Our firm represents a lot of men and women who have been charged with domestic assault, you’ve come to us, you’ve retained us, and say “hey look Mike, I didn’t do this, I’m innocent, and I want to plead not guilty. “Well the first question you should ask is, what are my odds of winning this case?” Well first off all, it’s really give you the odds of winning that case, it’s impossible for me to do that at our first meeting without reviewing the police report, and the disclosure. After, on or after, your first appearance, we are going to get a copy of victim statement, all of the police notes etc., the video statements, sit down with you and review your odds of winning. Now let’s assume that it’s just a he said, she said, case, with no injuries on the victim. So the victim says, you know, you pushed her, did this and that in the home. That case, is always potentially winnable. There’s no other evidence. The crown has to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt, and we can often, win that type of case. If you look at the tests in Canada, or proof beyond a reasonable doubt, you’ll understand why. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not about probably guilty, it’s somewhere between probable and absolute certainty, but it’s far close to absolute certainty. Than it is to probability. It has a difficult burden. If you can create any reasonable doubt, you’re going to win your case, and on a simple, he said, she said, case, with minimal or no injuries, you’re often going to win that type of case. But the real answer to that question is found in the police reports, that’s when we give you the opinion. We can give you the opinion with odds within reason about, you know, whether, “look, there’s no chance of winning, there’s serious injuries on the victim.” “Oh look, it’s just your word against hers, there’s no injuries, this is at least a fifty-fifty case, if not higher, or we see inconsistencies right away in the video statement, well this is a pretty good looking case, I think you’re going to win this” That’s the bottom line about your odds of winning in Ontario, or Canada, but the real issues is that you need to those police reports and review them with your lawyer, before you know what you are up against.
