Why You Shouldn’t Alter Evidence Before Trial
It’s very important not to alter evidence—emails, photos, documents, electronic communications, or anything else—before using them at trial. Here’s why.
Hi, I’m Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings. I practice here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I focus on fathers’ rights, and I’ve been practicing for about 25 years.
Best Practice
Often clients bring me copies of emails, photos, text messages, or phone records, but they’ve circled things, written notes in the margins, or highlighted passages. That essentially ruins the document for trial. Evidence must be presented exactly as it was originally received or sent. If you’ve marked it up, then when we try to admit it, the judge would also be receiving your notes or highlights, which could unfairly influence how they perceive the evidence. That makes it inadmissible.
If you need to highlight or circle something, make a separate copy for your notes. Always keep a clean, unaltered version for trial. That way you can testify truthfully that the exhibit is exactly as it appeared when you received it.
Photos
With photos, you should also preserve the metadata—the details showing the date and time the picture was taken. Some phones let you display this under the image; if not, you can print or attach it separately. That’s fine. What you don’t want to do is apply filters, draw on the photo, crop it, or use editing features that alter the original image. If the picture was originally taken with a filter, that’s okay as long as you identify it as such, but don’t create a new altered version.
Trials are deadline-driven. Many times we’re preparing exhibits the night before. If the documents you provide are marked up, we have to scramble to replace them with clean versions at the last minute. That wastes valuable time and could weaken your case.
Consultation Offer
If you’d like a consultation or need help preparing for trial, give Tulsa men’s divorce attorney Clint Hastings a call at 918-962-0900 and we’ll be glad to help.
