LE's Chain of Custody. Starts When? (Uh-oh, behind &reading back-azz-wards. Did
LE's dogs alert at tree?)
something interesting chris said tonight: (paraphrasing most of it).
if a dog gets a hit, and LE says they have it, and then leaves it without processing, they give up the chain of custody of that scene, by not eliminate it. hypothetically, anyone can come behind them now, and do whatever they want to do.
so, let's say there were multiple people involved here, (not saying there are), and different people get arrested. you know the first thing i would do as a defense attorney? "my client didn't do it! that guy did!" well, how do you know? "because he came in later. yeah, i planted the tree, but then i wasn't around. i left.
it's creating a defense right off the bat.
@swedeheart, creating defense? Yes and no, imo.
LE's Chain of Custody and its attendant obligations to safeguard evd do not start until they have custody/control/
possession of item in question, IIUC.
As your post explained Chris' hypo, LE said 'got it' demonstrating they were assuming custody of evd-dog (to start the CoC) but did not, so left the evd-dog, subject to interference, further destruction, or even removal by others. If so, then LE broke CoC, leaving opening for def atty to argue that somebody else did something to evd-dog in the meantime. My client is not responsible; SODDI did it.
Here AFAIK, LE's CoC has not started. If May 10(?) was date of SM's death, any perp could have hidden remains there (w or w'out that tree) at any time for the past four months.
If LE does not guard that tree tonight, but gets warrant & recovers remains tomorrow Tues Sept 29, then any perp has had only one more day to have done something further w evd, like interfere, modify or remove.
Yes, passage of another one day or two days is additional risk but I don't see it exactly as an LE CoC issue.
If
LE's search dogs alerted on that tree
today (did they?), maybe def atty could successfully argue CoC should have started then.
As always, welcoming comment, clarification correction, esp'ly from our legal professionals.