Toronto Personal Rights Lawyers Aggressively Work To Keep You Out of Prison
If you are suspected or accused of any crime you have the critically important right to remain silent. You must be advised of your right to contact a lawyer upon arrest, and be given the opportunity to do so at the police station, before any statement is taken by the police.
Even if you wish to remain silent,you may well encounter one or more police officers who will not respect your wishes. It is vitally important that you speak to a lawyer before being interviewed by the police and that you follow your lawyer’s advice to remain silent, even in the face of aggressive or persistent police questioning.
Police commonly confront suspects or accused persons with facts of the case that almost force a person to respond. If the police have already charged you, there is absolutely no value in speaking to the police. If you are only a suspect, it is equally important for you to speak to a lawyer in order to determine whether, in rare circumstances, you should respond to police questioning or interrogation techniques.
Presumption of Innocence and Reasonable Doubt
The presumption of innocence and the need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt go hand-in-hand in our criminal courts. It is always up to the prosecution to prove guilt. The defence is never required to prove innocence. You are always presumed innocent until you are judged guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Reasonable doubt is based on reason and common sense and must be based on the evidence or lack of evidence presented in a case. Reasonable doubt does not require absolute certainty of guilt, but it does require more than just a probability of guilt.
The concept of “beyond a reasonable doubt” is more thoroughly discussed and explained in the following Supreme Court of Canada decisions, the last of which (R. v. Lifchus) also deals with similar considerations and the fundamental “presumption of innocence.”
* R. v. Bisson [1998] 1 S.C.R. 306
* R. v.Brydon [1995] 4 S.C.R. 253
* R. v. Layton [2009] 2 S.C.R. 540
* R. v. Lifchus [1997] 3 S.C.R. 320
