Understanding Circumstantial Evidence in Legal Proof

Circumstantial Evidence

Circumstantial evidence consists of the union and interpretation of a number of circumstances relating to the act under investigation.

Object

Indirect evidence is intended to derive immediate facts from these circumstances, to those that have immediate significance to the similarity.

Essential Elements

1. A series of events or only one (e.g., evidence of semen).
2. A process that can be deductive—explicit or implicit.
3. A conclusion or deduction under which one or more peripheral facts have been claimed or credited to a central, conclusive fact that will be dynamically linked to the requirement of logical discourse.

Factors

• Rationality of induction or indifference, meaning it is not arbitrary, absurd, or unfounded.
• It must respond fully to the rules of logic and experience, establishing a precise and direct link.

Evidence Defined

Evidence is any element of data or circumstance duly confirmed in the causes that arise from proof. It can be a witness for the content of the declaration of the accused or an expert opinion.

Trace Evidence

This is any trace, footprint, or circumstance made known or generally recorded.

Classification of Evidence

• Binding Force: The presence of one is enough for it to be linked to other facts.
• Contingent: It is necessary that it converges with certainty to the facts investigated.
• Material: It is palpable and can be compared with what happened.
• Moral: It manifests in some way those elements that truly complete a task.
• Illustrated: Those that presume a particular person committed a criminal act.
• Rear (Behavioral): A series of behavior sensitive to the individual who committed the criminal situation (e.g., the case of the telephone in the lab—not voluntary).
• Determinate (Conclusive): Conclusive evidence (e.g., proof of semen).
• Indeterminate: Evidence that is not conclusive and cannot be directly relevant to the case.
• Associative: It may relate to the same fact (e.g., hair, skin, semen) and may relate facts to each other.

Purpose of Evidence

Through evidence, we can reach enlightenment regarding the criminal deed.

Witness

A person who has knowledge of an offense in direct and indirect ways.

Testimony

Testimony is an oral and written manifestation through which a person can blame or clear someone, or be presentially or referentially involved.

Classes of Witness

• Present (Face): Those who were present at the scene of the crime in one way or another.
• Referential: Those who learn the facts indirectly.

Crime Scene

The place where the act took place. What are the elements of conviction in assessing the evidence of witnesses?