Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Evidence is what it is all about in criminal cases. What a criminal case basically boils down to is whether the state or federal government can introduce enough evidence in an effective manner to convince a jury that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of committing every element of the offense charged. Thus, the admission or exclusion of one piece of evidence, particularly if it is something of great importance like security-camera video or a murder weapon, can dictate the outcome of the entire trial.

There are basically two criteria for determining whether or not evidence will be admitted into the record for the jury’s consideration at trial: (1) relevance and (2) admissibility. Both the federal and Tennessee rules of evidence require that both of these elements be satisfied before evidence can be used at trial. However, relevant evidence will be admissible unless some other evidentiary rule states otherwise. This blog focuses on the first of these two criteria.

Federal and state rules of evidence both have an extremely broad definition of relevance. This means that evidence that tends to shed any light whatsoever on any fact material to the case will be considered relevant as long as its prejudicial effect does not outweigh its probative value. The last part of that sentence essentially means that the evidence is useful enough in deciding the issue at trial to outweigh the negative impact it will have on the jury’s feelings toward a defendant. Very few pieces of relevant evidence are held to be too prejudicial under this standard.

The fact that almost any useful evidence is relevant evidence can sometimes make it tough on defendants who are trying to exclude such evidence at trial. Thus, it is essential that the defendant is represented by competent criminal defense counsel who can put forth every effort to make sure irrelevant and prejudicial evidence is excluded when appropriate. A skilled Knoxville criminal defense attorney will have a thorough knowledge of the evidentiary rules and how to use them to a client’s advantage.