Legal Question in Criminal Law in Nevada

Can police leave evidence of innocence behind?

Surely they can leave behind evidence of your innocence. The search warrant commands them to find evidence to support a conviction, not an acquittal. Evidence to support an acquittal must be provided by you, through your attorney, unless you appear, before the grand jury and testify with the evidence to keep yourself from getting indicted.

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Exonerating Evidence

The trend of the law in recent decades is that the police do not need to go out of their way to collect exculpatory evidence. Once they have evidence, if it is clearly exculpatory, they must preserve it and notify the accused of its existence. However, if they negligently destroy such evidence, the charges need not be dismissed. To merit a dismissal, the evidence must have been clearly exculpatory and the destruction must have been done intentionally to harm the defense. This is an almost impossible burden of proof for the defense. Rare will be the case where it is possible to prove the intent of the police. With all of the emphasis on "good faith" of the police, it seems untenable to allow such conduct. "Good Faith" describes the conduct of the police in fairly collecting evidence and preserving evidence such that the truth is sought - not just evidence which would support a preconceived notion of guilt. I feel this is an area which should be challanged and a record for appeal ought to be made in every such case. Eventually, these rules have to be reevaluated and only by a continuing series of appeals showing the unfair results will convice appellate courts.

This point of view is offered for general consideration. I do not represent any person without a written retainer. No legal advice is of value unless based on careful study of the particular facts.