Reversal of Fortune: Pyramiding inference to Constitute Circumstantial Evidence

The law follows stringent rules on the use of circumstantial evidence to convict an
accused, because the minimum standard of proof in criminal cases is proof beyond reasonable
doubt. For the circumstantial evidence to produce a probability of guilt in pyramiding inference,
each and every link must exclude every other reasonable theory.

As applied in the murder case against Claus Von Burlow, the court was convinced that
the combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable
doubt. During the trial, the witnesses testified incriminating facts where further inference, to the
exclusion of other theories, caused Sunny in a state of comatose. The chain of inferences is
presented as follows:

1. The first fact is established with reasonable certainty, where Maria testified that Sunny is
not diabetic, but has found Claus’s bag containing a bottle of insulin, a syringe, and
needles. Three weeks after the discovery, Sunny was found lying in bathroom.
2. The second fact is but a probability, where at the time of Sunny’s death, Claus’s net
worth is only a million, and Alexandra, Claus’ mistress, testified that he has shown her
legal analysis of Sunny’s will amounting to 14 million as his share.
3. The third fact is merely a possibility that Sunny is unhappy of her marriage life, because
of Claus’s affair, and the children are leaving home. Sunny’s behavior of taking large
amounts of aspirin was triggered by her emotional condition. Thus, the overdose intake
of aspirin lead to hypoglycemia that eventually put her is a state of coma,

In the chain of inference, even if the third fact is merely a possibility, the medical experts
proved that the average blood level in cases of death is 60, and this contradicts the medico legal
findings that Sunny’s blood sugar level is 14 times normal. This inference, being independent of
all other causes, lead the courts to the judgment of convition.

However, the lawyer was able to overturn the judgment upon a proposition that an appeal
based on new evidence is appropriate. Accordingly, a case based on circumstantial theory rather
than facts only stands up if no other theory makes sense. The only way to show a better theory is
to present it – the lawyer presented another possibility arising from the same chain of inference.
 Varying possibilities can be drawn up from the chain of links; that Sunny, along with the
witnesses planned the suicide attempt to incriminate Claus, because of Claus’s suspicious and
unfaithful conduct; that Sunny, who has injected herself with insulin according to an interview
with Truman Capote, has attempted suicide, because of her failed marriage; that Clause is guilty
of the accusations against him.

The movie revealed the different versions of truth of each witness, but whether Claus is
guilty has remained just a possibility.