In a criminal trial, it is possible to have a witness testify via video link.
The court in Walkerton recently took some time to consider this issue.
The Crown put forward some evidence that an important civilian Crown witness lived out West and that arrangements had been made to have her testify via a court video and audio link from her small town courthouse to the Walkerton court.
The Crown’s position was that it would cost around $1,000 to have the witness flown in and housed and fed.
Although the video issue fight (assuming the judge’s oral decision gets reported in writing so as to be viewed as a precedent by judges and lawyers), was really about whether sworn Crown evidence was needed or not for a video request, the case does show the court trying to “get with the times.”
The really interesting issue, from a taxpayer’s point of view is this- the taxpayers in Ontario may have saved $1,000 or so, but there will have to be a video technician at hand in that Western Province and one at hand here in Walkerton court- if anything goes wrong, connection wise, then the trial either gets adjourned or the charge gets dropped- either way, the taxpayer ends up wasting more money in the end.
It is amazing, how often that is the case.