There is, and I think that's a very important aspect of it for the unrepresented accused. For example, I have been part of a very long fraud trial for which there was a preliminary hearing. A number of co-accused were not represented. These individuals were able to see what the case against them was. I don't know who else is a criminal defence lawyer here, but when you have a fraud case, you have boxes and boxes of disclosures, and it's impossible to make sense of that, sometimes even for defence lawyers, let alone these unrepresented individuals. It does serve the discovery purpose, and I think that's a very important part of it, absolutely. Maybe we could bolster that function even more if we increased the power of judges who do preliminary hearings.
On September 19th, 2018. See this statement in context.