| "In short, that allows a lawyer to answer almost any question with "it depends," and start billing.
" No, this is usually "lack of sufficient facts to answer question". If a crime has 4 elements, and you've said you've committed 3 and maybe the 4th depending on how you look at it, the answer to the question "can i be convicted" is "it depends", because it depends on the argument about the 4th element. If your followup is to claim that there should never be questions about whether you've achieved some element of a crime, it should be binary, that's simply impossible. Crimes, for example, are often about intent and causation. Until science provides us with historical mind reading devices, and completely accurate point-in-time reconstruction of the world, we're going to have to rely on various theories and evidence (much like science relies on theories and evidence). Even point-in-time reconstruction wouldn't solve all causation issues, because the issue is often a fairness one: Is it fair to hold the defendant liable for a crime X steps removed from his own action. |