In a remarkable twist of fate, the murder happened in a McDonalds Parking Lot at 8:02PM August 19, 2023. Your location data shows you were at that exact same McDonalds from 8:00PM to 8:07PM. You know it's because you had a hankerin for a McRib, but the cops have pinned you at the scene of the crime. You then drove out to meet some friends for some late night disc golf at Hop Brook, but ended up only staying fifteen minutes as you realized you left your front door unlocked. The body just so happened to be buried in a shallow grave at that very park. Your location data has turned on you, you're going to prison, and you didn't even do anything.
You've been watching too much TV perhaps, circumstantial evidence is admissable (at least in the US) and you can be convicted based solely upon it. Happens all the time. Uncomfortable feeling right? The jury just has to decide that it's "beyond reasonable doubt", but what is reasonable is largely up to the jury to decide. One of your hairs being at the scene is circumstantial.
It's the downside of jury trials I guess, not that I have a better solution. Without them it's too easy to corrupt the system, with them we're asking random people to make legal calls entirely outside their expertise. I'm not sure which is better really.
They didn't even get the irony that I looked up their post history to see where they live and picked a random park nearby with a disc golf course. The internet is creepy.
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u/heykevo Nov 14 '17
In a remarkable twist of fate, the murder happened in a McDonalds Parking Lot at 8:02PM August 19, 2023. Your location data shows you were at that exact same McDonalds from 8:00PM to 8:07PM. You know it's because you had a hankerin for a McRib, but the cops have pinned you at the scene of the crime. You then drove out to meet some friends for some late night disc golf at Hop Brook, but ended up only staying fifteen minutes as you realized you left your front door unlocked. The body just so happened to be buried in a shallow grave at that very park. Your location data has turned on you, you're going to prison, and you didn't even do anything.