What is Evidence ?

1. What is Evidence? Opinion-Making Oracy

2. ‘The case of the surprise visitor’ • The clock in the courthouse ahead of Max showed six o'clock. As it began chiming, he noticed a tall man with a briefcase walking towards him. The man turned around, looked at the clock, and then quickened his steps. He took an envelope and dropped it in a mailbox as he continued on. Max moved faster, too. Miss Fritz had invited him for dinner. He didn't want to be late. "I'm glad you could come," Harborville's oldest music teacher said. "I've made a lovely salad for us." She gestured Max to a chair. "Good thing I prepared ahead. A surprise visitor just left." "Who visited?" Max asked. "A teacher from Harborville's School for the Deaf. He was totally deaf himself, poor man, but he could read lips perfectly. He had the loveliest penmanship when he wanted to tell me something." "Why was he here?" "Well, evidently the school is low on funds. I was glad to help out. I had just cashed my social security check so I was able to give him five hundred dollars." "Did he just leave? Was he a tall man with a brief case?" "Yes." "We'd better phone the police. I think that man was a phony. I know for sure he wasn't totally deaf."

3. ‘The case of the surprise visitor’ – solution? • What’s the evidence against this suspect not being deaf?

4. ‘The case of the broken window’ • One evening as Max was out walking, Mrs. Zenitt called his name.He hurried across the street. She was standing in her front yard, but she guided him around to the back. "I was watching TV in the living room," she told him, "and I heard a crash. Just look!" She pointed to her back porch window. "Someone threw a rock through it. It's broken into a dozen pieces!""Do you know who did it?" Max asked."No. He ran off. But I think maybe it was David Loring. We had a spat the other day because I told his parents he had to stop using my yard as a short cut. But I wouldn't accuse him of breaking a window without more proof.""I'll talk to him," Max said.He found David panting as he bounced a basketball under the light on his garage. "Did you just run from Mrs. Zenitt's?" Max asked. "Did you break her window?"David shook his head. "No. I'm all out of breath because I've been out here shooting baskets. I don't know anything about a broken porch window.""You're not telling the truth," Max said.

5. ‘The case of the broken window’ – solution? • What’s the evidence against David having broken the window?

6. ‘The case of the Snack Shack’ • Harborville's Beach Snack Shop had been open only an hour when Max stopped in and noticed a new poster announcing a price increase. "I put the sign up this morning," Mr. Levine told him. "Had to raise my prices ten percent because I have so many new expenses. Like now I need a new window for my back room. Somebody broke it, trying to get into my store last night.""Have you called the police?" Max asked."No. Nothing was stolen." He led Max to a small storeroom in the back. "I use this space as an office. Sat here and made my price change poster last night. Soon's I was done, I left it on that old desk. When I went out, I locked the door to the main part of my store. So whoever got in was stuck in this little storeroom. Nothing here to steal."When Max left he wandered down to the break wall, where Nathan and Trevor were fishing. "Did you hear that somebody broke a window at the Shack?" he asked."Nope," Nathan said. "We've been here since dawn. Haven't talked to anybody." Trevor gestured to the bucket. "We've caught some big ones." Nathan stood. "But now I'm starving. I've got a dollar left from my allowance. If Mr. Levine is there now, I'm going up to the Shack to get a Big Beach Bun.""Better get another dime from somewhere," Trevor told him. "A dollar's not enough any more. As for me, I'm going home to get a couple sandwiches for myself.""You both stay right here," Max said. "I know which one of you broke that window. You'd better think of a way to pay for it, because I'm telling Mr. Levine."

7. ‘The case of the Snack Shack’ – solution? • Nathan • Trevor • What’s the evidence against this suspect?

8. ‘The case of the defaced sidewalk’ • One Saturday morning Nina saw the three musketeers in the mall. Jenny, Brittany, and Mitzi called themselves by that name because they always were together. "I've been shopping for sandals," Jenny told Nina. "But I have such a wide foot nothing seems to fit. We've been looking everywhere." "And it's been slow going," Mitzi added. "On account of Brittany's-" "I know," Nina said, looking at Brittany. "I heard you sprained your ankle in gym yesterday. Does it still hurt a lot?" "It's okay as long as I move really slowly," Brittany told her. "We're going to get ice cream at the Just Desserts Shop now. Want to join us?" "Better not. Max is meeting me at home. See you later." Nina was taking a short cut through Harborville's city park when she saw Mr. Hansen kneeling beside a new sidewalk. The city maintenance man frowned as she drew closer. "Somebody jumped right in the middle here while the cement was still wet," he said, pointing at two narrow footprints embedded in the concrete. "Now I'll have to rip out this section and re-do it. Sure can't leave the sidewalk looking like this!" "Any idea of who did it?" Nina asked. "A kid over there on the slide said that girls named Brittany, Mitzi, and Jenny were the only ones near here. But he doesn't know which one ruined my sidewalk." "I know who did it," Nina declared.

9. ‘The case of the defaced sidewalk’ – solution? • Jenny • Mitzi • Brittany • What’s the evidence against this suspect?

10. ‘The unlucky landlord’ Detective Rob Misko arrived on the scene to find a crowd gathered around the victim. Mr. Louis Copeland's lifeless body lay on the sidewalk in front of his twelve-story building. "His name is Louis Copeland," answered the patrolman on duty. "He's the owner of the building." "Did he fall off the roof?" asked Detective Misko. "No," he answered definitively. "The door to the roof is locked from the inside and only Mr. Copeland had the key. His keys were found on his body." "Any witnesses?" "Only one," answered the patrolman as he walked Detective Misko to an older woman sitting in the lobby of the building. "This is Phyllis Waters. She lives on the tenth floor. Poor woman saw the man drop past her front window just a few minutes ago." Detective Misko escorted Mrs. Waters back to her apartment and took her story in detail. "I was hanging my new drapes when I heard an awful scream," claimed Mrs. Waters. "And then he just fell past my window like a sack of potatoes." She sat in a rocking chair next to the very window she was speaking of. Detective Misko observed the room. It was very bare. In addition to the rocking chair and new drapes there was an old sofa on the other side of the room and a tiny black and white television set. "What did you do after you saw the body, Mrs. Waters?" asked Detective Misko. "I immediately called the police," she answered. "And then I took the elevator down to the lobby." Detective Misko then walked up one flight to the eleventh floor and interviewed Stan Cantone who lived directly above Mrs. Waters.

11. "I didn't see anything," claimed Stan. "My wife was at work all day. I had my hands full with the kids." Detective Misko crossed to the front window and tried to open it. "Sorry. Can't open that window. I nailed it shut a while back. Can't be too careful with children around." The tall French door style window was nailed shut and dried paint covered the nails. "Did you know the victim very well?" asked the Detective. "I hate to speak ill of the dead," answered Mr. Cantone. "But Mr. Copeland was a no good crook. This used to be a pretty crummy neighborhood. Now that it's been revitalized, people are dying to get into this place. Suddenly, that no good landlord ups the rent to almost twice what we were paying. Some people have been living in this building for years now. How can they afford to pay that kind of rent?" Finally, Detective Misko ventured up one more flight to interview the occupant of the twelfth floor apartment, Grace Copeland, the victim's wife. "I last saw Louis an hour before the horrible accident," cried the grieving widow. "He said he had a couple of odd jobs to take care of and then he would come back for lunch." "What kind of odd jobs?" asked Detective Misko. "He wasn't specific," Mrs. Copeland answered as she watered fresh roses in her front window box. "He was always very attentive to the tenants needs. He was such a good man." "Did anyone else have a key to the roof?" Detective Misko asked. "No, just my husband," Mrs. Copeland replied. "Why do you ask?" "I'm just ruling out all the possibilities," the detective answered. "And the way I see it, there is really only one." Who should Detective Misko suspect? How did he solve the case?

12. ‘The Unlucky Landlord’ – solution? • Stan Cantone • Phyllis Waters • Grace Copeland • What’s the evidence against this suspect?

13. Why is evidence so important when you are giving your opinion? • Evidence is important because...

14. TASK: write your own short mystery • Open a Word document and write a short mystery of your own in the style of those you have just studied (make sure you DON’T write the solution on the same file, but on a different document!!) • When you have finished, email it to someone else in your class and see if they can solve it!!