STUDY GUIDE

1. : Relevancy, Materiality, and Competency
   1. What are the main differences between the analysis of relevancy and the analysis of materiality?
   2. What is the "of consequence" analysis and why is it important?
   3. There are four (4) requirements for a witness to deemed competent. Which of the four do you think is most important and why? If you had to eliminate one, which one would you eliminate?
2. Florida Law Enforcement Training Handbook: Relevant Evidence
   1. What type of evidence is always admissible?
   2. Why can the government notuse evidence of crimes or other acts that are not charged or relevant to prove their charged offense?
   3. This reading walks through 9 examples of areas that the government can collect evidence that may not directly prove the crime charged, but that might indirectly be relevant. Pick one of the areas and come up with a new example of a piece of evidence that would fall under this category.
3. IBJ Criminal Defense Wiki: Materiality, Reliability, and Admissibility of Evidence
   1. Why must the court evaluate each piece of evidence for relevancy, materiality, and/or competency?
   2. Evidence might not be admitted even if the court determines that it is both relevant and material. In what situation might this happen and why?
   3. When might evidence be admitted even though it does help to prove or disprove a specific issue in the case at hand?
4. Introduction to Criminal Investigation: Processes, Practices, and Thinking: Competence and Compellability
   1. In this reading, you learn about the possibility that some witnesses may not be presumed competent. What is the reasoning behind not presuming certain witnesses are competent?
   2. How does this reading describe how a court might determine whether a witness has the ability to communicate?
   3. Give three (3) examples of facts that might lead to a witness being deemed not competent.Give three (3) examples of facts that might lead to a witness being deemed not credible.