The University of Florida
Fredric G. Levin College of Law 
Evidence § A
LAW 6330-Sec. 3148

Fall 2009

Professor Pedro A. Malavet

Description: Four Credits. A general course on Evidence focusing on admissibility at trial under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

MATERIALS

Lectures on iTunesU
(as of November 3, 2009)

I have posted several hours of lectures online using UF's new iTunesU site and the AT office will input all student IDs for our course into the system so that you may have access. Please try again later today or tomorrow to see if it is finaly working.

If you continue to have access problems, please contact the ufhelpdesk. This is an experiment, and they need our feedback to make sure that it has been set up properly. Hearing from you will be critical to this process. I am sorry for the growing pains, but with your help, this system will work for our course and for many others at our institution.

This site may only be accessed after login in using your gatorlink user ID and password via web browser at UF's page: http://itunesu.at.ufl.edu

I recommend that you first open iTunes, then open your web browser and direct it to the UF iTunesU login page. You will be given access only to course pages for classes in which you are registered. For security reasons, UF has chosen to limit access in this manner, therefore, our iTunesU web site does not appear in the general directory posted by the Apple iTunesU Store.

Listening to and downloading of the audio files will be done through the iTunes software. The files have been designated by date with the month appearing first, followed by the day and the session no.

Accordingly, "evidence092901" means that this file is a recording of our class on September 29, 2009, first hour.

I have posted recordings all hours of class for the weeks of September 28-29 and October 5-6, 12-13, 19-20, 26-27, November 3, second hour only (sorry, I had a technology user failure for the first hour), November 4, 9 and 10th.

Fall 2009 First Day Assignment
(updated July 29, 2009)

Required Texts:

(1) Christopher B. Mueller and Laird C. Kirkpatrick, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (6th. ed., Aspen Law & Business 2008);
(2) Mueller & Kirkpatrick, Federal Rules of Evidence: With Advisory Committee Notes and Legislative History (Aspen Law & Business 2009).

The casebook is mandatory, and you must have the sixth edition. You must also purchase the current Rules Supplement, which will be the only book allowed in the exam room.

For our first session, review our class syllabus and read pages 1-15 of the casebook. You may review reading assignments, which I will update during the semester to correspond to the new edition of the casebook, in the Assignments and Notes page.

Required Books and First Day Assignment

(1) Christopher B. Mueller and Laird C. Kirkpatrick, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (6th. ed., Aspen Law & Business 2008);
(2) Mueller & Kirkpatrick, Federal Rules of Evidence: With Advisory Committee Notes and Legislative History (Aspen Law & Business 2008).

We have a new edition of the casebook that includes materials on the recent Supreme Court decisions on the 6th Amendment. The casebook is mandatory, and you must have the sixth edition. You must also purchase the current Rules Supplement, which will be the only book allowed in the exam room.

For our first session, review our class syllabus and read pages 1-15 of the casebook. You may review reading assignments, which I will update during the semester to correspond to the new edition of the casebook, in the Assignments and Notes page.

Fall 2007

[2007 Practical Project] [Project Feedback]

 

First Day Assignment

For our first session on Monday, August 20, 2007, please print or download the course syllabus, and read pages 1-15 of our case book (QUESTION: What is "the record"?). We will spend the first few minutes of class going over the Syllabus to review my course policies and the material that I expect to cover; then we will discuss the short reading assignment.

The syllabus, reading assignments, notes and other materials related to our course, including old exams, are available in my webpage at: http://nersp.osg.ufl.edu/~malavet. I will not hand out printed materials. You are required to review the materials posted in the course webpage regularly and are deemed to be on notice of what is posted there as a member of my class.

The required class materials are: (1) Christopher B. Mueller and Laird C. Kirkpatrick, EVIDENCE UNDER THE RULES (5th. ed., Aspen Law & Business 2004); (2) Mueller & Kirkpatrick, Federal Rules of Evidence: With Advisory Committee Notes and Legislative History (Aspen Law & Business 2007). Because the examination is "open rules," you must purchase the designated Federal Rules of Evidence supplement. No other supplement will be allowed in the examination room.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007, first hour: Pages 15-30, Problem 1-A.

Tuesday, August, 21, 2007, second hour: Pages 30-49, Problem 1-B.

Hereafter, please refer to the "Assignment and Notes" section of the webpage for updated reading assignments.

Some Basic Information for our Course


Pattern Jury Instructions

The instructions that are actually given to the jury are very helpful in clarifying evidentiary points.

Click here to view the few instructions that I used in class.

Click here to go the 11th Circuit's website
to download Pattern Jury Instructions

The Two Basic Blackboard Outlines

I was finally able to use a digital camera to take a picture of your blackboard -- thanks to Ms. Amirin and the FLALAW staff--  which allows me to reproduce the basic outlines that I repeatedly use in class. Here they are:

"The Forest "

(my general outline to deconstruct all evidence problems)

From your left to your right, you start with the Preliminary Question:  regular (FRE 104(a)) vs. conditional admissibility (FRE 104(b)). You then move on to Part I:  basic relevance question under FRE 401, which makes the evidence potentially admissible under  FRE 402. Then you move on to Part II: Is there a more specific admissibility or exclusion rule (e.g., FRE  801, FRE 404). If you get past that, then you reach Part III: the FRE 403 balance (unless the rule in part II expressly states otherwise). After Admission: If you admit, you also might still have to consider possible Limiting Instructions under FRE 105 or completeness admissibility under FRE 106, just to name two post admission rules.
 

THE FOREST IN THE FIELD OF EVIDENCE:
---> Preliminarily:
Who Decides? [go]
Judge (FRE 104(a)) or Jury (FRE 104(b))

I. Is the evidence relevant?
[FRE 401] [FRE 402]

II. More specific questions regarding admissibility
e.g. [FRE 404] [FRE 801] [FRE 609]

III. FRE 403
(a) What is the relevant evidence's probative value? [FRE 403]
(b) Is the probative value substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice (or any of the other five reasons)? [FRE 403]

--->Post-admission:
For what purpose is the evidence admitted?
[FRE 105] This may also affect the 403 balance. (In other words, the limiting instruction may affect the balance.)

[FRE 106] The admission of a document may then allow the admission of the rest or parts of it.

Strength of the Evidence

(the Summary Judgment or Judgment as Matter Law Standard)

[You will probably note that I have digitally-removed the United States flag on the top, left.
I was simply not comfortable putting any words on top of it, especially the word "False"!]

Note that the extreme left (from your perspective, looking towards the board) always represents 0%, meaning that  no evidence at all exists to support the pertinent fact. The start of the blackboard represents the start of the level of proof at which  "Reasonable Minds" can find the fact to exist or not, and the strength of the evidence increases as you move from left to right, reaching the 50% mark in the middle of the two blackboards, and reaching preponderance at the start of the second blackboard. The evidence becomes increasingly strong as you move along this continuum towards the mythical 100% or absolute truth of the fact alleged, which is represented by the extreme right corner of the classroom.

Exams

Examination Feedback Memoranda

Practical Projects

Practical Project Feedback Memoranda

Graphics & Handouts

Policy Notes

Exam Review Procedure
(posted January 16, 2006)

The feedback memo has been posted.
Scroll to the link below, or click here.

Starting Date. As I indicated in the examination itself, I will be available to discuss examination results during the Spring semester, beginning after Tuesday, February 7, 2006. Exams and the Feedback Memorandum will be available beginning on that date. I will post the feedback memorandum in the website and my secretary will have the exams.

Exam Pick-up. You may pick up your exam from my secretary, Mrs. Betty Donaldson, by giving her your exam number and showing your university identification card. You must return the original exam to Mrs. Donaldson, but you may make and keep a photocopy of it.
 
Review Policy. You must review the feedback memorandum before scheduling a meeting with me. Examination review is a good way to learn from your mistakes, and from your successes. I will be happy to sit down and discuss substantive matters with each student. I will first tell each of you what you did right. I will also gladly suggest ways to improve your exam-taking abilities.
 
No Grade Changes. Barring mathematical errors, your grade is not going to be changed. Grading is a time-consuming and difficult process. The only fair way to do it is to grade in the context of each class. I look for a fair overall grade distribution and follow the rank of each student within the class in awarding the final grade.

A note about late arrivals

During the course of the semester I often privately inform a number of students that repeated late arrival to class is unacceptable conduct, as I indicate in the “professionalism” section of my syllabus. 

The most common response to my admonition essentially amounts to: “I could not find parking.” Though most students with whom I spoke already understood this concept, it appears that I nevertheless need to point out that an inability to find parking is not an acceptable excuse for late arrival. The hunt for a parking space is a challenge which all of us who study or work on this campus must face regularly. Therefore, lack of parking is not an emergency that results in a justified delayed-arrival, rather, your lack of planning for the existing challenges of our campus produces unacceptable lateness. Each student is responsible for being in our classroom on time. That means that you must properly plan your schedule so as to arrive in class on time, which includes accounting for the danger of not finding parking minutes before class, the desire to get a drink, or any other regular activity that should be performed prior to taking your seat in the classroom. 

I hereby remind you that I will take note of repeated late arrival to reduce final grades and will consider administrative removal in severe cases. Furthermore, if the matter continues to be a problem, I will change my policy and stop treating job-interviews as excused absences.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THIS IS THE END!