Every crime in California is defined by a specific code section. Our attorneys explain the law, penalties and best defense strategies for every major crime in California.
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Every crime in California is defined by a specific code section. Our attorneys explain the law, penalties and best defense strategies for every major crime in California.
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Evidence spoilage is when a person or entity destroys or significantly alters evidence that is relevant to a pending or future civil or criminal court case. Spoilage also occurs when a person or entity fails to preserve property so that it can be used as evidence.
Spoilage is often referred to as “spoliation.”
Your rights with evidence spoliation will depend on whether it takes place in a civil or criminal case.
In a civil case, you generally have the right to file a lawsuit against any third party that negligently destroys or fails to preserve evidence.
In a California criminal case, if the police or a prosecutor destroys or mishandles evidence, the defendant can file a Trombetta motion seeking to have any charges dropped or dismissed.
Spoliation refers to the destruction of evidence, alteration of evidence, or the failure to preserve evidence that is relevant to either:
Note that in criminal cases, the police and prosecutors have a general duty to protect and preserve evidence.
In civil cases, spoliation claims typically only arise after a party to a lawsuit, or some third party, becomes aware of a duty to preserve evidence.2
Consider a case, for example, where a woman slips and falls in a grocery store and the incident was captured on surveillance video.
A spoliation case would not normally arise if a store employee erased the video footage as part of his/her job. However, a case would arise if the employee knew that the injured victim had requested the footage and he/she erased it anyway.
A duty to preserve evidence in a civil case often arises after an attorney sends out:
A spoliation letter is essentially a letter that:
You generally have a tort claim in California, or a cause of action in civil court, if a third party (that is, a non-party to a lawsuit) negligently spoliated evidence.3
However, you generally do not have a right to bring a suit if there was:
The reason for no cause of action in these instances is because:
The situation can arise in a criminal case where the police or prosecutor destroy or mishandle evidence.
If the destroyed evidence is (or could be) favorable to the defendant, then the defendant can file what is known as a “Trombetta motion” or “T-motion.”6
In the motion, the accused basically states that because there was a destruction of relevant evidence, the court should drop or reduce the criminal charges in the case.
A judge will either grant or deny a T-motion. The judge will make a decision by considering:
It can be, yes. Penal Code 135 PC is the California statute that makes it a crime for a person to:
Examples of criminal acts under this law are:
A violation of PC 135 is charged as a misdemeanor offense. Penalties include:
A former Los Angeles prosecutor, attorney Neil Shouse graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School (and completed additional graduate studies at MIT). He has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, Dr Phil, The Today Show and Court TV. Mr Shouse has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Criminal and Top 100 Civil Attorneys.