Ontario Criminal Lawyer: Top 5 Tips for Your Defence
Introduction
Andrew Captan is a practicing Ontario Criminal Lawyer. He was called to the Bar in 2011, and has practice in criminal defence throughout the province of Ontario for over 13 years.
During the course of his work as a defence lawyer, he has garnered great experience throughout Ontario Courts in defending criminal charges.
In this article, he provides his top 5 tips for the Defence of a criminal charge in Ontario.
Tip 1 – Know The Case Inside Out
An experienced Ontario Criminal Lawyer will do one thing each and every case — which is to review it and know it inside out. A case involves two main components:
- The evidence, legally known as Disclosure, received from the Crown
- The client’s background, circumstances and, in some cases, version of events
Knowing the evidence and the client inside out are keys to building a defence. If you are self represented, you just need to know the evidence inside out.
Reviewing the case multiple times through often leads to new insights; new angles; and even new potential defences that come to mind. Andrew Captan – Ontario Criminal Lawyer will ensure that after disclosure is received, it is thoroughly reviewed, and the client carefully interviewed, in order to know the case inside out.
A Crown Attorney may have an overburdened plate of cases and may not be able to dedicate as much attention to one particular file as a defence lawyer can, given that defence lawyers manage their own case load and time. Take advantage of that and review the case in every detail.
Tip 2 – Analyze the Case from a Crown Attorney Perspective
A great way to build a defence strategy for an Ontario Criminal Lawyer is to view the case from the perspective of a Crown Attorney:
- What type of evidence does the Crown need to lead in order to prove the charge(s)?
- What shortcoming(s) is (are) there in the case, and how may the Crown attempt to fix those?
- What types of questions will the Crown ask during cross-examination?
- What might the Crown want to see from the defence to improve negotiations for resolution?
You get the point. You want to put yourself in the shoes of a Crown and think about the case from that perspective in order to best know how to build a defence. An experienced Ontario Criminal Lawyer will be capable of viewing a case from multiple perspectives — defence, Crown and Judge. That will set apart the good from the great.
Tip 3 – Think Outside the Box
Sometimes, an Ontario Criminal Lawyer will pick up a file and be “stuck” in terms of deciding what to do with the case — maybe the Crown’s evidence is overwhelming; maybe there is no “clear cut” defence etc. To break down that mental wall, a crafty defence lawyer will shift gears and thing outside the box.
Thinking outside the box might include a number of different strategies, including:
- Attempting to convince the Crown to amend the charge on a plea to a charge that is more favourable to the accused;
- Disclosing information to the Crown that they otherwise would not be able to access in order to change their perspective on the case
Tip 4 – Have an In Depth Knowledge of the “Punishment Range” for Your Case
For each charge and fact pattern, there will usually be a fairly well defined punishment (or sentencing) range, which is the range within which someone can be sentenced for the charges laid. An example of a range might be a Discharge to a Conditional Sentence for a low-level assault charge for a first time offender. Ant Ontario Criminal Lawyer’s knowledge of the punishment range is a key tool to have during the negotiation process and beyond.
Tip 5 – Never Give Up
Whether you are an accused person facing a criminal charge or an Ontario Criminal Lawyer involved in a case, never throw in the towel no matter how difficult or overwhelming the case appears. There is a powerful reason behind this very simple suggestion, which is the accused’ presumption of innocence, which must be safeguarded at all costs. Unless and until there’s been a finding or plea of guilt, the accused legally remains an innocent person. Throwing in the towel before that finding has been made is an affront to this constitutionally protected principle.
Andrew Captan – Ontario Criminal Lawyer
If you’ve been charged with a criminal offence in Ontario, Andrew Captan – Ontario Criminal Lawyer can assist you. He has been practicing exclusively in criminal defence law for over 13 years. He practices throughout Ontario, including in the following jurisdictions:
- Toronto
- Newmarket
- Brampton
- Oshawa
- Peterborough
- Cobourg
- Guelph
- Milton
- Hamilton
- Kitchener
- Woodstock
- Stratford
- London
- Owen Sound
- And beyond!
Call him today at (647) 878 – 6355 for a free consultation or visit his website HERE.
