When Police Destroy Evidence: Here's How You Can Still Win Your Case

Understanding Your Rights When Evidence Disappears

When you're facing criminal charges, every piece of evidence matters. But what happens when that evidence goes missing or worse, is destroyed by the police? It’s a situation that leaves people feeling powerless, angry, and unsure of what comes next.

At Horn Wright, LLP, our civil rights attorneys represent people across New York whose rights were violated when law enforcement failed to preserve critical evidence. If police destroyed something important to your defense, we know how to hold them accountable. We’ll help you push back, rebuild your case, and protect your future.

What Counts as Destroyed or Missing Evidence

In criminal cases, destroyed evidence can include physical items, digital files, surveillance footage, or even written reports. If that material had the potential to help your defense, its absence may raise legal concerns.

Examples include:

• Body cam footage that was erased
• Police reports that were edited or “lost”
• Surveillance video that was never collected
• DNA samples discarded too soon
• Phone data wiped or overwritten

In New York, law enforcement agencies are required to follow strict evidence retention protocols. If they don’t, and it affects your case, courts may intervene.

Why Police Must Preserve Evidence

Police don’t just collect evidence to build a case against someone. They also have a duty to preserve anything that could prove someone’s innocence. This responsibility comes from both the Constitution and New York criminal procedure laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brady v. Maryland that prosecutors must turn over any evidence favorable to the accused. That includes anything in the hands of police departments.

In New York, the discovery process requires timely sharing of evidence, including exculpatory material. Failure to preserve or disclose that information can violate due process. This includes agencies like NYPD, the State Police, and local departments in counties like Monroe or Westchester.

How Evidence Gets Lost or Destroyed

Evidence may disappear for many reasons, some intentional and others due to poor management. Understanding how it happens can help determine if the law was broken.

Common causes:

• Officers delete digital files after a case closes
• Body cam data is auto-erased due to short retention policies
• Property room mishandling or mislabeled items
• Officers fail to collect key video from nearby businesses
• Tech errors or overwritten storage systems

In some cases, there’s no clear explanation. Just silence or excuses. That’s when red flags start to rise.

Legal Remedies When Police Destroy Evidence

If the court agrees that police destroyed evidence that could’ve helped you, your lawyer can take action. The remedy depends on how serious the loss is and whether it was intentional.

Possible outcomes:

• File a motion to dismiss if the destruction crippled your defense
• Request a jury instruction telling jurors they can infer the evidence would’ve helped you
• Seek to suppress related testimony or charges
• Ask for sanctions against the prosecution

Judges take this seriously. New York courts have tossed out charges in cases where body cam footage or DNA evidence was improperly handled.

How to Prove Evidence Was Mishandled

You don’t need to prove a conspiracy. But you do need to show that the missing evidence was important, and that the police knew or should’ve known it mattered.

Here’s what helps build that argument:

• Documentation showing the evidence once existed
• Requests you or your attorney made to preserve it
• Body cam policies showing required retention timelines
• Testimony from witnesses or arresting officers
• Chain-of-custody records showing gaps

Your attorney may subpoena internal logs or request a hearing to explore what went wrong. These steps matter whether the evidence was physical or digital.

What Judges Consider in These Cases

Judges in New York look at several factors when deciding whether evidence destruction violated your rights:

• Was the evidence likely useful to the defense?
• Did the police act in bad faith?
• Could the evidence have reasonably been preserved?
• Was the destruction part of a routine procedure or something avoidable?

They may weigh past department behavior too. If a department has a pattern of erasing body cam footage or failing to log items properly, that affects how your case is viewed.

Real-World Examples From New York

Across the state, courts have ruled on cases involving destroyed or mishandled evidence. These outcomes show how serious this issue can be.

• In Brooklyn, charges were dropped after key surveillance video was never collected from a nearby store
• In Queens, a judge sanctioned prosecutors for failing to turn over body cam footage that contradicted an officer’s testimony
• Upstate, a case involving discarded DNA swabs led to a reduced sentence when the judge found due process concerns

These aren’t rare events. They reflect a statewide concern that your legal team can use to challenge your case.

How a Criminal Defense Lawyer Can Respond Fast

If evidence disappears, a defense attorney needs to move quickly. Timing affects whether you can request sanctions or get charges reduced.

A skilled lawyer will:

• Send preservation letters to police and prosecutors
• Request body cam logs, internal emails, or audit trails
• File discovery motions to expose missing items
• Cross-examine officers on their handling of the evidence
• Argue for dismissal or suppression in pretrial hearings

Even if the evidence can’t be recovered, your defense can still improve when the court sees that the system failed you.

Final Takeaway: Missing Evidence Doesn’t Mean You Lose

When police fail to preserve evidence, they don’t just damage the case. They damage trust in the system. But you don’t have to give up. If the right steps are taken, you can fight back, challenge illegal practices, and push for a fair result.

Our trusted legal team at Horn Wright, LLP, helps clients across New York challenge cases built on incomplete or missing evidence. We understand how to expose gaps, file the right motions, and protect your rights. If the system lost something that could’ve helped you, we’re here to make sure your side still gets heard.