Flashcards Studio
Practice bar questions and get clear AI feedback on every answer.
Question
A hardware-store burglary occurs in which the intruders pried open the steel security gate with a distinctive pair of bolt cutters. Investigators recover the bolt cutters from the defendant’s backpack. The tools bear both a maintenance contractor’s tag and a store inventory tag, and the store owner testifies that the bolt cutters were the instruments used to pry open the gate and the display cabinet. The defendant was found with the bolt cutters and cannot provide a credible explanation. The prosecution offers the bolt cutters as Exhibit B to prove both the burglary and the instrumentality used to gain entry. (a) Identify which category of object evidence under Rule 130, Part A applies to Exhibit B and justify your choice. (b) State the controlling rule for admissibility of this category and apply it to determine whether Exhibit B should be admitted, addressing the issues of identification/ownership and relevance.