circumstantial evidence

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Circumstantial Evidence

Information and testimony presented by a party in a civil or criminal action that permit conclusions that indirectly establish the existence or nonexistence of a fact or event that the party seeks to prove.

Circumstantial Evidence is also known as indirect evidence. It is distinguished from direct evidence, which, if believed, proves the existence of a particular fact without any inference or presumption required. Circumstantial evidence relates to a series of facts other than the particular fact sought to be proved. The party offering circumstantial evidence argues that this series of facts, by reason and experience, is so closely associated with the fact to be proved that the fact to be proved may be inferred simply from the existence of the circumstantial evidence.

The following examples illustrate the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence: If John testifies that he saw Tom raise a gun and fire it at Ann and that Ann then fell to the ground, John's testimony is direct evidence that Tom shot Ann. If the jury believes John's testimony, then it must conclude that Tom did in fact shoot Ann. If, however, John testifies that he saw Tom and Ann go into another room and that he heard Tom say to Ann that he was going to shoot her, heard a shot, and saw Tom leave the room with a smoking gun, then John's testimony is circumstantial evidence from which it can be inferred that Tom shot Ann. The jury must determine whether John's testimony is credible.

Circumstantial evidence is most often employed in criminal trials. Many circumstances can create inferences about an accused's guilt in a criminal matter, including the accused's resistance to arrest; the presence of a motive or opportunity to commit the crime; the accused's presence at the time and place of the crime; any denials, evasions, or contradictions on the part of the accused; and the general conduct of the accused. In addition, much Scientific Evidence is circumstantial, because it requires a jury to make a connection between the circumstance and the fact in issue. For example, with fingerprint evidence, a jury must make a connection between this evidence that the accused handled some object tied to the crime and the commission of the crime itself.

Books, movies, and television often perpetuate the belief that circumstantial evidence may not be used to convict a criminal of a crime. But this view is incorrect. In many cases, circumstantial evidence is the only evidence linking an accused to a crime; direct evidence may simply not exist. As a result, the jury may have only circumstantial evidence to consider in determining whether to convict or acquit a person charged with a crime. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that "circumstantial evidence is intrinsically no different from testimonial [direct] evidence"(Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 75 S. Ct. 127, 99 L. Ed. 150 [1954]). Thus, the distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence has little practical effect in the presentation or admissibility of evidence in trials.

circumstantial evidence

n. evidence in a trial which is not directly from an eyewitness or participant and requires some reasoning to prove a fact. There is a public perception that such evidence is weak ("all they have is circumstantial evidence"), but the probable conclusion from the circumstances may be so strong that there can be little doubt as to a vital fact ("beyond a reasonable doubt" in a criminal case, and "a preponderance of the evidence" in a civil case). Particularly in criminal cases, "eyewitness" ("I saw Frankie shoot Johnny") type evidence is often lacking and may be unreliable, so circumstantial evidence becomes essential. Prior threats to the victim, fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, ownership of the murder weapon, and the accused being seen in the neighborhood, certainly point to the suspect as being the killer, but each bit of evidence is circumstantial.

circumstantial evidence

in the law of evidence, indirect evidence of a fact in issue. An inference of the fact in issue can be made from a consideration of a number of other facts. It is sometimes spoken of as a chain but better considered as a cable: the more strands, the stronger, and the absence of one of the strands does not break the connection. The lay person often considers it in some way inferior, but not the lawyer, who appreciates the difficulties inherent in direct eyewitness evidence. Nonetheless, it is only as good as the strands that comprise it. These may have to be evaluated in their own right, otherwise a sound inference maybe based on a defective premise, as where Othello, asking for proof of Desdemona's infidelity, was answered by Iago: ‘It is impossible you should see this, Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross As ignorance made drunk: but yet I say, If imputation and strong circumstances, Which lead directly to the door of truth, Will give you satisfaction, you might have it. ‘(Act 3, Scene 3, line 400)

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

References in periodicals archive ?

Most importantly, because circumstantial evidence is rhetorical, not narrative, it necessarily relies on consequence-to-cause reasoning: the consequences of the crime (the circumstantial evidence) are proof of its cause (the defendant).

The cognitive psychology of circumstantial evidence

The lawyer who represents his client poorly, the all-white jury, the circumstantial evidence that points in several directions-all suggest pervasive rot in the timbers of the system.

Innocence isn't everything

The who-done-it is cleverly devised so that the audience wonders why Pop thinks Troy is innocent as the circumstantial evidence points heavily towards him.

The Marble Kite

Supporting this audacious theory is a voluminous--though somewhat rickety--scaffolding of circumstantial evidence, which Fetzer and Jacobs energetically lay before their audience during their presentation.

Paranoid (10 Miles Square) style: Sen. Wellstone's death was an accident? Yeah, right

Decades later, his daughter Jo Jo Weaver was called to jury duty, and asked whether she could convict a man solely on circumstantial evidence she answered no--and was promptly returned to the jury pool.

Conviction in Cuyahoga County

Further, these findings provide the first circumstantial evidence of transmission of the classical CTX prophage.

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Some of the ways we can help prove intent by circumstantial evidence include

Basis legal concepts: beware insufficient knowledge of the law

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt BBC2, 2.00pm NOVELIST Dana Andrews fakes circumstantial evidence, incriminating himself in a murder, to prove how easily the courts can be deceived.

DAYTIME MOVIES

Others think the circumstantial evidence is compelling.

Europe's scorching summer: was global warming responsible for the deadly heat?

In his book 'Nos delits d'inities' (Our Insider Trading), author Guy Birenbaum presents circumstantial evidence and examines the rumours that Chirac had a son with a Japanese woman in the late 1970s.

New book claims French president may have a son in Japan

Samantha "Sam" Ryan is not convinced that Sebastian Bird is responsible for two ritualistic murders, even though circumstantial evidence indicates his guilt.

circumstantial evidence

Circumstantial Evidence

Further readings

circumstantial evidence

circumstantial evidence