Evidence of a Crime

Corpus delecti means "the body of the crime", which doesn't mean a physical body, but rather the nature of the transgression.  What the corpus delecti requirement means is that an admission or confession of a defendant may not be introduced into evidence unless the corpus delecti of the crime has first been established.  

The rule exists to protect an accused from a conviction when no crime was committed.  I have won cases on this rule.  It is very important for all criminal defense lawyers in Bucks County.  

Only statements of an accused that are material to prosecution are subject to this rule.  The Commonwealth must sustain an initial burden of proof by preliminary establishing the existence of a corpus delecti.  Corpus delicti may be shown through circumstantial evidence.  The evidence must be consistent with a crime, however, as the Supreme Court in Commowealth v. Boykin indicates.  

Corpus Delecti and Its Application

Here's an example -- a person is on the side of the road.  A police officer pulls up and says, "What are you doing?"  The person responds with, "I don't have insurance and shouldn't be driving."  The officer must have independent evidence of the lack of insurance prior to the admission being entered.  

The corpus delecti of murder is evidence that there is a dead human and that the death occurred under circumstances which indicate the death was criminal.  

For a DUI, the corpus is that a person operated a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.  For example, a person is lying next to his truck in the road and the officer smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage about the person (see Commonwealth v. Kasunic of 1993).