False evidence,
fabricated evidence,
forged evidence or
tainted evidence is information created or obtained illegally, to sway the verdict in a court case. Falsified evidence could be created by either side in a case (including the police/prosecution in a
criminal case), or by someone sympathetic to either side. Misleading by
suppressing evidence can also be considered a form of false evidence (
by omission), however, in some cases, suppressed evidence is excluded because it cannot be proved the accused was aware of the items found or of their location. The analysis of evidence (
forensic evidence) may also be forged if the person doing the forensic work finds it easier to fabricate evidence and test results than to perform the actual work involved.
Parallel construction is a form of false evidence in which the evidence is truthful but its origins are untruthfully described, at times in order to avoid evidence being excluded as
inadmissible due to unlawful means of procurement such as an
unlawful search.