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| Patrick Ducharme |
Exhibits, marked and entered into evidence at trial, often present cogent, colourful, believable and powerful evidence. Mark Twain once admonished readers to, “believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see”. His comment may be an exaggeration just as ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. But both comments make this point: virtually any demonstrative evidence is more interesting to jurors than most oral testimony, and, is commonly considered more reliable than oral testimony.
The added value of exhibits is that they are taken into the jury deliberation room with the jury for further examination. Whether or to what extent jurors actually examine the exhibits in the jury room is for them to decide. One can imagine the impact of jurors listening to audio tapes, viewing videotapes examining maps, models and diagrams in the jury room. Exhibits are evidence that continue to provide information to the jurors, right to the very end of their deliberations.
Exhibits filed at trial can be so powerful that Judges often feel the need to caution jurors about conducting experiments with the exhibits during deliberations. They are warned or cautioned that exhibits are no different than the rest of the evidence. Indeed, jurors are advised that exhibits must be considered in context, and, together with the rest of the evidence. Despite these admonitions, capable trial lawyers know that exhibits are often more powerful and long-lasting than mere words.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme's book, Canadian Criminal Procedure Volume 2, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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