Defendant letter of apology to the victim ?

[tali1]

If before or during trial a remorseful defendant (or his family /friends even) write a letter of apology to the victim or victim's family , would this be considered as interfering with witnesses?

[Buenchico]

Unless the defendant is subject to a bail condition which prevents him from contacting the victim (or the victim's family), there's no specific reason why he shouldn't write a letter to them.

It could only be construed as 'attempting to pervert the course of justice' if it contained threats (either explicit or implicit) or suggestions that the victim should withdraw his statements or refuse to give evidence against the defendant.

However, any letter of apology would effectively be an admission of guilt, almost guaranteeing a 'guilty' verdict from the court.

Chris

[cassa333]

Also if I were a vicitim of crime and the perpitrators family or friends wrote to me I would be 10 times madder. ANY appology will only carry any weight if the defendant wrote it.

What sort of person does a crime then hides behind other people to make good what they have done?

[simonruss]

if it came from the defendant then it could be used by their legal representation as a genuine sign of remorse and as such use it to reduce any future punishment

[dzug]

It's easy enough for an unremorseful defendant to write such a letter in an attempt to mitigate the penalty. I doubt if it would carry any weight whatsoever