic violence defense attorney. Their experience with such cases means that they will know what kind of response you can formulate to deal with such kinds of evidence; remember that despite similarities in domestic abuse charges, all cases have their inherent differences that are unique to each defendant. Never leave anything to chance; circumstantial evidence still has a high probability of being related to your case, after all.
You must never underestimate how vital circumstantial is to a domestic violence case, but you should not be intimidated by it either. As long as you have the assistance of a veteran domestic violence attorney on your side, you can be assured of getting a dismissal or a not guilty verdict for your domestic abuse case.