When approaching any sort of criminal case, we spend time getting to know our clients on a personal level, and finding the most important facts of the case that can help us defend our clients in court. It’s crucial that we get the key facts in front of the court so that the Jury can reference them when making their decision.

This act of presenting facts to the court includes use of Evidence Rule 201, which authorizes a trial court to take judicial notice of a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute. In other words, if a fact is capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to a source whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned, the court can take notice of that fact. The rule reflects the well-established view that questions of fact arise about which reasonably people might not know the information at issue, but would agree that the facts are verifiable with by referencing authoritative sources of information.

Generally, Rule 201 applies only to judicial notice of what are called adjudicative facts. Adjudicative facts are basically facts that are relevant to the case and that help explain the who, what, when, where, how, and why. Basically, these are the facts normally determined by the jury. The type of facts of which courts have taken judicial notice is both broad ranging and diverse.

Under Rule 201, the court is required to take judicial notice of adjudicative facts if requested by a party and if the court is supplied with the necessary background information.