Chabot College
Fall 2010
Course Outline for Administration of Justice 61
EVIDENCE
Catalog Description:
61 – Evidence
3 units
Origins, development, philosophy and constitutional basis of evidence; constitutional and
procedural considerations affecting arrest, search and seizure; kinds and degrees of evidence
and rules governing admissibility; judicial decisions interpreting individual rights and case studies.
3 hours
[Typical contact hours: 52.5]
Prerequisite Skills:
None.
Expected Outcomes for Students:
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to:
1. evaluate various kinds of evidence;
2. demonstrate how to use proper procedures;
3. explain how to relate legal evidence to the corpus delicti;
4. explain the rules covering the admissibility of evidence in court;
5. evaluate the various kinds of evidence available in a given case in order to determine its
admissibility in court;
6. discuss the skills needed in handling case material so that evidence admissibility will not be
destroyed by improper techniques or procedures;
7. explain how to relate legal evidence to the corpus delicti.
Course Content:
1. Evolution of evidence
a. Nature of evidence
b. Proof and burden of proof
c. Reasons for rules of evidence
d. The evidence code
e. Application of rules of evidence
f. Doctrine of judicial notice
g. Presumption
2. Detention and arrest
a. Constitutional authority
b. Procedures and probable cause
c. Evolution of case law
3. Search and seizure
a. History and development – case law
b. The exclusionary rule-definition
c. Nature of search and seizure
d. Search warrants
e. Search and seizure incidental to arrest
f. Consent search
g. Search of houses, vehicles, and other locations
4. Discovery
a. Reporting and discovering procedure
b. Right of discovery
c. Role of the investigator
d. Pre-trial discovery
e. Right of discovery through preliminary hearing
f. Prosecution’s right to discovery
g. Unavailability of original notes
5. Types of Evidence
Chabot College
Course Outline for Administration of Justice 61, Page 2
Fall 2010
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a. Real, direct, and circumstantial evidence
b. Prejudice
c. Similar or related acts or circumstances
The competency of witnesses
a. Grounds for qualification and disqualification
b. Analysis of statutory grounds
Privileged communication
a. Basic statutes
b. Attorney and client
c. Husband and wife
d. Physician or psychotherapist and patient
e. Clergyman and confessor
f. News media
Self-incrimination and testimonial compulsion
a. Basic statutes – evidence code
b. Nature and scope of privilege
c. Distinction between defendant and witness privilege
d. Granting immunity
e. Scope of compulsion to testify
f. Non-testimonial compulsion
g. Reasonable body examination and brutal body examination
The opinion rule
a. Basic statutes – evidence code
b. Impeachment
c. Corroboration
d. Refreshing recollection of memory
e. Past recollection recorded
Hearsay
a. Definition
b. Dying declaration
c. Spontaneous or contemporaneous statements
d. Statements against interest
e. Mental state
f. Business and official records
g. Family history
Confessions and admissions
a. Basic statutes – evidence code
b. Statement of constitutional rights
c. Miranda warning
d. Case law affecting interviewing
Documentary evidence
a. Basic statutes – evidence code
b. Best evidence rule
c. Recordings and official writings
Photographic evidence
a. Photographs as evidence
b. First rule of admissibility – relevancy
c. Second rule of admissibility – accurate representation
d. Identification of a photograph
e. Posed, gruesome, or nude photographs
f. Motion pictures as evidence
Introducing evidence at trial
a. Proper handling of evidence and maintaining chain of evidence
b. Connecting evidence with issues of trial
c. Defense tactics to discredit evidence
Chabot College
Course Outline for Administration of Justice 61, Page 3
Fall 2010
Methods of Presentation:
1. Lecture – discussion
2. Transparencies, slides, films and videotape
3. Special projects or case study
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
1. Typical Assignments:
a. Write a three-four page brief on an appellate case discussing the evidentiary roles that
led to appeal
b. Attend a preliminary examination and write a two-three page paper on four observations
c. Interview a prosecutor or police officer focusing on issues relating to testifying
competently in court
2. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress
a. quizzes
b. midterm
c. final examination
d. brief written reports and critiques of problems and cases presented in class
e. research paper on one aspect of evidence
f. attendance
g. participation in class
Textbook(s) Typical:
Criminal Evidence, 5th edition, 2006 By Garland, MCG Publisher
Special Student Materials:
None.
ADMJ 61, revised 9/09: cs