Advantages of Hiring a Criminal Lawyer

There are two types of criminal offenses in Canada, each with their own procedural phases: summary conviction offenses and indictable offences. Most of the crimes are of dual or hybrid procedure. This means that the Crown Counsel can choose to prosecute by summary conviction or indictment.

Summary conviction offenses

These crimes generally carry a sentence of up to a maximum of six months in prison, with some exceptions. There are two procedural phases: pre-trial and trial, and an experienced Criminal Lawyer can employ different strategies applicable to each phase.

The pre-trial phase consists of three procedural stages:

1) Obtain full disclosure of all evidence from the Crown Counsel;

2) a pre-trial meeting of the Crown; Y

3) in the Judicial Instruction.

When facing charges in Toronto courts, the initial disclosure provided during the first or second court appearance is, in most cases, incomplete. A criminal defense attorney will carefully review the entire disclosure and make a second or third request for additional materials that appear to be missing from the disclosure packet. These additional materials are almost always useful for the client’s case. Once full disclosure has been obtained, the Criminal Defense Attorney will review the materials with the client before proceeding to the next step.

In Toronto, a Criminal Defense Lawyer will schedule a pre-trial meeting with the Crown Attorney. An effective strategy for the Criminal Defense Lawyer is to fully analyze all the issues and identify any weaknesses in the Crown case. In some cases, the Crown would consider reducing or dropping the charges.

A preliminary judicial trial is a meeting that takes place before a judge at which both the crown attorney and the criminal defense attorney are present and, in Toronto, can be scheduled in most cases. An effective strategy for an experienced criminal defense attorney is to use this opportunity to re-argue any weaknesses in the Crown’s case and encourage the judge to confront the Crown in order to review whether the charges should be reduced or dropped. Additionally, the Crown may indicate a sentencing position on an advance plea and this would also be discussed with the judge. Once the issues have been narrowed down, and if a trial is to take place, then it is discussed how many witnesses are expected to be called and how long the trial is likely to last.

Once the pre-trial phase is complete, the Criminal Defense Attorney will discuss trial strategies with the client and obtain instructions for setting a trial date. In Toronto, the trial would take place in one of the five courthouses of the Ontario Court of Justice.

unqualifiable offenses

These are the most serious crimes, which can carry a maximum sentence of two years to life. Most indictable offenses provide the opportunity for the criminal defense attorney to elect to have a preliminary hearing before a judge in the Ontario Court of Justice, which takes place after the pre-trial phase and before the trial phase. . In Toronto, there are five Ontario Court of Justice courts where criminal cases are heard: Old City Hall, College Park, Scarborough Court, and two in North York. Similar to a trial, the Crown calls its witnesses and the Criminal Defense Attorney has the opportunity to question each witness. There is no plea of ​​guilty or not guilty, and there is no plea of ​​guilty or not guilty. Instead, the judge must decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial in the Superior Court of Justice, located in downtown Toronto on University Avenue, which only deals with indictable crimes.

This is a good opportunity for an experienced criminal defense attorney to test the Crown’s evidence and expose the weaknesses in the Crown’s case. If the judge decides that there is not enough evidence for a trial, the charges are dismissed and the client is free to go. If there is going to be a trial, then the criminal defense attorney can use against you the evidence presented by the witnesses during your examination and cross-examination at the preliminary hearing.

To effectively represent a client facing criminal charges in Toronto, an experienced criminal defense attorney will take advantage of all of these opportunities to successfully dismiss the charges at all phases of the case.

Copyright © 2011 Steven Tress, attorney and attorney general. All rights reserved throughout the world.