Originally Posted by truebeliever2013 Originally Posted by

Police procedure is different than admitting evidence to the court. In general, everything that possibly be determined to be evidence in the case, real or circumstantial can be vouchered for evidence. The second rifle may have been vouchered to "paint the picture" that they had gone there to go shooting toward the reckless charge. We sometimes voucher a defendant's clothes at the time of arrest for possible other forensic tests that may probably never be done in some cases. Or just to show how they were dressed even if pictures may do the same. If they were shooting during a hunting trip, they might have vouchered their camo clothes to "paint the picture"



Then the DA or the assigned detective determines what is important and what can be released back to the defendant before trial. The item doesn't have to be directly linked to the crime itself but the prosecutor's theory of what happened. The prosecutor might release the property but the property is documented as being present.