Greedy Trial Lawyer
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Hypnosis has lost a round in the Canadian Supreme Court.
Ruling halts courts' use of hypnosis in evidence
Evidence obtained from witnesses under hypnosis is dangerously unreliable and cannot be used in Canadian courtrooms, the Supreme Court of Canada said in a major ruling yesterday."At the present time, there is no way of knowing whether such information will be accurate or inaccurate," Madam Justice Marie Deschamps wrote for a 6-3 majority. "Such uncertainty is unacceptable in a court of law."
Lawyer James Lockyer, who brought the case to the court, said that he knows of 20 to 30 cases in the past decade where hypnosis evidence was used. "Had the court ruled that hypnosis was admissible, it could have led to it being used regularly by police forces," he added in an interview.
Mr. Lockyer was representing Stephen John Trochym, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Donna Hunter, in 1992, based partly on the evidence of a witness who, while under hypnosis, altered her testimony to conform to the police theory of the crime.
The court majority said yesterday that witnesses who are hypnotized are liable to fabricate recollections, embroider existing memories or modify their recollections in a way that favours information they have received from authority figures.
The question now is what will the Canadian courts do to prevent testimony from non-hypnotized witnesses who fabricate recollections, embroider existing memories or modify their recollections in a way that favours information they have received from authority figures? These witnesses show up every week in every courthouse throughout the U.S. - has the Canadian system found a way to bar them from testifying?
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