§ 26.03 Charts, Models and Maps

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 26.03 Charts, Models and Maps

Diagrams, models, maps, blueprints, sketches, and other exhibits used to illustrate and explain testimony may be introduced if they are substantially accurate representations of what the witness is endeavoring to describe.³⁵ For example, a replica shotgun could be used as illustrative evidence, provided that the jury understands that it was not the actual weapon used in the crime.³⁶ The admissibility of these types of pedagogical devices is left to the discretion of the trial judge under Rule 403.³⁷

In recent years, so-called "anatomically correct dolls" have been used in child sex-abuse cases. The use of these dolls solely as demonstrative evidence to help a child witness explain what happened may be justifiable.³⁸ To use them as substantive evidence of abuse is an entirely different matter.³⁹

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Notes:

^[35] See Joseph, Modern Visual Evidence ch. 9 (2012) (diagrams, charts, graphs and models).

^[36] See United States v. Aldaco, 201 F.3d 979, 986 (7th Cir. 2000) ("The government introduced the replica to illustrate what Officer Sanchez saw when he observed Aldaco holding the shotgun in order that the jury might properly determine whether the events happened as Officer Sanchez testified. This Court has frequently approved the use of this type of demonstrative evidence to establish that objects of this nature were actually used in the commission of a crime."). See also United States v. Humphrey, 279 F.3d 372, 376-77 (6th Cir. 2002) (no abuse of discretion in bank embezzlement trial to admit 107 coin bags (most filled with stryofoam) as demonstrating what that much cash would look like); United States v. Salerno, 108 F.3d 730, 742-43 (7th Cir. 1997) (no abuse of discretion to use a scale model of a crime scene as demonstrative evidence); United States v. Towns, 913 F.2d 434, 446 (7th Cir. 1990) (no abuse of discretion in allowing admission of a gun and ski mask identified by eyewitnesses "as being similar to those possessed by the robbers" for "the limited demonstrative purpose of providing examples of the gun and ski mask" used in the robbery).

^[37] See Roland v. Langlois, 945 F.2d 956, 963 (7th Cir. 1991) ("There is no requirement that demonstrative evidence be completely accurate, however, and the evidence was admitted only on the express condition that the jury be alerted to the perceived inaccuracies. . . . [W]e agree with the district court that the benefits from the use of a life-size model were not substantially...