This past weekend a Seminole county man decided to check his surveillance video footage after his son’s phone went missing. For his demise, what he found was quite scary and shocking… Video footage of man inside his house.
Caught on video! Your face appears on video—of you in another person’s house, taking things from a house into which you haven’t been invited. You’re done for because video don’t lie, right??
Well, not so fast, luckily for the accused because a video exists doesn’t mean that it can used at trial. Before a video can be used as evidence in court, the party presenting the video must show that the video is authentic—that there are good reasons for believing that the video really is an accurate re-presentation of events that occurred in real life. Here, that would mean that, before the prosecutor could show the video to the jury, s/he would have to show that the video accurately depicted events that occurred in real life.
A skilled attorney can take measures to show that the video is not authentic—that there is not a sufficient basis for believing that the video is an accurate depiction of events that occurred. Was the video camera working properly? Who can say if it was working properly? When was the camera installed? How was it maintained? Did it merely reproduce footage from a TV show? Did Mr. Science working in his mad-genius garage fabricate the video? Any of these questions, if not answered satisfactorily, could lead to the court’s excluding the video from trial.
And what if the video is excluded? Well, that leaves the prosecutor with very little evidence that the accused committed a crime. No video, no problem!
Call an experienced, dedicated defense attorney to assist you in questioning the validity of any and all of the evidence that the state tries to use against you—because sometimes, what plays on video is not what actually happened in real life.
If you or a family member find yourself charged with a crime, do not hesitate to contact the experienced lawyers of The Smith and Eulo law firm at 352-WIN-4YOU. for your FREE consultation.