The Practical Guide to Evidence in Criminal Cases, 8th

This practical guide to criminal evidence provides a clear explanation of the different kinds of evidence admissible in criminal cases, the rules excluding certain categories of evidence and exceptions to those rules. The work is ideal as a handy courtroom reference for legal practitioners as well as a learning tool for students of the criminal process. This useful text serves to demystify the rules of criminal evidence, which have been significantly reshaped in recent times by the appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Canada.

New in this Edition:
The 8th edition includes discussions on the following case law:
I.(D.) (the mentally incompetent witness), Prokofiew (commenting on the silence of a co-accused), Nedeclu (cross-examination on civil discovery evidence), Barros (the identity of an informer), Ahmad (s. 38 of the Canada Evidence Act), and Cote (discoverability in s. 24 Charter analysis) in the Supreme Court; Li (introducing transcript evidence), Figliola (adverse vs. the hostile witness), Bucik (the W.D. formula for exculpatory statements), Berhe (non-expert identification), Green (admissibility of recanting evidence), Baldree (hearsay) and Burgar (cross-examination on a criminal record) in provincial appellate courts.

A number of other areas have been added dealing with Parliamentary changes to the treatment of child and mentally incompetent witnesses, preliminary inquiry evidence at trial and prohibited cross-examination of the accused. There is expanded discussion in areas such as the rule against collateral facts, the evidence of children and persons who may be mentally incompetent, the derivative confessions rule and the right to remain silent and specific presumptions.