Quote:
Originally Posted by The Villain
Yeah but for it to be evidence wouldn't it have to be taken down to the police station and locked away as evidence? If it's just left at the scene of the crime i don't see how he can say that he was stealing evidence.
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Right, that's what I'm saying in a roundabout way. Police take items (interviews & pictures) they guess might be evidence. Items are taken to the police evidence lockup. But what is "evidence" is continually evolving in a case. Items taken may never be used by either prosecutors or defenders. And new items from a "former" crime scene may be taken later if the investigator comes to believe it might be evidence.
If you take something you own from a 'former' crime scene and bury it, investigators are going to get it and pick it apart. It's not 'stealing'. They could arrest someone for doing that, but they'd have to prove it's relevant evidence, or prove that you were trying to confuse or waste their time, that is obstruct the process, to convict you of OOJ.
So items left at a former crime scene are not 'evidence', but they can become evidence later.