This happened roughly 3 years ago. A friend of mine was video taped smoking marijuana with others. Only a few days later, the person in possession of the video was arrested on unrelated charges at a location a dozen miles from the dwelling. The police reviewed the tape and got the guy they arrested to give them the address of where the rest of the group were staying together. When the group was apprehended, my friend was neither intoxicated nor in the possession of any drugs on his person but still was charged with marijuana-related crimes.
My question is, how much evidence is required for someone to be charged with past crimes of various levels of seriousness? I would assume that someone that admits to police to committing a capital offense could be arrested even without much further evidence. On the other hand, I would doubt someone would be charged with a crime after admitting to an officer they were in possession of a Class C drug in the recent past without further evidence of a crime being committed.
My question is, how much evidence is required for someone to be charged with past crimes of various levels of seriousness? I would assume that someone that admits to police to committing a capital offense could be arrested even without much further evidence. On the other hand, I would doubt someone would be charged with a crime after admitting to an officer they were in possession of a Class C drug in the recent past without further evidence of a crime being committed.