Davis v. Washington

 

The case of the woman having evidence of the assault based on the photograph as well as the text messages she has sent to the police officer is significant because it involves an attempt at showing the guilt of the individual, in this case, her ex-husband. However, it is pertinent to note that the accusation that she makes against her ex-husband is actually quite serious and it constitutes the physical violation of the woman. It is related to the Davis v Washington case, where a similar occurrence took place only in this situation, the evidence of the woman was based on an audio of her 911 call ("Davis v. Washington," 2006). The importance of this case is based on the Supreme Court judgment that the evidence was inadmissible because of its testimonial nature; meaning that even though there was some evidence from the audio, it failed to qualify as evidence because the woman involved was not a witness to something that had already happened. This meant that she could not be called forth to give evidence in court as a witness. Furthermore, the police officers that went to her apartment following the call could not be admitted as witnesses because they did not actually witness the events that had taken place, but rather relied on the woman’s account to determine the sequence of events. Therefore, Davis v Washington can be used as precedence when it comes to handling the evidence that the woman is presenting against her ex-husband because despite her story, and the photographic evidence to her police friend to prove it, there are not enough witnesses to actually back it up. The only evidence that is relied on in this situation is the word of the woman alone, which is inadmissible since it does not have other witnesses to prove its veracity.

It is important to note that the Bible also takes on a similar stance based on the idea that there should be two or three witnesses to ensure that evidence is reliable. This is shown through the need for there to be witnesses to verify that an event actually took place. There is the need to make sure that there is the provision of reliable primary sources, which includes people or trace evidence that indeed a crime actually took place (John 3:32; Exodus 22:9-15) (Holy Bible, New international version (NIV), 1978). The latter is an important safeguard against those individuals who would seek to cause harm to others through the bearing of false witness, which creates a scenario where the burden of proof ends up being with the accuser as well as others that may have actually witnessed the event taking place. It is pertinent to note that the evidence that is presented by the woman is at best circumstantial because the context under which the photograph as well as the texts was being sent cannot be easily determined without other witnesses to prove that it actually happened. The lack of witnesses as well as a reliance on a law enforcement officer that is may not be impartial on account of being her friend creates a dilemma since even if they were to give the same or similar testimonies, there is a potential that they may have conspired against the ex-husband to ensure that he got into trouble with the law. In this way, based on the lack of other witnesses, the available evidence cannot be admissible.