The 2019 amendments to the Code brought sweeping changes to Canada’s laws concerning: when an accused may elect to be tried by a jury, and, if allowed to have a jury trial, how a jury is selected. Jury trials only take place in the Superior Court of a Province or Territory. When an accused is permitted to elect trial by jury it necessarily means that accused is entitled to have a preliminary inquiry in the Provincial court.
Under the 2019 amendments to the Code a preliminary inquiry can only be requested in the case of an adult accused of a crime that is punishable by fourteen years or more of imprisonment. This amendment to the law coincides with other changes that limit the issues that can be explored and the witnesses that will be presented at a preliminary inquiry. Each change makes the task of the defence lawyer in discovering the case the accused must meet more difficult and more challenging.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Criminal Trial Strategies, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing.
Read or listen to the Preface and Introduction and subscribe to Patrick Ducharme’s Youtube Channel.