Court Procedures / Evidence / Service

While I can’t speak to your specific situation, generally, each state is governed by what are called “rules of evidence.” A state can have its own rules or the state may follow the Federal Rules of Evidence (which are general rules that are followed by many states). The rules generally deal with what is allowed as evidence in court and address issues such as exceptions to the rule against “hearsay,” what types of documents may have to be certified in order for them to be admitted into court during a trial, and other topics. The rules of evidence allow judges to only consider specific types of evidence. Also, the evidence may have to be presented in a certain way, where the party “lays a foundation” and has to “authenticate” the evidence before it can be admitted. This can be very hard for an unrepresented person to do. It may be helpful to consult an attorney to determine what options a victim may have for presenting evidence in court.

If evidence is offered in a criminal case, there may be specific rules of evidence and rules in criminal statutes about what kinds of evidence a prosecutor can admit. Sometimes, even if a prosecutor has the evidence and can present it correctly, there may be a rule not allowing the judge or jury to consider the evidence.

We list rules of evidence by state on our website.

However, as you can see, these rules can be very complicated. They are often extremely hard for a non-lawyer to understand or to apply to an actual hearing. If you can, you really may want to talk to a lawyer to represent you or at least to have a consultation with a lawyer for advice if this is for a civil case that you want to start. You can find free and paid lawyers on our website. (HYPERLINK) Also, something else that may be helpful is our Preparing Your Case page on our website.