{"id":50630,"date":"2022-08-25T19:52:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T23:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orders.cleo.on.ca\/?post_type=publications-page&#038;p=50630"},"modified":"2025-06-16T16:42:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:42:48","slug":"can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself","title":{"rendered":"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your partner has the right to testify at trial and to raise defences. For example, they might try to say that you started the fight and that they were just defending themself. These explanations do not excuse their behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>If your partner testifies, the Crown can ask them questions to show the judge why they should not believe your partner. Or that your partner does not have a good defense.<\/p>\n<p>The judge will look at all of the evidence to make a decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-50630","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can my partner make excuses to defend themself? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your partner has the right to testify at trial and to raise defences. For example, they might try to say that you started the fight and that they were just defending themself. These explanations do not excuse their behaviour. If your partner testifies, the Crown can ask them questions to show the judge why they should not believe your partner.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T20:42:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself\",\"name\":\"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-25T23:52:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-16T20:42:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publication pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/can-my-partner-make-excuses-to-defend-themself","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can my partner make excuses to defend themself? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)","og_description":"Your partner has the right to testify at trial and to raise defences. 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