1 What do you think?
Activity 1 Is there enough evidence?
You’ve now seen all of the evidence in Dave’s case. This includes:
- DNA recovered from blood on the baseball bat and from Dave’s clothing,
- fingerprints from the baseball bat,
- digital files from Dave’s devices (recovered on the suspect Mike),
- the eyewitness statement and
- Rob’s (the cleaner who found Dave) statement.
The digital devices could have had evidence about who Dave was in contact with, e.g. letting someone know he’d be at the gym or have recordings Dave might have taken at the gym of his exercise routine. The traces that were gathered during the investigation from the bat and clothing underwent examination in the laboratory and would have been presented in a report by a forensic science expert. You now need to consider all of the evidence in order to attempt to deliver justice for this case.
- Based on what you have read, do you think there is enough evidence to take the case to trial?
- If it did go to trial and you were sitting on the jury, based on the evidence, would you acquit or convict?
Answer
In reality, there was not sufficient evidence to meet the CPS threshold for the prosecution to further the case, so the case was dropped. This means it didn’t go to trial and that was because after the forensic scientists completed their analyses, there was not evidence matching Mike’s DNA to anything at the crime scene. He had Dave’s devices but this does not show that he was involved in the attack.
Prosecutors must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic chance of conviction against each suspect on each charge. They must consider what the defence case may be, and how it is likely to affect the prospect of a conviction. A case which does not pass the evidential stage must not proceed, no matter how serious or sensitive it may be. This means that no one was convicted. Reflect on how this makes you feel. This illustrates a real challenge faced by the justice system.