Title: "Trombetta Motions" & Spoliation Of Evidence In California Criminal Cases
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Content: after Leslie if charged for robbery (per PC 211) , her attorney discovers that the police lost fingerprints taken from the scene of the crime (that differed from those of her client). Note that the mishandling of evidence, for which the motion addresses, is a violation of a defendant’s Constitutional right to due process. Defendants can file a Trombetta motion in basically any type of criminal case, and they can be used to fight charges of a misdemeanor, a felony, or a wobbler. A judge will either grant or deny a defendant’s motion. And, he will make this decision by following a two-step process that considers: how favorable the missing evidence was to the defendant, and
if the government acted in bad faith. “ Spoliation ” refers to when a person destroys or conceals evidence. Per California Penal Code 135 PC, this destruction and concealment of evidence is a crime. A violation of Penal Code 135 is charged as a misdemeanor. The crime is punishable by: