During a criminal trial, the prosecution and defense will submit evidence to the court to support their position. There are many things that can be submitted as evidence, but generally, evidence is presented through documents or witnesses.

Documents

Some examples of document evidence include letters, contracts, receipts, public records, authenticated business records, photographs, and other tangible items (anything you can hold or touch).

Witnesses

Witnesses are people who have first-hand knowledge of the events that took place, or have some expert knowledge that they can share with the court. When a witness shares information with the court, it is called giving testimony. The prosecution or defense can ask people to come to your trial to tell the court what they know.

Since the prosecution has to prove that you are guilty of the crime, they are going to have to build a strong case against you using the types of evidence discussed above. Usually this evidence is found as a result of a police investigation of the events that led up to your charge.

The court wants to make sure that trials are fair. It wants to make sure that all of the evidence is on the table for both sides, so that the truth can be discovered in court. To maintain fairness, the prosecution and defense have to share the evidence with each other. This process is called discovery.