110 Law - Legal Research and Writing LEGAL ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
2004-2005
Read the fact pattern, s. 7 of the Charter (see below) and the edited versions of the four cases mentioned below (available on the Law 110 course website). For the purposes of this assignment, assume these cases make up the entire body of relevant law on `jailhouse confessions'. If you do not know the meaning of a term, please look it up in a legal dictionary such as Black's Law Dictionary or The Dictionary of Canadian Law. These are available on the dictionary stands in the Priestly Law Library. After you have read and analysed the cases, (a) write a synthesis of the law; (b) then write an application of the law to the facts of your client's case, predicting what a court would probably conclude about the confession if this case went to trial. This written assignment should not exceed 2,000 words in 12 point font. Please use 1.5 linespacing and generous margins so that I have room to make comments. Please use page numbers on your assignment. Please put your real name on the assignment cover page, as well as your tutorial group number. This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade in Law 110. It is due by noon on Friday, October 22, 2004. Please see the course objectives and course syllabus regarding penalties for late assignments. You may discuss this assignment with your classmates but the written work you submit for grade must be your own original work. FACT PATTERN Our client is Billy Mitchell, who is 19 years old and unemployed. He lives at home with his parents. He has been charged with breaking and entering (B & E), but maintains that he is not guilty. The Crown intends to attempt to introduce into evidence at trial a statement that Mitchell allegedly made while in custody after he was arrested. The circumstances of the statement are as follows. Mitchell advises that, immediately upon his arrest, the police read him his right to counsel and his right to silence. He further advises that he invoked his right to counsel and tried to talk to a Legal Aid lawyer by telephone before he was put in the cells. He did not get through, but, as he puts it, he had seen lots of police shows on TV so he decided he should not talk to the police. He can't
remember if he told the police that he had not actually spoken to a lawyer; he says they did not ask. The particulars supplied to us by the Crown indicate that the arresting officer will testify that Mitchell said: "I guess I shouldn't talk to you guys. Sorry." The police placed Mitchell in a holding cell with two other men, one of whom, Chuck Dickens, was an informant who had been arrested on a narcotics charge. The other was a local man, Uriah Heep, who had been picked up for drunk driving. Heep, who was just waiting for a friend to arrive and drive him home, was still somewhat intoxicated. advises Mitchell that he could smell alcohol on him. Dickens will testify that the police did not instruct him to try to get a confession out of Mitchell, just to "play along" and report anything Mitchell said that was relevant to the B & E. He will also testify that, shortly after our client was placed in the cell, the following conversation took place: Heep: Dickens: Heep: Mitchell: Dickens: Mitchell: Dickens: Heep: So, fella, what the heck you in for? I'm a drunk and this guy here [indicating Dickens] is some kind of dope dealer. Whaddija do? [To Mitchell] Hey, buddy, you don't have to answer that. He's an idiot. He might even be a narc. I am not. [To Dickens] I'm not worried about narcs. I don't do drugs. Or [to Heep] alcohol. No? So how come you are in here? You kill somebody? B & E a house? Knock off a bank? Steal some old lady's purse? I don't know. They say I broke into a house. It's not fair. Yeah, that's for sure. After all, you're in here, and they're out there. And whether you're guilty or not, cops can prove just about anything. [To Mitchell] And they're everywhere. Cops everywhere. Y'know, hidin' unner rocks, peekin' out from behind trees. The one that got me was in a goddam Honda a Honda! Believe that? No sirens, no lights, nuthin'. Sneaky. [To Heep] The one that got you could have been dancing in full uniform on the hood of your car, and you wouldn't have noticed. [To Dickens] But I won't be here long. Even if what they're saying I did might be true, they can't prove it.
Dickens: Mitchell:
At this point, Heep became upset about what Dickens had said to him, and uniformed officers came to tell him his ride had arrived. Mitchell went quiet and the "...