lost evidence
Vanished case materials
Lost evidence is material relevant to a legal case that has been destroyed, misplaced, or otherwise made unavailable.
The loss may be accidental or deliberate—when intentional, it suggests someone had reason to hide what the evidence would show.
Courts may instruct juries to draw adverse inferences from lost evidence, presuming it would have been unfavorable to the party who lost it: The defense argued the lost evidence would have exonerated their client.
- destroyedMade to cease existing
- beyond repairDamaged past restoration
- tamperedIllegally altered or meddled
- missingNot present, whereabouts unknown
- concealedMade invisible deliberately
hidden · coverup · cover up · foul play · obstruction · shredded · erased · witness · alibi · forensic · contaminated · suppressed · buried · vanished · crime scene · chain · chain of custody · custody
- injusticeinjustice, inequality, discrimination, bias, prejudice