The Justice of the Peace took approximately five to ten minutes to decide the case. It was his style to deliberate ‘out loud’ and so we knew what he was thinking and weighing in his decision. It wasn’t clear whether these were his notes or he had been fed a real-time transcript by the court clerk, as the notes were quite detailed and lengthy.
He started with the officer’s testimony. Next he made a few references to the prosecutor’s closing statements and in particular commented that the prosecutor had chosen not to make any changes to the offence notice.
He then went on to my testimony. He mentioned that the city limit had not been clearly established. I scrambled through my notes and pulled up one of several maps but had to bite my lip for I knew I was not permitted to interject at this juncture in the trial.
Piece by piece I had edited and omitted evidence that I thought was either unnecessary or unsupportive to my case. I had taken 30 pictures but introduced just one that I thought best supported my case.
Similarly, I had prepared several maps of the location which clearly outlined the city’s boundary on Woolwich St. But I decided not to introduce them as evidence as I felt that they tended to trivialise the distances involved.
To me, an abstract distance of 80 m in one’s mind, seemed greater than the same distance viewed on a map. But this almost back-fired on me in the end. I thought I had established the exact location of Guelph’s boundary but apparently the JP didn’t feel this way.
In the end there were several factors which led the J.P. to ultimately dismiss the charge. However it was clear that my two biggest weapons had had the desired effect on the JP as he closed by saying that he had reasonable doubt that the alleged offence took place in the City of Guelph.
He started with the officer’s testimony. Next he made a few references to the prosecutor’s closing statements and in particular commented that the prosecutor had chosen not to make any changes to the offence notice.
He then went on to my testimony. He mentioned that the city limit had not been clearly established. I scrambled through my notes and pulled up one of several maps but had to bite my lip for I knew I was not permitted to interject at this juncture in the trial.
Piece by piece I had edited and omitted evidence that I thought was either unnecessary or unsupportive to my case. I had taken 30 pictures but introduced just one that I thought best supported my case.
Similarly, I had prepared several maps of the location which clearly outlined the city’s boundary on Woolwich St. But I decided not to introduce them as evidence as I felt that they tended to trivialise the distances involved.
To me, an abstract distance of 80 m in one’s mind, seemed greater than the same distance viewed on a map. But this almost back-fired on me in the end. I thought I had established the exact location of Guelph’s boundary but apparently the JP didn’t feel this way.
In the end there were several factors which led the J.P. to ultimately dismiss the charge. However it was clear that my two biggest weapons had had the desired effect on the JP as he closed by saying that he had reasonable doubt that the alleged offence took place in the City of Guelph.