Lightreach Criminal Law

## Generality

The law in Lightreach is comprehensive at best, and convoluted at worst. It is a mess of bureaucracy, designating certain zones in the city for certain projects, requiring various types of permits to sanction any type of construction, and sporting jokes that for every citizen in town there's a tree felled to file their birth certificate and paperwork.

The Criminal justice system thus, is a long drawn out affair - watched over by scribes, paralegals, attorneys, and their ilk like it's a sport or passtime. In some truth, it really is - and skilled players keep mind of every new bylaw, bill and case that passes through the courts in order to gain the upper edge on their future opponents. Truly, the floor is a cut-throat place of law, where cunning silver words bet for stakes that aren't their own, to gain reputation among societies elite.

## Criminal Process

There is a general series of processes that one can expect when indited for a crime in Lightreach proper. Different sorts of crimes or trials might deviate on specific components - as different legal issues require different proceedings, but below is the general gist of the various sorts of meetings one might expect, and their purpose in the overall system.

### Pre-Arrest/Arrest:

The criminal trial process generally begins with your arrest. Prior to this, and depending on circumstances surrounding the event - a warrant may be issues and signed by a local judge for the arrestee. For minor issues, one might merely be served via mail—pink papers with the charges, incurred fine, and dates by which one must respond should they desire to take the issue to court. This usually ends up for small time municipal issues, such as gambling, trespass, public drunkenness or lewdness, and disturbing the peace— at least if the complaint is filed after the initial occurrence. As with many things, it may depend on severity of the offense, and sometimes the disposition of the Knight or Guard sent to investigate or handle the offense. Larger offenses usually end up with a typical arrest as many would expect of a lawful society - and though the basic conditions of a jail cell aren't anything close to desirable, the bunk and area is always kept clean and halfways-decent meals are brought twice daily.

Upon being arrested you are either released with an appearance notice, a promise to appear, a summons, on a recognizance, or you are held in custody until you are brought before a judge. After your arrest, a date for your first appearance will be set, typically in a docket court. This court usually occurs without the accused, and resolves the date of the first appearance rather quickly. Most often, depending on the current backlog of the courts, the first appearance is set within a couple of days.

### First Appearance

Your first appearance is set so that you can tell the court how you intend to proceed with your charges. Specifically, on your first appearance you can tell the court that you intent to plead guilty, that you plead not guilty and would like to set your matter for trial, or you can adjourn because you do not have disclosure or a lawyer. If you adjourned, your matter will typically be rescheduled for a couple of days so that you can receive and review disclosure, and then enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

If you plead guilty, your matter should be set for disposition so that you have an opportunity to make proper sentencing submissions to the court. The types of things that will be addressed during a disposition include information about your personal background, your character, and the circumstances of the offence. The purpose of sentencing submissions is to provide information to the court about your background and the circumstances of the offence to mitigate the moral culpability of your actions. For example, you might explain to the court that you stole because you had no money for food, that this is your first criminal offence, and that you have since taken actions to remedy the wrong that you have done. This information will help the court properly assess a proper punishment, and help you avoid receiving a harsher penalty than you deserve.

### Pre-Trial preparation and motions.

If you do not plead guilty and you set your matter for trial, you will need to meet with your lawyer and begin preparing to argue your case in court. Prior to trial your lawyer will meet with you and go over disclosure, explain the overall trial strategy, and prepare you for questioning if you will be taking the stand.

Depending on the nature of your charges, certain pre-trial issues will need to be addressed. One of the most common pretrial issues are issues of non-disclosure. That is, sometimes it is the case that the Crown (The name of the prosecution in criminal cases) has failed to disclose all of the evidence that is relevant to your trial and necessary for you to make a full answer and defence. In such an event, your lawyer will argue that the trial should not proceed, and the Crown will likely request an adjournment. At this juncture, your matter will either be stayed, or the adjournment will be granted and your trial date will be set back so that the Crown can provide you with the missing materials.

Prior to the trial itself proper, you might also be scheduled for a pre-trial conference. This is primarily to set forth a number of details during the proceedings, and occurs between the prosecution, the Crown, and your lawyer. During the meeting, different aspects of the case may be discussed, including how many witnesses will be in attendance, whether all disclosure has been received, and whether the matter is expected to resolve prior to trial. At this time as well, Depending on the seriousness and complexity of your charges, this may also include a preliminary inquiry. A preliminary inquiry will be held on application by the defence prior to a trail for an indictable matter. The primary purpose of the preliminary inquiry is to determine whether there is enough evidence to justify a trial, or to address evidentiary issues like what witnesses will be testifying, whether they should be testifying, and what they are expected to say. To address these issues in the preliminary inquiry, the Crown will call witnesses who will testify to issues that have been specified and agreed upon by the parties. At the end of the hearing, the matter will either be sent to trial or, if there is insufficient evidence to continue prosecuting the accused, the accused will be acquitted.

If you have been charged with an indictable offence, prior to trial you will also be given the opportunity to make an election. That is, you will be able to elect whether you will be tried before a judge and jury, or a judge alone.

### The Trial

Once all the above issues are resolved, an official date for the trial is set. The length of your trial depends heavily on the nature and complexity of the charge, the types of issues that are raised, the number of witnesses called, whether it is being heard before a jury or a judge alone, amongst other factors. Most low complexity summary conviction offences typically take between one to two days, while complicated indictable offences can take anywhere between a few days, and a few weeks. Trials are open to the public so anyone can attend, and at trial a transcript will be generated which will then become a part of the public record.

On the day of trial the Crown Prosecutor will call their witnesses first, and you will then have an opportunity to call any witnesses you may have or to testify yourself. If the defence contests the validity of evidence presented- most, if not all, witnesses will be called in a *voir dire.* A *voir dire* can be thought of as a trial within a trial where arguments based on specific sections of the *Lightreach's Declaration of Rights* are heard. The arguments heard in the *voir dire* are made for the purpose of arguing that evidence was gathered in violation of your rights and therefore, that evidence should not be admitted into trial. If the defence is successful in the *voir dire,* some or all of the incriminating evidence against you can be excluded. If enough evidence is excluded, it may be the case that the Crown no longer has enough to prosecute you, and you will be acquitted.

If you called witnesses or testified, the defence will make their closing argument then the Crown will make their closing argument. If there was a *voir dire*, the judge will then make a decision on the Charter issues raised during *voir dire*, and the trial will either completely end or will continue depending on what evidence was admitted into the trial proper. If the trail continues after the *voir dire* the Crown will go first and will call any additional witnesses or evidence they might have. Once they have finished, you will have an opportunity to call witnesses or address issues that you did not raise in the *voir dire*. If you call any evidence, the defence will make their closing arguments first and the Crown will follow with their closing arguments.

## **The Verdict and Sentencing**

Once both parties have made their submissions, the judge will render a decision. If you are acquitted, you will be free to leave. If you are convicted, the the judge at present will deliberate the appropriate sentencing for the crimes indicted, and give the final disposition of the court.

## The Role of Magic

Though the use of magic may be common elsewhere, Lightreach has had ancient issues with using truth based magics to verify the extent of the law. As many criminals escaped indictment by means of magical or supernatural interference, Lightreach has sworn off the use of divination magics in court cases - believing that reliance on them causing the most truly sinister and cunning to slip away under false security. As well, the limited value of such spells and effects are further inhibited by various caveats in the law - such as the defendants right against self-incrimination and the right to remain silent. To push against these rights and coerce a defendant to testify against themself is viewed tantamount to coercion, and likewise inadmissible in courts. As such, for general safety instead - the entire courtroom occurs in a field of antimagic - removing any enchantment or effect that would make ones tongue glide or conceal the truth. This means that sometimes, physical interpreters are required - as tongues and similar effects fail to operate.

Worth noting, this does not mean that information cannot be uncovered via magic or divinations outside of the courtroom. It is actually, rather expected to be so.