Update on Two Trials
Lawyers and judges and truckers. The saga continues.
The Tamara Lich/Chris Barber trial is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, October 11th. Five days have been allotted, but based on the pace of things so far, that’s unlikely to be sufficient.
This is unfortunate. The judge hearing the case has other commitments, so finding dates in which she and all the lawyers are available isn’t easy. Tamara and Chris reside in Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively. Whenever there’s an interruption to their trial, they face further expense and disruption to their lives due to the travel involved. Then there’s their inability to make plans.
Today, beginning at approximately 11:30 am, MsCannabisCourt will be among the spectators as the lawyers and the judge (minus the accused) attempt to ensure, once and for all, that all the evidence/documents/statements the prosecution intends to rely on has been disclosed to the defence.
That’s supposed to happen well in advance of the beginning of any trial. Springing a new witness (or entirely new evidence) on the defence out of the blue is dirty pool. When an individual is at risk of losing their liberty because the state says they’ve committed a crime, that individual must be given adequate opportunity to prepare a response to the metaphorical bullets being aimed at them.
MsCannabisCourt will be live tweeting what happens in the courtroom today (the judge has several other matters to deal with beforehand, so it’s a bit uncertain when things will get underway.) Follow her on Twitter/X here.
A few days ago, I told you about the mischief trial of Nova Scotia trucker Guy Meister, who drove the vintage black Mack to Ottawa. It began last Thursday, and was supposed to run for five days. Over the weekend, I contacted MsCannabisCourt and asked if she’d consider attending attending Guy’s trial on Monday. She’s a trained paralegal, and therefore understands what’s happening better than most of us.
To her great credit, she agreed to do so. Please note she doesn’t get paid for this. Rather, she’s volunteering her time to help bring some transparency to our legal system. Fresh from the Tamara/Chris trial, she was struck by a number of differences.
In that courtroom, the trial judge routinely cautioned police officers and others against discussing their testimony with other witnesses. In Guy’s courtroom, no such cautioning occurred.
In one courtroom there were six lawyers on the defence team (representing two accused). Whichever lawyer was doing the talking had lots of backup. In Guy’s courtroom, lawyer Brian Doody was on his own. As he strove valiantly to question police officers about Guy’s time in custody, there was no one to jot down their answers for future reference. Following the lunch break, Mr Doody sought the judge’s permission for MsCannabisCourt to sit beside him at the defence table so that she might take notes on his behalf. Permission was granted, which is why she suddenly stopped tweeting.
Guy told me later that when this happened, the entire atmosphere changed in that courtroom. Everyone seemed to become more alert, focused, serious, he says. The day before Guy’s trial began, the prosecution sought to introduce 300 pages of new material as evidence. Mr Doody wasn’t given sufficient time to even read it, never mind an opportunity to conduct his own research, and develop a fulsome response.
On Monday afternoon, Mr Doody requested an adjournment, which the judge granted. He now has a month to digest those 300 pages and will submit paperwork to the court by October 27th. The prosecutor will then have until November 9th to respond.
After that, who knows what will happen. Perhaps sanity will prevail and these two ridiculous charges - mischief and obstructing police - will be withdrawn.
Or perhaps Guy will be required to drive back to Ottawa from Nova Scotia yet again.
At the top of this post is a 6-minute interview MsCannabisCourt conducted with Mr Doody and Guy outside the courthouse Monday afternoon. At the 5:20 mark she asks Guy if he’s happy to be heading back to Nova Scotia. Without missing a beat, he responds: “I’m always happy.”
When pressed to make a comment, he remarks that there are real “criminals out there that really do stuff, and they’re walking away” while he continues to battle these charges. “I always thought when you’re handcuffed and you go with [the police], you’re cooperating, right. But maybe I’m wrong.”
Sadly we have seen this government impede justice many times before. Prosecution by impoverishment could be their coat of arm. That they have corrupted the bureaucracy, the courts and the media goes without saying. Water-carrying for Mr Trudeau, paid for with complacent taxpayer's wealth.
What a brilliant idea Donna to get MsCannabisCourt to support Guy’s case, but how despicable that it was necessary! Or even that Guy is in court.. so appreciate you helping Guy and his lawyer that way.