The situation is my cousin has been charge for a crime that she didn't commit and all the evidence or lack there of is circumstantial against her and can be used against the other person just as easily and that another person fits into the time frame of the crime that the prosecutors has and my cousin. Now that person previously admitted to their lawyer after it happen that they committed the crime but of course his lawyer doesn't have to release his confusion even after they arrested my cousin for his crime. However what his lawyers don't know it that he sent my cousin an email admitting/confessing to what he had done not thinking it would matter in her case and putting a lot on detail into it as well, now she is getting it authenticated and on top of that he sent her text messages where he also implemented himself in the crime and was taunting her, she has gotten those authenticated. And in his text messages he backs up his email confession and then adds to it by giving even more details. My question is can she use that against him to get her charges dropped?
2007-03-23 06:51:44 · 4 answers · asked by silly3836 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
My cousin does have a lawyer and they have been able to authenticated these messages. And we already know that his lawyer doesn't have to release anything, thats a no brainier. Our thing is that he not only text-ed my cousin but he text-ed other family members as well, and he has no land line so his only way of communication is his cell phone. But there is just to much detail in all the messages, things that only he would know.
2007-03-23 08:52:44 · update #1
The evidence that they have can be used against him nothing they have is concrete against my cousin, and the only thing their case is built on is a time frame, which an eyewitness and his messages put him there during the prosecutions time frame, and makes it to where my cousin was never alone with the victim and that he was the only person with significant time alone with the victim. That alone hurts their care without the messages, they are just the icing on the cake. Other legal experts we've talked to say they'll investigate cause they are officers of the court and have a duty to uphold, and because this is not only relevant to my cousins case but to their's as well. If they proceed in a trial and this other is called to the stand and question it will cause significant reasonable debt anyways. Thats why we are checking to see if they will just back off, cause this is a case where an omission will break there case against my cousin but make there care against him.
2007-03-23 09:25:36 · update #2
If the question is getting the charges dropped, authentication isn't the issue and neither is hearsay. The question is whether the prosecutors will agree that the existence of the messages create reasonable doubt - and it may, if the e-mailed statement is an admission by another individual of guilt in the crime for which you cousin is charged.
If they agree, they'll drop the charges.
If the prosecutors don't agree, then, again, the question isn't hearsay. The admissions - if authenticated - will be direct evidence that someone else committed the crime.
Your cousin's lawyer should know that...
2007-03-23 12:44:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If email or text messages are properly authenticated, they can be used as evidence to support a defense or refute a charge.
But they also may need to overcome hearsay objections, if they are being offered for more than just to show that the message was in fact sent. An admission is an exemption to the hearsay rules, and would be admissible if authenticated.
As to the confession, the lawyer is legally forbidden from revealing what his client said. That's part of attorney-client confidentiality. No court in the country would allow the laywer to testify, even if the lawyer was willing to face disbarment for breaking the rules and violating his oath as an attorney.
2007-03-23 06:56:01 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would require (or be) a precedent. What I think may help your cousin is that they use e-mail to convict pedophiles. If the crime is serious they police might be induced to seize his computer. There's also a possibility a responsible person in the family could present the evidence to the Prosecutor, it's his initial decision.
I'm sure by now your cousin has been informed to select, "Full Headers" when she prints it out. Good Luck!
2007-03-23 06:59:37 · answer #3 · answered by Caretaker 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tough, but maybe. Get a good lawyer.
2007-03-23 06:54:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋