R. v. O.T.O.

(Calgary Court of Justice - Assault with a Weapon). OTO was charged with assault with a weapon arising from a riot in North East Calgary. OTO claimed innocence throughout. The accused's claim was not one of merely words alone; OTO's case was not well supported by the evidence. There was almost a complete absence of evidence identifying OTO as a person who was even present at the riot and certainly insufficient evidence capable of identifying OTO's involvement in any criminal offence whatsoever. Identification can be a very strong defence for the accused.

In over 20 years at the criminal bar David Chow has successfully run identification as a defence to attempted murder, driving offences causing bodily harm, serious cases of assault (including shooting the alleged victim with a firearm) and drug trafficking. David has even successfully secured verdicts of "not guilty" in cases where the Prosecutor's case was supported by video purportedly depicting the accused at the scene of the crime. 

OTO's case did not require nearly as much effort as many of David Chow's other identification cases. The Crown was immediately contacted and advised of serious concerns with identification. Thankfully, a reasonable and legally astute prosecutor reviewed the case at first instance. The Crown agreed with the identification issues and not wishing to risk prosecuting an innocent person, the crown immediately withdrew the charge. 

As with many of his cases, David Chow managed to save his client substantial legal fees by doing the work to have the charge withdrawn early. 

Many persons accused of crime and seeking to hire a criminal defence lawyer in Alberta reasonably believe that some lawyers will set cases for trial (or even preliminary inquiry and trial) for the purpose of elevating legal costs.  To be sure, there are considerable financial benefits to counsel who press cases to trial. Since David Chow runs a truly boutique law practice where he only accepts a relatively small number of clients each year and since his practice model is designed to run a smaller number of trials each year so that he can give the best service to his clients as possible, David does everything in his power to ensure cases are resolved favourably without trial. In David Chow's opinion, here is an important balance to representing clients. On the one hand, the most capable criminal defence lawyer must be capable and prepared to run a trial when required; however, on the other hand, the defence  lawyer is responsible for bringing a favourable and cost effective resolution resolution to clients whenever possible. If you are in need of a trial lawyer or are interviewing Calgary criminal lawyers (or Alberta defence lawyer), call David Chow for a free initial telephone consultation. Please understand, while David has brick and mortar offices in both Calgary and Cochrane, part of his cost friendly model for legal fees is to ensure that time is well spent. Since most cases can be discussed remotely, David's offices are not open for walk-ins -- they are open by APPOINTMENT ONLY.