trial issues Flashcards
key decision points in a criminal trial (list)
- police will decide ot lay charge or not (r&pg)
- police will decide to arrest or not (based on consideration of the 4 factors)
- the crown will decide (elect) to proceed by summary or by indictment if a hybrid offence (considering nature of offences, record
- accused will decide (elect) to plead guilty or not guilty
- accused will decide (elect) to be tried by jury or no jury (only for some offences)
- counsel will decide what evidence to call
- defence will decide to call a defence or not
- judge will decide any questions of law
- judge or jury (if there is one) will make findings of fact
- judge or jury (if there is one) will determine innocence or guilt
- judge will decide sentence
- parties, on advice of lawyers, will decide to appeal the trial decision or not
criteria for a jury tiral (list)
- federally created indictable offence
- with max. penalty 5 years or more
- accused can elect to be tried by judge or jury, or judge alone
- not available if summary conviction offence or provincial territorial or municipal offences
when can a judge ‘excuse’ or ‘stand aside’ someone from a jury panel? (list)
- has a personal relationship with accused, judge, lawyers, or witnesses
- sitting on the jury will cause personal hardship to the potential juror (eg. parent w/o childcare, restrictive health problems, self-employed w/ no one to cover business, etc.)
how many jurors in a criminal trial?
12
“Challenge for cause” (meaning)
Crown and defence lawyers are able to call for ‘challenge for cause’ potential jurors for various reasons
reasons to call ‘challenge for cause’ (list)
- inability to speak official language/physically act as a juror
- juror previously convicted of offences & sentenced to more than 2 years
- juror partial to either the Crown or the defence, judge has latitude to allow and pre-screen questions to be asked of juror
what are the jobs of the jury? (list)
- triers of fact
- judge is trier of law and provides any legal instruction to the jury after hearing the legal arguments of counsel (some of this arguement may occur during a voir dire without the presence of the jury)
- decides whether or not the evidence presented is sufficinet to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the alleged crime - therefore guilty or innocent (decision must be unanimous)
What is the test done to figure out if someone is mentally fit to stand trial?
- unable to understand court procedure
- unable to understand the potential consequences of the trial? or
- unable to give instructions to counsel/communicate effectively with their lawyer
if any are answered with yes then the accused will be found unfit to stand and trial will not start (or will stop if already started)
What is the timelimit on a federal summary conviction offence?
proceeding must be instituted no more than 12 months after incident
(proceedings are instituted via the laying of the information)
What is the timelimit on a provincial or municipal offence?
must be started no more than 6 months after incident
True or false? Nothing a lawyer (either prosecutor or defence) says can be considered evidence
TRUE
True or false? Witnesses are allowed to have their notes with them on stand?
FALSE, they can review their notes in advance but are expected to testify without them.
ALTHOUGH, if notes are a normal business practice (eg. police notes) they are allowed to have them at the stand
When are objections made?
when evidence is being called by the other party that violates the ‘rules’ of evidence
rules of evidence and evidentiary objections (list)
- relevance
- leading witnesses
- opinion evidence
- hearsay evidence
what are the two types of defences?
- statutory (ones found in legislation)
- common law (ones that exist in case law)
