Why Evidence Is Important Part 1

This section is on the role evidence plays in civil and criminal cases. Here is the most frequent comment on Facebook groups:

“Investigations do no good in civil cases. Don’t waste your money.”

Of course I argue against this all the time. My job is to educate the public on how evidence plays a part in all cases.

I have gathered evidence for thousands of cases that were tried in civil matters. These are typically divorce and custody cases. The opposing party will make a list of huge allegations with absolutely zero evidence to back up their claims. When we work for you, we will coach you on how your evidence will shut the opposing side down with facts.

If these allegations go to the judge in court proceedings, then they become public record. A person with a smart phone that knows where to look can find these records. Without proof, these allegations may or may not stand up in court. But you, with solid evidence, can move a judge to make a ruling favorable to your case. This also gets placed on the record. 

For example, a private investigator might get evidence of your spouse entering or leaving a hotel with the opposite sex. If this happens repeatedly, then a reasonable person can make the conclusion that there is an affair going on. Does the opposing party want explicit information hanging out there on public record? Usually not.

Civil example :

Charlotte came to us looking for evidence that her husband was hiding money. Huge chunks of cash went missing from their business and personal bank accounts. Her husband moved into an apartment and told her “It’s none of her business.” It was her business because they had significant assets of over five million dollars.

Charlotte did not think her husband was having an affair. To get a better idea of how he was spending his time and money, she hired my team to try and find out what he was up to. We quickly discovered that he was involved with a much younger woman and took her on a fifteen day trip to Puerto Rico costing upwards of thirty thousand dollars.

He purchased a twenty five thousand dollar engagement ring for this young lady. We were able to acquire the receipt though some pretext work.

Prior to hiring us, this man offered our client twenty-five thousand dollars in cash and alimony of twelve hundred dollars per month. Her lawyer at the time recommended that she take the deal and just walk away. This was horrible advise and she hire a more aggressive attorney.

In the end, with good evidence and a great attorney, our client received a seven figure sum of cash and alimony of eight thousand dollars per month. Do not let the Facebook mom’s group lead you astray.

A lazy lawyer will try to steer you away from collecting evidence. These lawyers either do not know how to or are too lazy to enter the evidence. Great lawyers seek evidence to aid in their fight for you. If a lawyer is trying to talk you out of collecting evidence on your own or hiring a professional, it may be time for a different lawyer.

I get a lot of calls from criminal defendants who are either in the pre or post-conviction stage. Almost always, there is critical evidence left out of the filings. We dig into these criminal cases to try and find new evidence to assist our client in getting a new case or help with their current case. Criminal evidence has stricter rules that those in civil and is very important to helping our clients.

Criminal example:

We had a client who had been in prison for twenty years for murder. This stemmed from a drive by that our client was not involved in. However, inmates turned informants lied about our client’s whereabouts and their testimony was allowed to stand and he was convicted.

He hired our team to go out and get the real statements from witnesses who were never interviewed by police at the time of the murder. We did and got two statements that gave our client a solid alibi. He was granted a new trial based on new evidence.

If you are in a situation where you need evidence to present to the courts, I recommend you hire a professional to do the work for you. It is time consuming and must be collected correctly to be accepted.

Macky Outlaw

www.mackyoutlaw.com