I wish this could be included and can't understand why it isn't allowed. It's not as though it's hearsay evidence. JC can get on the stand and swear it happened. Doesn't seem right.
You know... at first when I read your post, I was going to hit 'reply' to say - think about it as if it were yourself, and how would you be feeling *then*, if 3 years after the fact, a witness suddenly comes up with a certain piece of information which happened on the night OF, which could possibly make you look guilty.
But in this particular case, my first thoughts are not right, because at the time when JC was giving her statements, she had NO IDEA that WM's death was being considered as other than she had already been told, a suicide, AND she had NO IDEA that in the event it WAS something else, that a possible perp would be his own SON.
So in *THIS* case, dang right it should be allowed! I feel so far like the Crown is not assertive or forceful enough. Why not question the officers as to what other possible causes of WM's death they considered at the scene, or why they did not collect any samples whatsoever from the scene, to ensure a proper investigation on behalf of the deceased, considering there was no suicide note. Seems pretty basic. Also, perhaps enquire from the officers how much their opinion/perspective was influenced by being told repeatedly at the scene that the deceased had an alcohol problem?
I'd like to know how often does this happen where an individual dies and perhaps family members wish authorities to believe it was suicide, and have tales, perhaps true tales, about the deceased's vices? The worst part is that when we're talking about suicides, it is almost never in the news... so therefore, in addition to whatever is NOT done to verify things at the scene, others, who may potentially have had information of importance, are completely left in the dark, because they don't even necessarily know about the death in the first place, until possibly much later. Or they find out about the death, but like in *this* case, they are told the death was due to a medical condition, as opposed to the actual cause, which was a gunshot wound! jmo
