Evidence

Legally Dead Man Sentenced to Be Actually Dead

After I reported on the case of Donald Miller, the Ohio man who failed to convince a judge he should not be considered legally dead ("'No, You're Still Deceased,' Judge Tells Dead Man" (Oct. 10, 2013)), several people wrote in to…


Actually, We Were Wondering How You Signed the Claim Forms

In May, South Carolina's Attorney General reported that the number of insurance-fraud cases in the state had reached an all-time high in 2013. The report (via Overlawyered) is mostly just numbers, but it does include two or three examples of now-closed cases,…





A Good Reason Not to Tattoo “MURDER” on Your Neck

Can you guess? It's because such a tattoo might unduly influence a jury if you are, at some point, charged with murder. At least that was the argument made recently in Barton County, Kansas (Great Bend Tribune), by the defense…


All Work and No Play Makes Court Reporter a Dull Boy

He didn't go with that exact phrase, as far as we know, but according to the New York Post (thanks, Matt), a court reporter in Manhattan has been accused of going off the rails in dozens of cases, typing gibberish or random…



Do NOT Clench Your Buttocks in Deming, New Mexico

Why not, you ask? Because it may be interpreted as probable cause to conduct an anal-cavity search. Or six. According to this KOB News report, police in Deming, New Mexico, and some doctors they convinced to help them, conducted no…


The Photo-Booth Idea Was Bad Enough to Begin With

… even before you posed with the stolen item. The Capital Gazette reported on Saturday that police were searching for the pictured group of young people in connection with a case of alleged credit-card fraud. A woman reported she had lost her…