Hi guitslinger: I absolutely hear what you are saying. Every country has cases like this and we're all amazed and shocked when apparently guilty people walk out of court on what seem like pettifogging legal technicalities.

Here in Britain a rather similar case concluded just the other day. A cab driver was suspected in the disappearance of a young woman. Police arrested him in a car park, and then, in the belief the woman might be being held captive somewhere, began a so-called "urgent interview" right there in the police car, without a lawyer present and without all the video taping and other apparatus of a proper police interview. Over the course of three hours the man not only confessed to killing the woman, he led them to where he'd buried her - and then to where he'd buried another victim ten years earlier.

Open and shut case, you'd think? However, all of that was inadmissible evidence because of how it was obtained. The judge dismissed the confessions to both killings and the charge of murder a decade ago had to be dropped: the man walked free from that one.

However, independent of the confession there was forensic evidence connecting the man with the latest killing and he was convicted on that and got a life sentence. In other words, when there is conclusive evidence over and above an illegally obtained confession it can be used and a conviction obtained.

I do suggest you have a read about this case, because you'll find it interesting in its own right and also the way the media covers these things is thought provoking. Here's a useful write up:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... under.html

What is instructive about that article is that these things are always presented in terms of legal technicalities somehow being there to protect the guilty, while the innocent and their families are unprotected.

However, that is absolutely not what these rules are for. They are all about protecting innocent people who find themselves accused of crimes. Every criminal justice system in the world, no matter how excellent, makes mistakes. Given the chance to do so police sometimes abuse suspects, procure confessions, take short cuts, ignore evidence that doesn't suit their belief that they know who a culprit is and generally carry out huge miscarriages of justice. The "rights" that even grown up media coverage such as that article scoff at are not the rights of criminals but the rights of all of us not to be abused by our police and justice system.

We need to take these rights seriously - even in difficult cases such as these.

BTW:

I'm truly surprised if the judge in your case really did indicate publicly he believed the accused man guilty. Apart from anything else, doing that would compromise any future case on related charges, or a civil action brought by the victim's family. Are you sure the judge's supposed views are not in fact the media reading things into his words that are not there?



No - I quite agree! That's why we all need legal protection against misguided or just plain incompetent police.

Cheers - C

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The judge didn't actually come right out and say that he believed the accused was guilty but you could tell by the way he worded his statements that he thought so by stating along the lines that he was confident that no one else would be charged.

There was extensive coverage on the weekend news review this evening and it was revealed that every bit of forensic evidence they had with the victim's blood on the murderers clothing and the footprints of his running shoes in the blood.All of this plus extensive DNA evidence,was obtained without a warrant to search his vehicle or his parent's home
.They interviewed the prosecuting crown attorney and you could easily see that she was appalled,frustrated and disgusted.She said that they were going to appeal the dismissal on the grounds that the judge erred in disallowing the evidence and acquitting the accused.I hope and pray that the judge hearing the appeal over rules the discisions of the trial judge-then again someone may take it into their mind to avenge Chrissies murder and kill the SOB,therefore negating the need for a trial.Emotions run at a boiling point province wide over this fiasco and people are calling for blood and for heads to roll,I'm sure this monster will no longer be safe in this province as long as he stays here.Coincidently and ironically this is anti violence week in the province.

Edited: I didn't change wording I just unscrambled the sentences that this POS computer fooled up all by itself..

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

A very, very awful story for the murder victim's family, that's for certain.

In both my country and the US there remains the possibility of the family bringing a civil action even where a criminal prosecution has failed (the OJ Simpson case in the States, the Lawrence family in the UK, for example). Does that happen in Canada too?

Cheers - C

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I haven't seen anything like that happen here yet but the Constabulary has been passing out money hand over fist to pay off wrongful conviction lawsuits.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Like GS I can't,offhand, think of a time that has happened either. But I am fairly certain our laws about this type of thing are directly derived from British Law.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

guitslinger, I'm just wondering what news, if any, there has been in the wake of this aquittal regarding the actual evidence that was questioned. As I understand it there was a very broad publication ban on anything to do with the evidence in this trial but now that it's over I assume it must be lifted. Just wondering what previously unknown truths may have come out in the aftermath. I have read statements by the defense lawyers in this case that the public should try to learn more about the case before they become enraged. They seem to be quite confident that justice prevailed in the end and that has me wondering what turns of events might have taken place lately either in support of or in defiance of their assertions.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Hi BMW-KTM on the CBC news a couple of nights after his acquittal they stated that they found footprints in her blood that matched a pair that he had bought but had disposed of. There was what was most likely a blood stain in his car.All in all they had reams of very Damning evidence that pretty well proved conclusively that he was in fact the murderer but the investigating officers threw protocol to the wind and just picked up evidence as they went around the crime scene etc. and searched his parent's house-where he had been staying-and his car without obtaining warrants and before they read him his rights. In the end just about every bit of evidence-even his confession-was disallowed. Reading between his words and what he said when he came down on the cops he also figured that this jerk was in fact her murderer.When they were married apparently the cops had to be called because he had become physically abusive to her but apparently she dropped the charges.I guess he begged and pleaded and promised that he'd never do it again,that's what all these cowards do.They'll beat up a woman half their size but are scared shitless of a cop,a real man or getting thrown in prison-we all know what happens to woman and child abusers and rapists in prison.That's what they all need.

BTW: The whole province is still disgusted about but the radio talkshows etc. have tamed down and they've just gone back to their regular gossip formats.The Crown Prosecuter has said that they will definitely be appealing the judge's decision to disallow all of that evidence,she said that it's her opinion that he erred in his decision.I think that in a cut and dried case like this when there was a confession and it was given through the course of normal conversation and not under duress of any kind,the evidence should be allowed . The stakes are huge here-an innocent woman has been murdered by an estranged spouse and he admitted doing it.When there's a loss of life in this horrible a manner, justice for the victim should trump everything else.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.