Illegally at large: recent acquittal in February 2017
A client of our firm was charged with not reporting to the Québec Detention Centre on two separate occasions – namely, a Saturday and Sunday in June 2016.
An arrest warrant was issued and our client was indicted at large in this case.
During the appearance, we immediately set a date for the trial.
The defence’s theory of the case rested on the fact that the accused had a reasonable and legitimate excuse for not reporting on two separate occasions to the Québec Detention Centre.
The strategy: Set the trial for after the client had finished serving his intermittent prison sentence on weekends to increase his credibility at trial.
The trial: Thanks to the testimony of our client’s mother, we proved that he had been the victim of a criminal act and that it would have been impossible for him to report to the prison given his serious injuries.
Despite the fact that we didn’t have a doctor’s note, the judge believed our client’s testimony as well as his mother’s.
He was acquitted.