Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 7
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6. ×
- May choose to call witnesses to refute testimony
provided by the Crownƞs witnesses or to show
reasonable doubt.
- Procedure of direct examination, by the defence, and
cross examination, by the Crown, is repeated.
- che accused may choose to testify on his or her own
behalf but cannot be compelled to do so.
7.
- Õfter the defence has presented its evidence, the Crown
has the opportunity to
,
, or contradict any new
evidence the defence has introduced.
8. ×
- Õ reply to the opposing sides rebuttal
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- Crown closes first if the defence has not called witnesses. Defence
closes first if it has called witnesses.
- Crown shows why the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt. che defence tries to show that the Crown has not established
the actus reus and mens rea, showing that a reasonable doubt
exists.
- Intended to help the jury better understand the issues of the case,
not to present new evidence.
10.
- Õfter closing arguments, the judge gives a
,, the
judgeƞs explanation to the jurors of how the law applies to the case
before them.
- He advises the jurors on how to consider the evidence and how to
return a verdict in accordance with the law.
- Must be very careful as the charge is often the basis for an appeal.
- che judgeƞs role is to decide on matters of law and the jury must
decide on matters of fact. For example, the judge decides what
evidence is admissible, the jury decides on what evidence is
believable.
11. Jury deliberates
- Õfter the charge has been given, the sheriff escorts the
jurors to the jury room to deliberate or reach a decision.
- If they believe the accused or they donƞt know who to
believe, they must acquit.
- If they are left with reasonable doubt regarding the
defendantƞs guilt they must also acquit.
12.
- che verdict has to be unanimous.
- Both the Crown and the defence have the right to ask
that the jury be polled or stand individually and confirm
their agreement with the verdict.
- Õ jury that canƞt reach a verdict is called a .
.
In this case the jury is discharged and a new jury is
selected to try the case again.
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§ During a trial, the Crown or the defence
may object to questions asked or the
answers provided by witnesses.
§ When an objection is made the judge
rules on whether the evidence in question
is admissible or accepted by the court.
§ Here are the most common grounds for
objectionƦƦƦƦƦƦƦ..
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Ô Õ question that suggests to a
witness a particular answer. Such a question is not
allowed during direct examination. During cross
examination it is allowed only if it pertained to previous
testimony.
§
Ô èvidence given by a witness
based on info received from someone else rather than
personal knowledge. Inadmissible in court!
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Ô Õ witness cannot be asked their
opinion on something unless they are an expert in the
field.
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Ô Õ question that
has no bearing on the case.
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Ô When a witness doesnƞt
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answer the question given, and has to be directed to do
so by the judge.
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Ô testimony by a witness to prove an
alleged fact. (eyewitness)
§
Ô indirect evidence that
leads to a reasonable inference of the defendantƞs guilt.
co be admissible the defendantƞs guilt must be a
conclusion drawn from the evidence.
§
Ô establishes the likelihood that
the defendant is the type of person who either would or
would not commit a certain offence. che Crown is not
allowed to attack the defendantƞs character but the
defence is allowed to show the defendantƞs good
character. Once done however, the Crown can rebut this
evidence by using the defendantƞs past convictions.
§ è
÷
Ô admissible provided wire
tapping or bugging was authorized before hand by a
judge.
§
×
- Õ trial within a trial where the jurors are excluded while
the admissibility of evidence is discussed.
Õ