The accused was charged with fire bombing a house causing injuries to two of the occupants. One of the occupants, Justin Kirstein, provided the a statement to the police identifying the accused as a participant in the fire bombing.
The Trial Begins…
At trial the Crown Attorney called Mr Kirstein. Over the course of two days, Joshua Rogala carefully cross examined him. As Joshua asked questions, the complainants credibility slowly began to cave in around him. It was shown the complainant had a complete disrespect for the court. During a series of questions posed to him by Joshua, the Mr Kirstein admitted to having repeatedly lied to the court on multiple occasions. It was also demonstrated throughout the cross examination that Mr Kirstein was tailoring his testimony in an attempt to bolster his credibility.
Aside from merely demonstrating his deplorable character, Joshua was able to draw out the circumstances of Mr Kirstein’s ability to observe the assailants. His ability to observe was question with respect to the time he had to observe, the lighting conditions, focus of attention, eyesight, distance observing from the suspects, previous acquaintance with the accused and his reported observations.
After confirming Mr Kirstein’s recollection of the assailant he alleged was the accused, Josh was able to through a series of questions expose the weaknesses of Mr Kirstein’s eyewitness identification. Mr Kirstein was unable to with any clarity identify any characteristic of the accused. He ultimately agreed that the accused height was not the same as the assailants height, but despite such a discrepancy continued to try to claim it was the accused.
The Closing of the Case
After 12 days of trial, in his extensive closing arguments Joshua systematically reviewed the evidence with the Judge to demonstrate how there was clearly reasonable doubt as to the accused involvement in the fire bombing. The Judge carefully consider the arguments advanced by both parties. Based on arguments advanced by Joshua Rogala, the Judge concluded
…the eyewitness identification of the accused Perreault to be weak, and I am unimpressed by the supposed “recognition” evidence offered by the complainant.
The Judge found that Mr Kirstein was neither credible or reliable. The accused was acquitted of all charges.