How to Use Demonstrative Evidence
Demonstrative evidence Why use Demonstrative evidence? As the old adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words.
" Visual images enhance language, explains scientific jargon, and technical description.
Harnessing the power of visual communications provides a distinct advantage over just spoken or written words alone.
Every picture tells a story.
Demonstrative evidence is evidence that helps illustrate and explain otherwise complex and difficult testimony.
The main characters in our judicial system - Judges, Jury and lawyers are lagging behind the fast pace of technological advancement which has found its way into our court rooms, and legal tribunals.
Consequently, there is need to break down complex technical subjects to aid ease of understanding.
However, this requires a deliberate and sequential approach from the production process to presentation in a legal environment.
Scope of demonstrative evidence The scope of demonstrative evidence may involve the singular use of a power point slide to illustrate a timeline or a flat file drawing of an accident scene.
However, demonstrative evidence becomes complex when different forms of media are combined in a single presentation - a truly multimedia illustration will include - video, text, sound, graphics and sequenced animation.
� There are five fundamental stages in the life circle of demonstrative evidence - from conception to deployment.
It is important to note, that all of these stages involves the need for a proactive legal oversight.
The ideal situation is to have the same team from end-end We will now identify the 5 stages essential to the production and deployment of a defensible demonstrative evidence.
Life circle of Digital evidence • Legal analysis • Fact analysis • Evidence gathering • Production • Presentation Legal analysis Winning or losing a case in court depends largely on the quality of evidence tendered and admitted.
It is not enough for a piece of evidence to be relevant it must have probative value to the ultimate determination of a dispute before a court of law.
Demonstrative evidence, as a specie of legal evidence requires substantial proactive strategy in its production and deployment in court - starting from a legal analysis of its relevance to the facts of a case.
Initial steps, starts with an assessment of the legal ingredients required to support the proposed legal theory.
Whether it's a criminal or civil case, the relevance of demonstrative evidence cannot be determined outside the need to prove or disprove the ingredients of the formulated case theory.
Consequently, it is necessary to first determine the scope and details of your case theory and thereafter determine the relevance of demonstrative evidence as an aid towards advancing your case theory.
What does the law say on the substance of your case? What are the relevant procedural issues connected with the relevant facts that need to be proved? What might be the potential points of objection for the use of demonstrative evidence in a particular case? What are the initial pre trail strategies to be employed at case management conference or a plea and directions hearing? What is the attitude of a particular courts re the use of technology to illustrate facts? These and many more questions are strategic issues that affect the use, production and presentation of demonstrative evidence.
Fact analysis Demonstrative evidence will seek in summary to enlighten the court or tribunal on the existing facts, not imagined facts.
If a set of facts are self explanatory there will be valid objection to the use of demonstrative evidence to further enhance its relevance.
Therefore the production of demonstrative videos, stills, animation, timelines, graphs and outlines cannot be properly implemented for use in a court of law, if the underlining facts and legal theory can be easily digested by the court and parties to the dispute.
The purpose of demonstrative evidence is not to introduce new evidence.
There is a thin line that must be maintained by a careful and robust understanding of the facts and the relevant law with which a connection is sought.
The demonstration of the a fact or sets of fact in demonstrative videos, images text or multimedia, must not contain sign post or commentaries to introduce evidence.
Evidence gathering helps to identify the pool of available facts for the production of demonstrative evidence.
Proper legal analysis is required to determine relevant facts before and during the evidence gathering process.
It can be counter productive to use demonstrative evidence to canvass or illustrate a point that creates doubt in the mind of the jury by leaving certain questions unexplained during presentation.
Consequently evidence gathering for the purpose of producing demonstrative evidence must meet with the usual admissibility rules in other to retain their probative value.
For example, if the proper foundation is not laid for the source, date, time and location of a still photograph that is embedded in demonstrative evidence, there is the likelihood of a valid objection being raised in court, on the grounds of introducing hearsay evidence.
Where hearsay is consciously introduced, the proper foundation must be laid for its admissibility during a court hearing or during pre-trial arguments, to determine the relevance or otherwise of demonstrative evidence to proceedings.
Legal oversight is therefore crucial to forestall objections and legal pitfalls that abound in the choice of facts used for the production of demonstrative evidence.
Production At the production stage there is the constant need to ensure that the scope, dimension and ratio of illustrative representation of facts are not prejudicial to the other party while still retaining its probative value.
Getting this balance right is not just a technical consideration it involves a proper legal insight as to what point of law the evidence will seek to establish or disprove.
Considering the cost and human hours involved in producing the simplest of demonstrative evidence, it is not prudent to expose your case to the possibility of having the court refuse to admit your demonstrative testimony in evidence, due to procedural errors in evidence gathering and prejudice in the production process.
Presentation Finally, presuming proper demonstrative evidence has been produced.
The next task, which is crucial, is to present the evidence in court.
This stage could make or break the probative value of demonstrative evidence.
The demonstrative evidence will either be introduced to prove the truth or otherwise of a fact in issue or merely for illustrative purposes - to enlighten the court, with no intention of admitting it into evidence.
The witness introducing the evidence needs to know the purpose for which the evidence is being introduced and would have to understand the production process of the demonstrative evidence end-end and be ready to respond to admissibility objections from the opposing party.
Presenting the evidence during direct examination is the easy bit.
The real task is in responding to cross examination as to the relevance and probative value of the evidence.
There must be a pre trial protocol in place that specifically addresses the suitability of the proposed court room to handle the use of demo.
equipment and software.
Presentation Hardware Visual and audio presentation in court is fast becoming a familiar scenario in law courts.
It is therefore imperative for the legal professional to at a minimum have the basic skill to use a laptop and a presentation software and in addition have the skills to attach a laptop to a Projector for the mass viewing of his materials.
It may appear daunting at first.
But once you get to appreciate and understand how to use presentation software and hardware, you will wonder how you loved without it.
For the legal Advocate, the advantages of deploying court room or arbitration presentation are enormous as previously discussed.
The capital outlay required to secure a basic setup for a demonstration station is not so expensive and the learning curve of how to use demo equipment is not so steep either.
Most legal professionals already use or own a laptop.
And it is also safe to say most of these laptops also contain the Microsoft office programme called "PowerPoint".
The only addition required here will be a projector.
Thankfully, most courts have their own projectors.
So it will make plenty of sense, to proactively make inquiries if a relevant court has its own projector.
Nevertheless it is better to invest in one.
It is important to note, that the court room or the legal environment is not the ideal place to attempt your first try at using presentation hardware and software.
Nothing is as pitiful as seeing a lawyer struggle to use his own presentation equipment.
It jus sends a message of not being adequately prepared for the case.
So, before you decide to join the technical universe and deploy digital presentation in court, you must of necessity spend time to understand the presentation software you are deploying, you must be actively engaged in the planning and indexing of the materials to be used for the presentation.
You must personally organise the sequence of chapters and timing of the demonstration.
Basic Hardware required for Court room presentation includes: LaptopA projector( Some courts will have this in place already) A projector screen( Again some courts will already have this in place.
It is therefore important you check with the court clerk or register before trail date on what you require to present digital evidence.
Presentation software To deploy digital demonstration effectively in a legal environment you must have some level of mastery in the use of your choice presentation software.
There are a host of presentation software suited for the legal environment.
However they also vary in cost, complexity, features and learning curve.
The simplest and most used in the legal environment is- Microsoft PowerPoint.
If you own a laptop, it is very likely, that you already have PowerPoint installed.
Now is the time to learn how to use it.
On the average, it should take no more than a few hours of training and practice to get to grips with the presentation application.
Note however that there are more complex legal presentation software that are available commercially.
Example of such purpose built software are Trial Director Exhibit view Summation These dedicated applications or software are relatively expensive but they have features that make then more robust and geared for the presentation of complicated materials.
They also have features that makes it possible to organise your entire case materials form one location.
They are capable of hosting and presenting text, images video, internet and multimedia materials on the fly.
Imagine having your case file and all relevant documents at the tip of your fingers just by the click of a mouse.
You have to experience it to fully appreciate the full benefits of moving into the technology age.
The only draw back associated with the use of these specialist applications, is the cost and the time it takes to fully learn how to use and deploy them.
Karl Obayi Computer evidence expert
" Visual images enhance language, explains scientific jargon, and technical description.
Harnessing the power of visual communications provides a distinct advantage over just spoken or written words alone.
Every picture tells a story.
Demonstrative evidence is evidence that helps illustrate and explain otherwise complex and difficult testimony.
The main characters in our judicial system - Judges, Jury and lawyers are lagging behind the fast pace of technological advancement which has found its way into our court rooms, and legal tribunals.
Consequently, there is need to break down complex technical subjects to aid ease of understanding.
However, this requires a deliberate and sequential approach from the production process to presentation in a legal environment.
Scope of demonstrative evidence The scope of demonstrative evidence may involve the singular use of a power point slide to illustrate a timeline or a flat file drawing of an accident scene.
However, demonstrative evidence becomes complex when different forms of media are combined in a single presentation - a truly multimedia illustration will include - video, text, sound, graphics and sequenced animation.
� There are five fundamental stages in the life circle of demonstrative evidence - from conception to deployment.
It is important to note, that all of these stages involves the need for a proactive legal oversight.
The ideal situation is to have the same team from end-end We will now identify the 5 stages essential to the production and deployment of a defensible demonstrative evidence.
Life circle of Digital evidence • Legal analysis • Fact analysis • Evidence gathering • Production • Presentation Legal analysis Winning or losing a case in court depends largely on the quality of evidence tendered and admitted.
It is not enough for a piece of evidence to be relevant it must have probative value to the ultimate determination of a dispute before a court of law.
Demonstrative evidence, as a specie of legal evidence requires substantial proactive strategy in its production and deployment in court - starting from a legal analysis of its relevance to the facts of a case.
Initial steps, starts with an assessment of the legal ingredients required to support the proposed legal theory.
Whether it's a criminal or civil case, the relevance of demonstrative evidence cannot be determined outside the need to prove or disprove the ingredients of the formulated case theory.
Consequently, it is necessary to first determine the scope and details of your case theory and thereafter determine the relevance of demonstrative evidence as an aid towards advancing your case theory.
What does the law say on the substance of your case? What are the relevant procedural issues connected with the relevant facts that need to be proved? What might be the potential points of objection for the use of demonstrative evidence in a particular case? What are the initial pre trail strategies to be employed at case management conference or a plea and directions hearing? What is the attitude of a particular courts re the use of technology to illustrate facts? These and many more questions are strategic issues that affect the use, production and presentation of demonstrative evidence.
Fact analysis Demonstrative evidence will seek in summary to enlighten the court or tribunal on the existing facts, not imagined facts.
If a set of facts are self explanatory there will be valid objection to the use of demonstrative evidence to further enhance its relevance.
Therefore the production of demonstrative videos, stills, animation, timelines, graphs and outlines cannot be properly implemented for use in a court of law, if the underlining facts and legal theory can be easily digested by the court and parties to the dispute.
The purpose of demonstrative evidence is not to introduce new evidence.
There is a thin line that must be maintained by a careful and robust understanding of the facts and the relevant law with which a connection is sought.
The demonstration of the a fact or sets of fact in demonstrative videos, images text or multimedia, must not contain sign post or commentaries to introduce evidence.
Evidence gathering helps to identify the pool of available facts for the production of demonstrative evidence.
Proper legal analysis is required to determine relevant facts before and during the evidence gathering process.
It can be counter productive to use demonstrative evidence to canvass or illustrate a point that creates doubt in the mind of the jury by leaving certain questions unexplained during presentation.
Consequently evidence gathering for the purpose of producing demonstrative evidence must meet with the usual admissibility rules in other to retain their probative value.
For example, if the proper foundation is not laid for the source, date, time and location of a still photograph that is embedded in demonstrative evidence, there is the likelihood of a valid objection being raised in court, on the grounds of introducing hearsay evidence.
Where hearsay is consciously introduced, the proper foundation must be laid for its admissibility during a court hearing or during pre-trial arguments, to determine the relevance or otherwise of demonstrative evidence to proceedings.
Legal oversight is therefore crucial to forestall objections and legal pitfalls that abound in the choice of facts used for the production of demonstrative evidence.
Production At the production stage there is the constant need to ensure that the scope, dimension and ratio of illustrative representation of facts are not prejudicial to the other party while still retaining its probative value.
Getting this balance right is not just a technical consideration it involves a proper legal insight as to what point of law the evidence will seek to establish or disprove.
Considering the cost and human hours involved in producing the simplest of demonstrative evidence, it is not prudent to expose your case to the possibility of having the court refuse to admit your demonstrative testimony in evidence, due to procedural errors in evidence gathering and prejudice in the production process.
Presentation Finally, presuming proper demonstrative evidence has been produced.
The next task, which is crucial, is to present the evidence in court.
This stage could make or break the probative value of demonstrative evidence.
The demonstrative evidence will either be introduced to prove the truth or otherwise of a fact in issue or merely for illustrative purposes - to enlighten the court, with no intention of admitting it into evidence.
The witness introducing the evidence needs to know the purpose for which the evidence is being introduced and would have to understand the production process of the demonstrative evidence end-end and be ready to respond to admissibility objections from the opposing party.
Presenting the evidence during direct examination is the easy bit.
The real task is in responding to cross examination as to the relevance and probative value of the evidence.
There must be a pre trial protocol in place that specifically addresses the suitability of the proposed court room to handle the use of demo.
equipment and software.
Presentation Hardware Visual and audio presentation in court is fast becoming a familiar scenario in law courts.
It is therefore imperative for the legal professional to at a minimum have the basic skill to use a laptop and a presentation software and in addition have the skills to attach a laptop to a Projector for the mass viewing of his materials.
It may appear daunting at first.
But once you get to appreciate and understand how to use presentation software and hardware, you will wonder how you loved without it.
For the legal Advocate, the advantages of deploying court room or arbitration presentation are enormous as previously discussed.
The capital outlay required to secure a basic setup for a demonstration station is not so expensive and the learning curve of how to use demo equipment is not so steep either.
Most legal professionals already use or own a laptop.
And it is also safe to say most of these laptops also contain the Microsoft office programme called "PowerPoint".
The only addition required here will be a projector.
Thankfully, most courts have their own projectors.
So it will make plenty of sense, to proactively make inquiries if a relevant court has its own projector.
Nevertheless it is better to invest in one.
It is important to note, that the court room or the legal environment is not the ideal place to attempt your first try at using presentation hardware and software.
Nothing is as pitiful as seeing a lawyer struggle to use his own presentation equipment.
It jus sends a message of not being adequately prepared for the case.
So, before you decide to join the technical universe and deploy digital presentation in court, you must of necessity spend time to understand the presentation software you are deploying, you must be actively engaged in the planning and indexing of the materials to be used for the presentation.
You must personally organise the sequence of chapters and timing of the demonstration.
Basic Hardware required for Court room presentation includes: LaptopA projector( Some courts will have this in place already) A projector screen( Again some courts will already have this in place.
It is therefore important you check with the court clerk or register before trail date on what you require to present digital evidence.
Presentation software To deploy digital demonstration effectively in a legal environment you must have some level of mastery in the use of your choice presentation software.
There are a host of presentation software suited for the legal environment.
However they also vary in cost, complexity, features and learning curve.
The simplest and most used in the legal environment is- Microsoft PowerPoint.
If you own a laptop, it is very likely, that you already have PowerPoint installed.
Now is the time to learn how to use it.
On the average, it should take no more than a few hours of training and practice to get to grips with the presentation application.
Note however that there are more complex legal presentation software that are available commercially.
Example of such purpose built software are Trial Director Exhibit view Summation These dedicated applications or software are relatively expensive but they have features that make then more robust and geared for the presentation of complicated materials.
They also have features that makes it possible to organise your entire case materials form one location.
They are capable of hosting and presenting text, images video, internet and multimedia materials on the fly.
Imagine having your case file and all relevant documents at the tip of your fingers just by the click of a mouse.
You have to experience it to fully appreciate the full benefits of moving into the technology age.
The only draw back associated with the use of these specialist applications, is the cost and the time it takes to fully learn how to use and deploy them.
Karl Obayi Computer evidence expert
