Also known as: prima facie evidence · prima facie standard · prima facie
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An evidentiary threshold that requires a party to produce evidence sufficient, if unrebutted, to support a particular conclusion or finding. The showing shifts the burden of production to the opposing party, which must then introduce contrary evidence or risk an adverse determination. The standard does not shift the ultimate burden of persuasion.
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Paul Peterson, an Asian American defendant in a state criminal trial, objects when the prosecutor strikes every Asian American from the venire. The pattern of strikes supplies the required prima facie showing of racial discrimination. The prosecutor must then articulate a race-neutral explanation for each strike or the court will sustain the objection and reseat the jurors.
Paige Porter petitions to probate a document as the will of her late aunt. She supplies the repository metadata and the aunt's digital signature block as prima facie proof of due execution. The contestant must then introduce evidence of lack of capacity or undue influence to prevent the document from proceeding to probate.
Penelope Price buys a household appliance whose limited warranty excludes consequential damages for personal injury. When the appliance causes burns, Price sues for those damages. The exclusion is prima facie unconscionable in a consumer-goods setting, so the manufacturer must prove the clause is conscionable or the limitation fails.
Pamela Phillips is charged with intimidation after burning a cross on a neighbor's lawn. The prosecution offers the act itself as prima facie evidence of intent to intimidate. Phillips may introduce evidence that the burning was purely expressive and non-threatening, rebutting the inference.
Pavel Petrov raises an insanity defense and introduces lay testimony of erratic behavior before the crime. The evidence raises a reasonable doubt about sanity. The prosecution must then produce evidence of sanity sufficient to eliminate that doubt or the jury must acquit.
Pearl Porter is tried for two offenses arising from a single sale of narcotics. She moves to dismiss the second count. The government must produce evidence showing each offense requires proof of a distinct fact. Failure to make that showing bars the second prosecution.
The prima facie evidence standard requires that the evidence, if unexplained or uncontradicted, would warrant a conviction. It is viewed as substantially more rigorous than the probable cause standard used in federal courts and some states.
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The defendant must produce evidence supporting an inference that the prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Once that showing is made, the burden shifts to the prosecutor to articulate a race-neutral explanation.
…scientific testimony and making an initial showing that it was derived by the scientific method enables a party to establish a prima facie case as to admissibility under Rule 702. The opposing party would then be entitled to challenge that showing. This it could do by presenting evidence (including expert testimony) that the…
…the complaint presents a justiciable controversy; (3) that the appellants have standing. My Brother CLARK has made a convincing prima facie showing that Tennessee's system of apportionment is in fact utterly arbitrarywithout any possible justification in rationality. My Brother HARLAN has, with imagination and ingenuity,…
…authority to review an assertion of executive privilege by the President. The court concluded that the Special Prosecutor's prima facie
…For essentially the reasons given by the trial court, the State Supreme Court concluded that respondent had failed to make out a prima facie case of either "substantial deficiency or possible prejudice" and, indeed, had "failed to such a degree that we believe, to the point of a moral certainty, that he is entitled to no relief.…
…facts of a sound memory, an unlawful killing and malice, he proceeded: "As to the first, the natural presumption of sanity is prima facie proof of a sound memory, and that must stand unless there is other
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The proponent of the will must establish prima facie proof of due execution in all cases. The contestant then bears the burden of establishing lack of testamentary capacity or other grounds for invalidity.
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A limitation or exclusion of consequential damages for personal injury in consumer goods is prima facie unconscionable. The same limitation in a commercial setting is not.
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No. The state may ban cross burning done with intent to intimidate but may not treat the act itself as prima facie evidence of that intent without allowing proof of an expressive, non-threatening purpose.
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