The trial by fire is originally a medieval ordeal meant to test the innocence of a defendant in undecided court cases.

In State Supreme Court, the goal is to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant.

For example, a lawyer is "ordinarily" barred from expressing "any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of a defendant" in a criminal case.

On this point, People vs. Dalgarno went to the state supreme court, where it was upheld that in certain limited cases, the innocence of a defendant can be established by 'devices considered sentient as well as percipient'.

As a writer, says Mr. Finkelstein, "you have an opportunity to articulate two positions, whether you're dealing with a criminal case and the guilt or innocence of a defendant, or the opposing arguments in a civil case.

"In the United States, trials are a kind of competition between prosecutors and defense lawyers who try to persuade a lay jury of the guilt or innocence of a defendant," said Rudolf Wassermann, a retired judge.

As mentioned earlier, the paper shares the presumption of innocence of a defendant: so Mr, Mrs or Miss Smith, unless he or she is a convicted criminal still serving a sentence or has pleaded guilty.

But our lineup - which includes "Yentas' Court," in which a tribunal of New York retirees determines the guilt or innocence of a defendant based purely on how he or she looks, without asking a single question - has created quite a buzz in the industry.

Ivar Goldart, the lawyer in charge of legal affairs for the society's criminal-defense division, said such disclosures were required by the Brady v. Maryland decision, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors must provide defense lawyers with any material that reflects on the innocence of a defendant.