Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: evidence

The chain of custody is a concern for all physical evidence because of the possibility that someone might have tampered with the evidence before trial. If evidence is left someplace accessible, there is a risk that something like this will happen. Evidence in a properly-addressed envelope is usually very secure, and a party who wants to claim someone tampered with it will have to do a lot more than show that it was mailed or sent by UPS.

Even where part of the chain of custody is undocumented, that fact alone does not prevent the evidence from being admitted at trial. Instead, the break offers the parties a chance to argue to the jury that the evidence has been compromised. Juries will seldom believe such an argument if it is based on speculation; unless there is reason to believe someone tampered with it, jurors usually presume the evidence is in its original condition.

Re: evidence

It can be broken but it will depend on all of the facts surrounding the case.