Who may lodge a document or an object as evidence before the trial date, and what does that submission have to show?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the notice setting the trial date, the paper the prosecution or the defence lodged with the court showing its date of receipt, and the document or object itself lodged as evidence, to see whether it was lodged before the trial date.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the named actors and the timing: the prosecutor, the accused or defence counsel may, before the trial date, submit a document or an object to the court as evidence, and the provision is permissive, saying only that they may do so.
Another reading notes what the provision does not say: it does not require that the other side be served with what is submitted, nor set the effect a pre-trial submission has at the hearing, and nothing lodged on or after the trial date falls within it.
Your judgment
What in the file could show both that the submission reached the court before the trial date and whether the other side has a copy of it?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to require service of pre-trial evidence on the other side or to regulate submissions made after the trial date has begun, or if a court decision explains the effect of such a submission at the hearing.