The Admissibility of Demonstrative Evidence in Jury Trials: Applying the Principled Approach to the Law of Evidence

• Author: Barbara L. Legate
• Pages: 147-180



TheAdmissibilityof

DemonstrativeEvidence

inJuryTrials

ApplyingthePrincipledApproach

totheLawofEvidence

Barbara L. Legate*

What is the argument on the other side? Only this, that no case has been found

in which it has been done before. Thi s argument does not appeal to me in the

least. If we neve r do anything which has not been d one before, we shall never

get anywhere. The law will stand still whilst the rest of the world goes on; and

that will be bad for both.

DenningLJ

A. INTRODUCTION

NodoubtitwouldhavebeendicultforLordJusticeDenningtovisual-

izetheprogresstobemadeinthetechnologicalworldintheyodd

yearsthathavepassedsincehewrotethosewordsIntheeldofdemon-

strativeevidenceinnovativecounselarerunningtokeepupwiththe

restoftheworldbutcanthelawkeepupwiththemarmedonlywith

thetoolscurrentlyatitsdisposal

Asdemonstrativeevidencebecomesincreasinglysophisticatedand

expensivepredictabilityinitsadmissionisofgreatconcernThepur-

poseofthisarticleistooeranswerstothequestionsthatoenarise

 PractisespersonalinjurylitigationinLondonOntariowithLegateAssociates

 Packer v. PackerAllERCAat

BLL

whatarethelimitsoforaltestimonyhowcandemonstrativeevidence

playaroleinenhancingthetrieroffactsabilitytoabsorbunderstand

andintegratetheevidencepresentedwhatisthelegalbasisuponwhich

thisevidencecanbeadducedThegoalistomovetowardspredictability

intheacceptanceofdemonstrativeevidenceandensureitspositiveeect

uponthetrieroffactbaseduponsoundprinciplesofevidentiarylaw

Applying the principled approachto t he lawof evidence may

introduce predictability in t he admission of demonstrative evidence

Therecontinuestobemuchconfusionandinconsistencyintheapplica-

tionofthelawatalllevelsOnehopesresortingtobasicprincipleswill

assistthosewishingtomakeuseofthiskindofevidencewhileoering

safeguardstoensureitisnotmisused

Thepowerandimportancetothelitigatorofdemonstrativeevidence

cannotbeunderstatedWemustcastoperceptionsofhowwelearn

readingandlisteningandseektounderstandhowjurorslearnseeing

listening touchi ng reading experiencing in a v isual and interactive

worldThoseofuswhowenttoschoolwhencomputerswereaslarge

asaclassroomandlecturescombinedwithtextsweretheonlymeans

ofcommunicationcannotassumethereisanythingsuperioraboutthat

methodoflearningorthatthereissomethingmysticalanduntrustwor-

thy or inherently suspect about visua l learning The evidence is oth-

erwiseRetentionofinformationpresentedbothvisuallyandorallyis

greatlyenhancedoverinformationpresentedonlyorallyUnderstand-

ingisenhancedapictureisworthathousandwordsForthosewhodo

jurytrialsitiscriticaltounderstandthatinthelastfortyyearsaention

spanshavedeclinedfromoverfourminutesbeforearestorchangeis

requiredtoamereseventeensecondsBythetimethisarticleispub-

lishednodoubtitwillbelessthanthatagainTheinuenceoftelevision

and the Internet are undeniably profound Consider forexa mplethe

amountofinformationcontainedononewebpageandhowquicklyit

changesnewscastswithcrawlbarsyoungadultssiingatacomputer

withatelevisiononinthebackgroundiPodearplugdanglingfromone

eartextingallthewhilebrowsingthewebandippingbetweenFace-

bookandMSNThelitigatorwhoignoresthepowerofdemonstrative

evidencedoessoattheclientsperil

B WHATISTHEPRINCIPLEDAPPROACH

KatherineChalmerswrites

The Admissibility of Demonstrative Evidence in Jury Trials

Whathadbeenlostsightofoverthepastdecadesisthatthereareonly

afewverybasicprinciplesthatunderliealmosteveryruleofevidence

andexceptiontothoserulesTheonebasicruleofevidenceofcourse

isthatifitisrelevantitisadmissibleThisruleisbasedontheprinci-

plethatthefunctionoflitigationisthesearchforthetruthEveryother

ruleorprincipleofevidenceisanexceptiontotherelevanceruleand

these exceptions ar e themselves based on speci cpr inciples . . . the

tendencyhasbeenforthecourtstoarticulatetheunderlyingprinciple

itselfastheruleofevidencetobeappliedWerefertothisapproachas

theprincipledapproachtothelawofevidence

Itisthisprincipledapproachthathasledasinthecaseofhearsayevi-

dencetotheadoptionofarulethatreliesonreliabilityandnecessity

Thethesisofthispaperisthatareturntobasicprinciplesofevi-

denceisinordertosupport with certaintytheintroductionofdemon-

strativeevidence

Sincerstwritingthispaperinagreatdealofprogresshas

beenmadeinestablishingrulesthatwillapplytopermitadmissionof

demonstrativeevidenceandtheuseofillustrativeaidsWehavecome

sofarthatmorethanonelawyerhasexpressedtheviewthatthefailure

tousedemonstrativeevidenceinanycomplicatedcaseapproachesneg-

ligenceAgreatdealofcaselawinparticularinOntariohasdeveloped

surroundingrulesgoverningcharacterizationandadmissibilityunfor-

tunatelywithoutmuchanalysisofthetypeofevidencebeingadduced

andthedierencesbetweenthemaectingadmissibilitySomecases

Chilton v. Bellbeingoneexampleweredecidedwithoutreferencetothe

developingcaselawwhichaddstotheconfusion

Notwithstandingafewmisstepsalongthewayanddespitealackof

clarityinthedenitionoftypesorcategoriesofdemonstrativeevidence

 KatherineChalmersTowardsaMorePrincipledApproachtotheLawofEvi-

dencePaperpresentedtotheAdvocatesSocietyConferenceToronto

unpublished

 R. v. KhanSCRKhan

 OJNoatparaGenDivThecourtinChilton v. Bellordereda

mistrialforanumberofreasonswhichincludedthefactthattheplaintiscounsel

incorporatedvisualaidsbydiagramandphotographswithnoassurancethat

theywouldbesuccessfullyintroducedinevidenceeventhoughtheissuewasnot

raisedbycounselforthedefendantCounselforthedefencehadseentheaidsand

madenoobjectiontothemThecourtstatedthatinajurytrialdocumentswill

seldomifeverbeintroducedinanopeningstatementHoweverthecourtcitedno

caselawwithrespecttoitsruling