Fragility

• Organic specimens used as evidence are particularly susceptible to damage from rough handling or carelessness. Improper handling and storage of organic specimens can permanently eliminate their usefulness to the issue or trial. The evidence's inherent fragility is a weakness because it's impossible to simply run off another copy from a computer or hard drive -- and thus it's essential that the specimen is held and stored with utmost care and competence.
  
  

Decay

• Organic specimens, by their nature, begin to decay once they are separated from what nourishes them. Any organic specimen that was once alive steadily decomposes, and the most any custodian can do is prolong its pre-decomposition state as long as possible. In legal processes that can take months to execute, relying on an organic specimen for evidence can prove to be a weakness. For this reason, it's necessary to document the organic specimen as extensively as possible. Documenting an organic specimen requires an impartial expert's confirmation to guarantee that documentation is accurate; this will add to the legal team's list of expenses.
  
  

Contamination

• Organic specimens used for evidence are at risk of contamination from frequent handling or exposure to environmental substances. Contaminating an organic specimen that is necessary to a case, like a DNA sample, can corrupt it on a molecular level, invalidating its original purpose. Because it's so easy to contaminate an organic specimen, it is essential that handling of the specimen is supervised by certain authorized people -- a time-consuming and expensive responsibility that may require special equipment to minimize damage to the specimen.
  
  

Singularity

• A sample of organic evidence is unlike a paper exhibit that can be neatly included in a set of binders. If the sample is lost, contaminated or otherwise damaged, it may be impossible to replace. The impossibility of replacing a damaged or lost piece of organic evidence raises the stakes of a legal team's case. Concern for protecting the organic specimen can eclipse other aspects of the team's legal research, resulting in a weaker defense or prosecution than the team would have been able to develop in the absence of the organic specimen.