Can a learned trial judge reverse his previous ruling that a statement was voluntary?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Woodley, 1993 CanLII 1051 (BC CA):
21 Counsel for the appellant submitted that the learned trial judge's reversal of his previous ruling did not fit within the principles set out in Regina v. Watson, [1980] 2 All E.R. 293 where Lord Justice Cumming-Bruce stated at p. 295: Experience has shown that where the question of the voluntary character of a statement has been investigated and decided at a trial within a trial, it is only in very rare and unusual cases that further evidence later emerges which may cause a trial judge to reconsider the question whether he is still satisfied that the statement was voluntary and admissible. But where there is such further evidence the Judge has the power to consider the relevance of the admissibility which he has already ruled.
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