OHTA.ca

I received disclosure from the Crown....and i followed up with another disclosure request to explain the officers hand written notes....

So i finally got the follow-up request...the disclosure is divided into two sections....from the note book...and it explains the officer's notes....

and there is a second section "from template"...

1/ What is from template?

2/ he states that I made an utterance (Was only going 90km/hr).....can these utterances be brought out in court without the officer cautioning the defendant about any statements?

The template probably refers to a sheet officers use when doing a lot of speed enforcement at one spot. It allows them to record all the necessary information for each ticket in one place rather than over pages and pages in their notes. Then they just have to keep and use that for court.

In order to get a statement in they would have to hold a voir dire hearing at the trial, which they won't do for a speeding ticket and even if they did, uncautioned statements are almost always inadmissible as hearsay.

I thought that template evidence was inadmissable in court, but I can't remember why... Something about it affecting the officer's independant recollection and being "canned evidence" or something to that effect.