Answer to Question 1
Rae Carruth was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted on three lesser charges in the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child. It is alleged that Carruth planned the ambush because he did not want to pay child support. Carruth ran away from the scene and hid in the trunk of a car before being found. This is obstruction of justice. Hearsay evidence of handwritten evidence by the victim after undergoing surgery were not admissible, but the same information was properly introduced into evidence through the victim's 911 call. The introduction of Carruth's two co-conspirators were seeking revenge on a drug deal that had gone bad was hearsay because it was not supported by any corroborating evidence and it was self-serving.
Answer to Question 2
Direct evidence proves a fact without the need for inference or presumption, while circumstantial evidence does require a presumption that indirectly proves a fact. Relevance is the mainstay of evidence admissibility and is any material fact or information which tends to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Materiality refers for evidence that is logically connected to a fact at issue and includes a consideration of the germaneness of information or testimony and a determination as to its impact on the trial at hand. Competent evidence is that evidence which is both relevant and material which has no impediment to its admissibility. Ideally direct evidence should outweigh circumstantial, but both have been used to prove mental state, intent, and motive.