unintelligible evidence

[jaydenrhys]

Hi guys real stuck on this, You are informed by your client that you are to attend court to give evidence in relation to an investigation you conducted the year before.  The video tape you obtained is on a mini DV tape and the notes you made are almost unintelligible to anyone but yourself.  What could you do with the tape and the notes to assist the client or their legal team?

If something is unintelligible to everyone else but yourself this isnt really solid evidence is it?

[Homer]

surely the notes would have been typed up and provided to client as report or attachment to report a year earlier ? if not - just type them up anyway. hardly anyone can read my scribble and abbreviations. i have had to hand up notes on factual cases to court/tribunal three times and they all got handed straight back to me as nobody could understand them an weren't introduced into evidence. it was no big deal as I explained that i typed up statement/report based on my notes and they were for my eyes only. put the tape onto whatever format the client wants such as dvd and make a copy. tha also should have been done in first instance long ago.

[Jacob]

They're still contemporaneous notes and as such are original evidence.

You can also 'translate' them and submit this alongside, but the original notes are the real evidence.