The Law of Lynn
As Elizabeth’s November monthly letter has predicted, Elizabeth and Anthony are in at least a second day of waiting to testify and they are sitting together in the hall. My understanding of the legal procedure from my anonymous legal expert is:
1. The witness is told to show up a couple of hours before the trial is scheduled to begin. A policeperson meets with the witness and has the witness refresh their memory by reviewing the statement (which usually means playing the tape made of their testimony for the witness).
2. The witness sits around all day wondering what is going on because the witness is excluded from the courtroom until the witness has been called to give evidence.
Liz, as a victim of a sexual assault, would not be waiting in the hallway at all, but in a room elsewhere in the building.
3. The witnesses wouldn't be hanging around for days and days waiting to be called: they would be on standby, which means that they would have to leave contact information and be able to turn up on relatively short notice.
4. I'm unclear whether Liz has actually been in the Courtroom yet to get the information about the witness who is Howard’s relative, but if she has, she ought not to have done so until she's completed her testimony.
5. If Howard’s relative is refusing to testify when ordered to do so, then he or she is eligible to be charged with civil contempt at common law. I am uncertain how this would cause the trial to last longer.
This is the Canadian law of Lynn Johnston, where she uses the non-Canadian terms of “depositions” and refers to Howard’s lawyer as an “attorney.”
1. The witness is told to show up a couple of hours before the trial is scheduled to begin. A policeperson meets with the witness and has the witness refresh their memory by reviewing the statement (which usually means playing the tape made of their testimony for the witness).
2. The witness sits around all day wondering what is going on because the witness is excluded from the courtroom until the witness has been called to give evidence.
Liz, as a victim of a sexual assault, would not be waiting in the hallway at all, but in a room elsewhere in the building.
3. The witnesses wouldn't be hanging around for days and days waiting to be called: they would be on standby, which means that they would have to leave contact information and be able to turn up on relatively short notice.
4. I'm unclear whether Liz has actually been in the Courtroom yet to get the information about the witness who is Howard’s relative, but if she has, she ought not to have done so until she's completed her testimony.
5. If Howard’s relative is refusing to testify when ordered to do so, then he or she is eligible to be charged with civil contempt at common law. I am uncertain how this would cause the trial to last longer.
This is the Canadian law of Lynn Johnston, where she uses the non-Canadian terms of “depositions” and refers to Howard’s lawyer as an “attorney.”
posted by howard at 11:18 PM
3 Comments:
It does seem evident that Lynn refused to get up from that comfy chesterfield to do any research on the way the Canadian legal system actually works.
I expect wonderful things from Lynn when she finally get Liz into the courtroom itself. The testimony of the mysterious Howard relative could be an interesting twist. It is just to show that Howard is so perverse he would rape one of his kin? Or is it to show that since someone is unwilling to testify, then it will be up to Liz to step in with the crucial testimony to put Howard away? Or something even more cockeyed and stupid? I know Lynn won't let us down. The Gym Jam was just as gloriously awful as I had hoped it would be.
Did the witness refuse to show up or just refuse to testify? Either way, there are remedies under criminal law.
The official FOOB version of the comic is interesting today -- seems like a gowned lawyer is crossing one of the panels. But his gown is too short, and he would be banned from the court by a fussy judge. Still, it's the first real concession to actual Canadian criminal law/procedure that I've seen.
That courthouse is really sparse. Exposed brick in the hallway of a Superior Court of Justice?
On we go.
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