As a criminal defence lawyer, the worst thing you can have in your client’s case is a substantial volume of reliable, incontrovertible evidence against your client that is undoubtedly admissible at trial. Video recordings, audio recordings, and accounting records are often very difficult to argue against, as generally they speak for themselves.
So what is left for a lawyer to attack in defence of their client? When the evidence itself is strong, often defence counsel will look to expose weaknesses in the methods of gathering and preserving evidence. If the evidence was not collected, handled, or preserved properly then its reliability may be suspect even though the face of it may appear to show nothing but guilt.
I thought about that extensively when Speaker Darryl Plecas released his Report into the B.C. Legislature scandal. The moment the Report was published online, I read through the document cover to cover. I read the tweets from reporters and members of the public. And in the end I came away as Plecas had promised, sickened and feeling like I was going to throw up.
To read the full article that Kyla Lee wrote, click here.