I've had exit pretrials. I've explained that in my brief. What happens is that after the preliminary hearing, the judge orally—it doesn't necessarily have to be in writing—tells both the defence and the Crown the weaknesses and strengths of the case. Not every judge will do that, and not every Crown or every defence counsel will request that. The Crown and the defence would have to come together to request it in exit pretrial. It's done informally, but it's extremely helpful. I've certainly found it extremely helpful in more than one case, and thus I would think that if it were done in a routine way, then it would give both the defence and the Crown something to seriously consider in deciding whether they're going to move up or not. You've had a judge who's not the trial judge tell you where the weaknesses and the strengths of the case are.
On September 19th, 2018. See this statement in context.