161. Criminal Defence, "Technicalities", and Going to Trial (with Jacob Stilman)

Jacob Stilman, a practicing criminal defence lawyer with 30 years of experience, discusses the day-to-day life of a defence attorney. Host William Lundy asks for Jacob's response to that common question for criminal defence lawyers: "How could you live with defending that person?" They also discuss the charge that defence lawyers take advantage of "technicalities" to keep accused persons out of prison.

In this broad look at criminal defence, Jacob discusses plea bargains, the questions involved in going to trial, the art of cross-examination, and preparing an accused to take the stand. The conversation also touches on recent changes to criminal law — including marijuana legalization and impaired driving, the latter of which is the subject of Jacob's chapter in the recently published book, "High Time" — the abolition of peremptory challenges in jury selection, and the so-called 'Jian Ghomeshi' rules in sexual assault trials.