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Comment by garyfirestorm | Hacker News Reader

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garyfirestorm

Accuser1 - Sir this man stole from us

Police1 - Yeah we saw the ID and stuff and some video

Innocent Man - where's the video, coz i was in different state

Accuser1 - we deleted it - poker face

Police - poker face

Innocent1 - poker face

Court - ok bye c u later

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In a sane world, that would be destruction of evidence. You shouldn’t be able to tell the court evidence exists and then destroy it before you let anyone else examine it.

Yeah, if strict liability applied in such cases prosecutors and other parties would be a great deal more careful about what they dared assert.

Especially if it is found later during discovery.

As I understand, the evidence wasn't owned by prosecution, but by Apple. It's like saying "the truth is out there", which is technically true, but shouldn't count as evidence until collected.

Then why was it used for an arrest warrant? Should evidence not be examined before the warrant is issue? Or can you just claim to have video evidence of a murder to get someone you don't like arrested?

> Should evidence not be examined before the warrant is issue?

Examined and secured. Having evidence in official custody should be a prerequisite for using it in an official capacity - or stuff like this happens.

Generally it should be secured before an arrest warrant is issued, examined before a trial

You don’t have a right to fight an arrest warrant. But you do have a right to review the evidence that will be used against you during your trial.

I think the general point still stands. The evidence was no secured either.

Prosecution should be held in contempt of court if they fail to keep their own evidence securely, including the platforms and locations of storage.

I think prosecutors should go to jail if they keep their evidence in a building covered in kerosene and then "whoops" the evidence has gone up in flames.

We're at the "educate yourself, shitlord!" phase of criminal prosecution.

This is probably exactly how things would work 20 years after the Idiocracy epoch.

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