Awaiting Trial

• law
• Secondary Education

The two lawyers in a criminal trial are:

1. Defense Council and Crown Prosecutor
2. Defense Council and Duty Council
3. Crown Prosecutor and Crown Solicitor
4. Defense Council and Court Clerk

The pre-trial hearing held to determine if there is enough evidence to move forward to a trial is a(n)

1. arraignment
2. bail hearing
3. preliminary hearing
4. jury selection

About how many criminal cases end with a plea negotiation?

1. 50%
2. 30%
3. 75%
4. 90%

If you admit to your lawyer that you are guilty...

1. They can no longer represent you
2. You must now plead guilty in court
3. Your lawyer can put on any kind of defense for you anyway
4. Your lawyer can still defend you, but cannot offer an alibi defense to say that you did not do the crime.

Which statement is false

1. You are innocent until proven guilty.
2. The defense has the burden of proof to prove the defendant innocent.
3. A lack of disclosure can lead to wrongful convictions.
4. An adjournment is a break in court proceedings.

Meeting with your Defense Council

A defendant should tell his lawyer everything connected to the case in order
to prepare the best defence. 

However, if a person tells his lawyer that he committed the crime, the lawyer can
not argue at trial that his client did not do it. Ie the Defence can not call an alibi witness, as that would be false evidence. 

The defence lawyer can only attack the

Crown’s case. The defence will try to poke holes in the Crown’s case in order to raise a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s guilt.

An admission of guilt does not mean that a defence can’t be presented.

Attacking the Crown's Case

The defence will try to poke holes in the Crown’s case in order to raise a reasonable doubt about the defendant’s guilt. 

Like in this classic clip from the movie My Cousin Vinnie. It's titled 'The Defense is Wrong' but what the clip is really depicting is how the defense attorney uses a witness to discredit evidence provided by the Crown Prosecutor. 

Disclosure

Disclosure is one of the most important features of our CJS because it ensures that the defendant gets a fair trial.

The Crown must disclose, or tell/give, the defence all information and evidence it has related to case
.

Evidence gathered by the police is considered property of the public, not the Crown.

Lack of disclosure is a significant factor in wrongful convictions ie Steven Truscott (other suspect), David Milgaard (changing stories of witnesses, paid testimony).

The only thing the defence has to disclose to the Crown is if they plan on using an alibi defence, so that the Crown can investigate
.

Preliminary Hearing

After all disclosure has been made, there is usually a preliminary hearing before a judge to determine if there is enough evidence against the accused to proceed to trial.

Prelim hearings are only for the most serious (indictable) offences.

If there is not enough evidence against the accused to go to trial, then the charges will be dropped.

The Plea

When the accused appears in court for his or her arraignment, the charges are read

and a plea of guilty or not guilty is entered.

About 90% plead guilty.

Resolution Discussions and Plea Negotiations

Before trial, the Crown and the defence participate in resolution discussions.

This is a meeting between both sides to try to resolve the case without a trial

This may result in a plea negotiation, a deal for a guilty plea to a lesser charge

and/or penalty.

Pros of Plea Negotiations 

Saves court time-Courts are overloaded and cases can be thrown out due to unreasonable delays in getting to trial. This makes the practice is using plea negotiations very important to our criminal justice system.

Saves money- trials are expensive

Can save victims and families further suffering

Cons of Plea Negotiations

Often seen as compromising justice ie if someone is guilty of premeditated murder, shouldn’t they have to serve a sentence for first degree murder? Ie The “deal with the devil”- most infamous plea bargain in Canadian history.

Innocent defendants may feel pressured to plead guilty for fear of a more severe penalty

Karla Holmoka

Dr. Charles Smith