Canadian Lawyer

May 2008

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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judicial system and expert scientific evidence, the delivery of forensic pathology services, the organization of death inves- tigation, and the roles of the Crown, defence, and the court. The inquiry even went on the road to host a two-day session in Thunder Bay, Ont., that fo- cused on pediatric pathology services in Northern Ontario, with a full day dedicated to ab- original concerns. Throughout the process, Lutz, also treasurer of the Canadian Council of Criminal lawyers and the general public have been able to watch pro- ceedings live by webcast, while transcripts and submissions have been made available in timely fashion on the inquiry web site. "This is a very pro- gressive development," says Addario, a criminal lawyer at Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP. "It likely means much of that stuff has been memorialized forever." The inquiry piqued the interest of lawyers across Canada, many of whom are hopeful the ensuing recommendations will affect real change universally. "It is a field of science that ap- pears to have very little, if any, foundation," says David Lutz, a criminal lawyer and partner at Lutz Longstaff in New Bruns- wick, of pediatric forensic pathology. to whenever possible choose the judge-alone option." — DAVID LUTZ, LUTZ LONGSTAFF "My recommendation, having seen what has gone on in the past, is lawyers would be wise Defence Lawyers, says a lack of available education for pe- diatric forensic pathologists, in particular, means juries are rendered gullible, as they were in the cases involving Smith. "Jurors would have been over- whelmed by his opinion," he says. "Jurors are people who can't find a way out of being a juror; that's why they're ju- rors. They are people who are by definition not in the profes- sion. No disrespect intended, but they are people who have no particular education being jurors. So when they hear of a doctor's eminent qualifica- tions, they believe it." Lutz suggests the problem be remedied by creating a system to attain pediatric pathology credentials within the medical profession. "One of the recommendations is going to have to be that if you are gong to be a pediatric pathologist, you're go- ing to have to have the best training in the world, and I'm not sure that that exists at the moment," says Lutz, who has been counsel in more than 4,000 trials during his career, two dozen of which involved murders. "It has to be made an extreme spe- cialty by the medical schools, so that, in the future, a person will (800) 253-1666 (877) 695-6575 www. C ANADIAN (800) 670-0407 mag.com M AY 2008 55

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