The (in) admissibility of the death certificate as a substitute for the direct or indirect corpus delicti exam

Abstract

The proof of any homicide ought to be supported by a direct or indirect expert witness report. Moreover, the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure deems it essential when the scene of the crime has remnants of the criminal act. Because of this, any evidence of murder should be based on such forensic tests. When this is impossible, the judiciary resorts to witness arguments, which may serve to support the magistrate’s conviction. Nonetheless, any other evidence can be a replacement for the expert report when the crime scene is full of residue that enable forensic tests. Therefore, the magistrate should refuse the victim’s death certificate as a replacement for the expert witness report because it does not meet the necessary requirements for it to be characterized as such. Without the latter, any other kind of evidence is useless in supporting the judge’s conviction. In any case, this is the way
that the Brazilian Criminal Procedure Law shows its preference for the formal truth.