Objections Cheatsheet

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Checklist

General Irrelevance (see Relevance)

• Eliciting evidence supporting a Motion not before the Court
• Contradicting Collateral Facts (see Collateral Fact Rule)

Premature Evidence

• No foundation/Assumes facts not proven
• Eliciting evidence supporting a Motion not before the Court

Improperly Phrased Questions

• Compound Question
• Vague/Misleading question
• Misquoting prior evidence/statement

Uncivil Questions

• Asked and answered
• Badgering, harassing witness
• arguing with witness
• Monologuing/Editorizating

Evidence unconnected to incident at issue

• a prior consistent statement as "oath helping" (see Prior Consistent Statements)
• Character of accused not admissible unless accused put his character in issue (see Character of Accused)
• Character of victim presumed not relevant unless "probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect" (see Character of Non-Accused Persons)

Evidence that generally is prohibited by Rules of Evidence

• Hearsay
• Question seeks answer NOT in direct knowledge of the accused
• Asking witness for expert opinion (see Expert Evidence)
• Eliciting Privileged information (see Solicitor-Client Privilege; Informer Privilege; Litigation Privilege)

Evidence-in-Chief

• Leading Question on evidence other than uncontentious evidence (See Examination-in-Chief)

Defence evidence

• Eliciting evidence contradicting Crown evidence without first confronting the Crown witness (Rule in Browne v Dunn)

Prior Sexual History (assuming enumerated sexual offence)

• Sexual contact with anyone, except contact at issue in trial (see Complainant's Sexual Activity Evidence)
• Eliciting any information that is contained in private records, including medical, personal diaries, etc. (see Production of Records for Sexual Offences)

Sexual Assault Myths

• Failure of the complainant to "fight back"
• Failure of the complainant to "scream" or "call for help"
• Failure of the complainant to report the assault in a timely manner