In cases involving criminal procedure, we can often lose the forest of principle for the trees of legal technicality.

Courts have fashioned intricate (at times conflicting) rules regarding admission of evidence, witness testimony, and other procedural doctrines related to conducting trials. Yet, when done right, these procedures do much to realize the bigger principles we hold dear. We want justice done when crimes occur. We want the innocent protected and the guilty punished. In countries under despotism, we see these lofty goals asserted in theory and crushed in procedural practice.