The Crown must prove the three elements of every crime, the identity of the actor, the act, and the actor’s intent to commit the crime. Each of these elements is important for another reason. Any evidence presented by either side must be relevant. The easiest way to determine what is relevant in a criminal trial is to ask this question: is the evidence that I would like to present to the court relevant to at least one of these three elements of a crime? If so, the evidence that a lawyer wishes to present to the court is admissible as relevant.
Relevant, admissible evidence relates to proving or disproving the act(s) alleged, the identity of the perpetrator and the intent of the person who committed the act.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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