"DEFENCE LAWYER DAN SCOTT, A FORMER WINDSOR POLICE OFFICER FOR 18 YEARS, SAID HE WAS "SHOCKED" TO LEARN THE PRACTICE SEEMS WIDESPREAD.
"WHEN I WAS A COP, I NEVER THOUGHT OF IT," HE SAID. "IT NEVER ENTERED INTO THE THOUGHT PROCESS.""
REPORTER SARAH SACHELI: CANWEST NEWS SERVICE;
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Background: In a previous post I asked: "Why didn't Ontario prosecutors examine Dr. Charles Smith's qualifications a bit more closely over the years, pay more attention to court decisions suggesting he was biased towards the Crown and that that his opinions were seriously flawed - or at least share the existence of these decisions with the defence?"
My answer was that some prosecutors cared more about winning the case than the possibility that an innocent person might be convicted;
I buttressed my response with the story recently broken by the National Post that prosecutors in several parts of Ontario have been asking police to do secret background checks on jurors.
This controversy has lead to numerous requests for mistrials and could result in a bids to open numerous cases where accused persons have been convicted in the shadow of the illegal practice which taints a criminal jury trial from the outset.
The Charles Smith Blog is very much concerned with the question as to how far prosecutors will go to win the case and therefore monitoring developments on a regular basis;
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The reaction of some defence lawyers to revelations of widespread secret jury vetting in Ontario is the subject of a story by reporter Sarah Sacheli which appeared over the Canwest Mews Service on Saturday June 13, 2009 under the heading: "Police juror checks called 'pandemic,'" and a sub-heading: "I'm mad as hell."
"Defence lawyers reacted with outrage and disbelief yesterday after the city's police chief admitted his officers routinely run background checks on prospective jurors," the story begins;
""I'm mad as hell," said lawyer Greg Goulin, describing the background checks as a "pandemic" in the justice system," it continues;
"Mr. Goulin said he has already made inquiries of the Crown attorneys involved in his past cases to see if the jurors ever were vetted by police.
If police could tamper with the jury-selection process in his latest case, they could have done it before, he said.
Mr. Goulin triggered outrage last month when, after reading about background checks on Barrie jurors, he asked if it had been done in the murder case he was defending.
Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas held a four-day hearing this week, declaring a mistrial in Mr. Goulin's case after learning the jurors had been unwittingly subjected to background checks.
The two lead investigators used a confidential police database to vet the jurors, then the two prosecutors secretly used the information to try to pick what the judge termed a jury "favourable to the prosecution."
The practice of juror background checks has since been uncovered in Thunder Bay.
Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino also admitted this week his officers have done it, too.
Justice Thomas ordered a new trial for Shane Huard and Richard Zoldi, charged with the 2006 murder of drug dealer Troy Hutchinson.
Mr. Goulin said there is no way he will consent to any police officer being present for jury selection when the new trial begins July 6.
"We have to pick a jury that isn't going to believe Big Brother is watching."
In addition to predicting the courts will be swamped with appeals, Mr. Goulin and other defence lawyers in the city called for a formal inquiry into the issue, conducted by a Superior Court justice or a retired judge.
While the province's privacy commissioner announced this week she is launching an investigation, defence lawyers said it won't go far enough.
"I think this is such an important issue there needs to be a formal inquiry," said Patrick Ducharme.
"Prosecutors should fess up."
Lawyer Frank Miller said the admissions made by police show there is "a disease in the Crown's office."
Prosecutors may say that they are concerned with justice and not with winning or losing, but "they're in the mud with everyone else."
Mr. Miller said he, too, has made inquiries about his past jury cases.
"I have no doubt it's been done and it's done on a regular basis."
Defence lawyer Dan Scott, a former Windsor police officer for 18 years, said he was "shocked" to learn the practice seems widespread.
"When I was a cop, I never thought of it," he said. "It never entered into the thought process."
Mr. Scott said the convenience of an electronic database containing all kinds of personal information about citizens is tempting to police. "It makes it easy," he said. However, he stressed, "It's wrong what they did.""
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
