Top 10 Smoking Gun Evidence FAILS

Top 10 Smoking Gun Evidence FAILS

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most significant pieces of evidence that were meant to help convict defendants but, either during trial or upon appeal, actually played a pivotal role in their acquittal.

#10: Calling Card

The Hall-Mills Murder Trial
On September 16th 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and his choir member, Eleanor Mills, were discovered in a field in Somerset, New Jersey. The cruel nature of the crime, plus the fact that both victims were having an affair, placed suspicion on Hall’s wife, Frances. At the crime scene, police found a calling card, later determined to contain the fingerprints of Frances’ brother, Willie. Investigators charged Frances and her brothers with the murders, making this calling card the main physical evidence during their trial. However, the card had been mishandled by the police. It was passed around among reporters and curious onlookers at the crime scene, severely contaminating it. Consequently, the jury acquitted the defendants, leaving the case unsolved to this day.

#9: Needle Tainted With Insulin

Claus von Bülow Attempted Murder Trial
When American socialite Sunny von Bülow was found unconscious on her bathroom floor in December 1980, suspicion fell on her husband, Claus. Medical tests soon revealed that Sunny had low blood sugar but a high insulin level. While Sunny lay in a coma, Claus was convicted of her attempted murder. The prosecution’s evidence included a needle allegedly containing traces of insulin, which they claimed Claus injected Sunny with. Claus appealed this conviction and, during his second trial, expert witnesses testified that the needle was coated with insulin on the outside, but had none inside. They argued that if Claus had indeed injected Sunny, the needle would have been wiped clean of the insulin. The jury bought this argument and ultimately acquitted Claus.

#8: “Bloodstained” Underwear

Lloyd E. Miller Jr. Murder Trial
The phrase “gross miscarriage of justice” has never been more fitting than in this case. In 1955, taxi driver Lloyd E. Miller Jr. was arrested for the murder of Janice May in Canton, Illinois. The main physical evidence against him was a pair of “bloodstained” underwear found near the crime scene. The prosecution convinced the jury that this blood belonged to Miller, leading to his conviction and death sentence. Miller remained on death row for years, once coming within hours of execution, when a federal judge ordered a re-examination of the evidence. It turned out that the supposed bloodstains were actually paint. Even worse, the prosecution knew this all along. Miller’s conviction was overturned and he was freed after 11 years behind bars.

#7: Positive Identification by Victim

Ronald Cotton Sexual Assault Trial
In July 1984, a man broke into the apartment of Jennifer Thompson and sexually assaulted her at knifepoint. During the ordeal, Thompson memorized her attacker’s physical appearance, determined to identify him later. In both a photo array and police lineup, Thompson picked out Ronald Cotton as the assailant. Her testimony in court was pivotal in securing a conviction. Cotton later appealed this decision and was granted a second trial. However, before this trial began, a felon named Bobby Poole reportedly confessed to the crime. The defense presented Poole to Thompson during the trial, but she insisted that Cotton was the culprit. He was subsequently sentenced to life. Nearly a decade later, DNA analysis proved Thompson wrong; Bobby Poole was the real attacker.

#6: SIDS Statistics

Trial of Sally Clark
Sally Clark was a solicitor in Cheshire, England, who faced criminal charges for the deaths of her two sons: Christopher in December 1996, and Harry in January 1998. Clark’s defense argued that both deaths were due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), but the prosecution insisted this was extremely unlikely. Their star witness was Sir Roy Meadow, a professor of pediatrics, who testified that the chances of that happening was 1 in 73 million. This staggering statistic convinced the jury to return a guilty verdict. But Meadow’s numbers were deeply flawed. Even the Royal Statistical Society issued a statement rejecting his claims. Clark’s conviction was eventually overturned in a second appeal, after it was also revealed that Harry had “lethal” levels of bacterial infection.

#5: Blood in the Car

The Trial of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton
One of Australia’s most infamous murder trials, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton stood accused of killing her daughter, Azaria, during a family camping trip. Azaria’s body was never found, and Chamberlain-Creighton insisted a dingo had taken her. An initial inquiry backed this story, but a second inquest suggested otherwise, claiming to have found blood in the family car. At trial, an expert testified that this blood contained fetal hemoglobin, indicating it belonged to a baby. Chamberlain-Creighton was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. She had spent three years behind bars before being freed when it was revealed that the supposed blood was actually a chemical compound from manufacturing paint. Chamberlain-Creighton was later pardoned and received $1.3 million in compensation from the Australian government.

#4: Chloroform

Casey Anthony Murder Trial
The Casey Anthony case revolved around allegations that she had killed her daughter, Caylee, to escape parental responsibilities. Although physical evidence was scant, prosecutors argued she used chloroform to commit the crime. They invited software designer John Bradley, who testified that someone had searched for “chloroform” on the family computer not once, not twice, but 84 times. The prosecution suggested it was Anthony, but that theory shattered when her mother, Cindy, testified that she mistakenly searched for “chloroform” while sourcing for information about “chlorophyll.” Even the medical examiner confirmed that Caylee’s remains tested negative for “volatile chemicals.” After the trial, it was revealed that Bradley’s software had malfunctioned, and the search for “chloroform” happened only once. By then, Anthony had already been acquitted.

#3: Phone Bill

Murder Trial of David Camm
On September 28th 2000, retired Indiana state trooper David Camm returned home from a basketball game to find his wife and two children dead. He soon became the prime suspect. The murders were estimated to have occurred around 8pm, but Camm claimed he was at his game between 7pm and 9:30pm. His alibi seemed solid until investigators discovered a phone bill that showed Camm made a call from the house at 7:19pm. This voided his alibi, leading to his conviction. However, there was a catch. Because Indiana has two different time zones, this call was later determined to have been made an hour earlier, at 6:19pm. Camm spent 13 years in prison, enduring two convictions, before being acquitted in a third trial.

#2: Kitchen Knife

The Amanda Knox Trial
In 2007, Amanda Knox was an American student living in Italy when her flatmate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered. Little did Knox know that this incident would spark a decades-long legal saga. She was charged with Kercher’s murder, alleged to have killed her in a botched sex game. Despite little physical evidence, prosecutors fixated on a knife from her boyfriend’s house, claiming it held DNA from both Knox and Kercher. This knife became the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case, and helped secure Knox’s conviction. However, on appeal, the knife was re-examined, revealing that the DNA mostly belonged to Knox, with the remaining traces likely due to cross-contamination. Knox was ultimately acquitted, but the shadow of this case continues to loom over her.

#1: Bloodied Gloves

Murder Trial of O. J. Simpson
The 1995 trial of O. J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, is perhaps the most publicized criminal trial in history. While there were multiple pieces of evidence linking Simpson to the crime, the most unforgettable was a pair of bloodied gloves found at the scene. During the trial, assistant prosecutor Christopher Darden asked Simpson to try on the gloves, hoping to show they fit him perfectly. But in a dramatic twist, Simpson struggled to put them on, indicating to the jury that they were too small. Simpson’s defense team capitalized on this, arguing that since the gloves didn’t fit, he couldn’t have been the killer. The jury agreed and acquitted him of the murders.

What did you think of these notorious legal blunders? Share your thoughts in the comments section.