Prima Facie

Prima facie evidence, sometimes called presumptive evidence, uses other types of evidence gathered from a crime scene to make a plausible assumption. A rebuttal from an opposing legal team can later determine prima facie evidence to be inaccurate.

Example: A prosecutor concludes a person is deceased because of the defendant's alleged criminal actions against them. The defense team then attempts to rebut the argument by introducing doubt about the connection between the defendant and the victim's death. They use particular witness accounts that imply the defendant's innocence but never any concrete evidence in their rebuttal.