Circumstantial Case — Circumspect Conviction

Defense attorney Rauch Wise says that if the criminal legal system is going to honor the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, the system must do a better job of pointing out the importance of heighten scrutiny in cases involving circumstantial evidence. To prove a circumstantial evidence case, he writes, jurors must be informed that there can be no reasonable explanation other than the guilt of the defendant. Jurors must understand that the government has the obligation to eliminate any other reasonable explanations.