the dvd in court


this has been asked in another thread but not answered. the impression i have of most court systems (admittedly only from TV and john grisham novels) is that you can't introduce a piece of evidence without first making the other side aware of it and giving them some time to prepare a response; part of the 'discovery' phase in american trial law. so, blindsiding the prosecution with the dvd of the rape seems really unlikely. anyone know if this could really happen in a swedish court?

natural po-lice...

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Yes, in Sweden you can do this in a court

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Thanks for the definitive answer...

natural police...

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Even in American courts, it probably could have been introduced. Discovery law places the most significant burden on the prosecution regarding disclosing evidence. Defense usually only has to provide the names of alibi and expert witnesses and any defensive strategies that will fundamentally alter the normal procedures that the prosecution will use to make their case, such as an insanity plea. The prosecution has to disclose everything they have, even exculpatory evidence that they have and do not intend to use.

The prosecution might argue that the dvd should have been presented in discovery, but in this case, the defense could argue that it would be exempt from discovery law because it was rebuttal evidence presented in response to sworn testimony that occurred after the discovery phase of the trial.

(The dvd was presented to refute Teleborian's testimony that Salander's description of the rape was clearly a fantasy, and proof that she was incapable of distinguishing reality from delusion.)

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Thanks for the informative answer, and I took so long to reply.

natural police...

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A good contrast to the DVD would be Salander's autobiography.
The prosecution seems well versed in its contents. They've bee provided this ahead of time.

The loophole the defense is using is that the DVD is produced only because the prosecution asserts that she has no evidence supporting her claim of being raped.

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Thanks for the informative answer, and I took so long to reply.

natural police...

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