Monday, June 29, 2009

“Extreme and exceptional” murders

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Two principles laid down in Pipersburg v R (Belize) [2008] UKPC 11 (noted here 26 February 2008 on another point) were applied in Trimmingt...
Friday, June 26, 2009

Taking issue with expert testimony

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Scientists can as individuals, at times, be bumbling idiots just like everyone else. At times they might be dishonest. The following lengthy...

Adequacy of grounds

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There are times when lawyers and judges have to grapple with the adequacy of grounds for the purported exercise of official powers such as a...
Friday, June 19, 2009

Double jeopardy and no-verdicts

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Does a jury's failure to reach a verdict have any double jeopardy consequences? No: Yeager v United States [2009] USSC No 08-67 (18 Jun...

Inferences, reasonable doubt, and double hearsay in Canada

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R v Griffin [2009] SCC 28 (18 June 2009) illustrates the Canadian approach to the criminal standard of proof in relation to circumstantial ...
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Timing and recent invention

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A routine case (although the culmination of lengthy proceedings ) from the Supreme Court of Canada on the admissibility of a witness's p...
Monday, June 15, 2009

At what price?

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Market value includes black market value for the purposes of ascertaining the amount of a forfeiture order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2...
Friday, June 12, 2009

Sounds and unsoundness

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A policeman thought he could hear a confessional statement on a recording of a telephone call made by the accused to emergency services. Exp...
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Strasbourg reigns

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Obedience to Strasbourg's Grand Chamber has led the House of Lords to correct itself: Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF [2...
Monday, June 08, 2009

A bit about David Bain’s retrial

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The right tribunal Last month was the fourteenth anniversary of the start of David Bain's first trial for murdering his parents, two s...
Friday, June 05, 2009

Delay: the kinds of prejudice

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Prejudice arising from delay was the Supreme Court of Canada's reason for restoring the stay of proceedings that had been entered by the...
Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Disobedient dissenters!

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Again, final appellate judges refuse to obey the law and repeat their dissenting views in subsequent cases: R v Craig [2009] SCC 23, R v Ou...
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Economy overwhelms the need for a fair trial

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Here is another illustration of a divergence of opinion between appellate judges over whether to apply the proviso: R v Van [2009] SCC 22 (...
Friday, May 29, 2009

Is a buyer party to the sale?

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Abuelhawa v United States [2009] USSC No 08-192, 26 May 2009 deals with whether a buyer of a drug is a party to its sale in a statutory con...
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Breach of prosecutor’s duties

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Breach of the prosecutor's duties made the trial unfair in Stewart v R [2009] NZSC 53 (28 May 2009). That meant that the proviso could ...

Unstilted voluntariness

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"When a defendant is not in custody, he is in control, and need only shut his door or walk away to avoid police badgering. And noninte...
Monday, May 25, 2009

Short in trumps

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There are times when it's a struggle to say anything interesting about the final resolution of a disputed point of law. "How sour s...
Thursday, May 21, 2009

A night mission

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Judicial decisions must be based on adequate grounds, and a decision to stay proceedings is no different. In R v Edwards [2009] HCA 20 (21 ...
Friday, May 15, 2009

Remedies for undue delay

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The remedy for undue delay before trial was the subject of Williams v R [2009] NZSC 41. As would be expected, the Court applied dicta in At...
Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Knowledge of circumstances

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Knowledge of circumstances was required as a matter of statutory interpretation in Flores-Figueroa v United States [2009] USSC No 08-108, 4...
Monday, May 04, 2009

Contradicting the snitch

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If improperly obtained evidence is inadmissible in chief, is it necessarily inadmissible in cross-examination? In Kansas v Ventris [2009] U...