To demonstrate authenticity for process-generated records, the proponent is required to introduce evidence that describes a process or a system used to produce a result and to show that the process or system produces an accurate result. How much detail the proponent should provide depends on the complexity or familiarity of the record at hand.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
Vol. 81, No. 2, February
2008
Foundational Checklist for Admitting as Evidence Records Created by
a Process
To demonstrate authenticity for process-generated records, the
proponent
is required to introduce evidence that describes a process or a system
used
to produce a result and to show that the process or system produces an
accurate result. How much detail the proponent should provide depends on
the
complexity or familiarity of the record at hand. The foundations for
many
computer-generated records will not require the proponent to cover each
point noted in
the comprehensive checklist below.
1) The improbability that the records have been altered, which may
include:
- the chain of custody for the evidence;
- the internal and external security built into the system and the
security procedures in place;
- how changes in the database are recorded and how this information
shows
that the records have not been altered;
- how the records were produced, in particular whether the records
were
printed or relied upon before litigation; and
- if the records were obtained pursuant to a forensic process, an
explanation of how the records were duplicated and analyzed.
2) The completeness of the record:
- how the data is input into the computer _ whether complete data
was fed
into the process (for example, check kite or tax record analysis);
- processing _ what the computer and program are asked to do; and
- output _ how the record is retrieved from the computer.
3) The reliability of the computer program and equipment:
- whether the program and equipment are used routinely;
- absence of prior problems;
- ability of hardware/program to detect errors;
- whether the equipment is regularly checked;
- whether the program and equipment produce a testable result; and
- whether the output is routinely verified:
- automatically as part of the program;
- by a complementary system that would not work if errors occurred
in
the program or equipment producing the proposed record; or
- by other external controls.
Wisconsin Lawyer
