"DEFENCE LAWYERS HAVE PREDICTED A SLEW OF APPEALS IN THE WAKE OF REVELATIONS THAT POLICE CONDUCTED SECRET BACKGROUND CHECKS ON PROSPECTIVE JURORS AT THE BEHEST OF PROSECUTORS.
AYRE'S LETTER WAS IN RESPONSE TO ONE FROM FRANK ADDARIO, PRESIDENT OF THE CRIMINAL LAWYERS' ASSOCIATION, WHO DEMANDED THAT THE MINISTRY "COLLECT AND PRESERVE ALL RELEVANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE EXTENT AND DURATION OF THE PRACTICE ACROSS THE PROVINCE.""
REPORTER PETER SMALL; THE TORONTO STAR;
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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 is therefore monitoring developments on a regular basis;
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The Toronto Star reports that appeals based on secret vetting of juror's background's will lead to numerous appeals.
"The province's chief prosecutor is pledging to dig up cases where secret jury background checks were made and notify the defence lawyers involved," the Star's Peter Small reported yesterday in a story headed, "Ontario reveals juries given secret background checks."
"In a letter to the province's defence lawyers, John Ayre says he has asked two senior managers to review all available Crown files over the past three years in the Barrie and Windsor areas, where the practice has chiefly taken place and has led to three mistrials," the story continues;
""Where it appears that any type of background check was conducted and the information was not disclosed, defence counsel of record will be notified and provided with disclosure of any available material," Ayre says in his July 14 letter.
A ministry spokesperson said that the notices are going out this week.
Defence lawyers have predicted a slew of appeals in the wake of revelations that police conducted secret background checks on prospective jurors at the behest of prosecutors.
Ayre's letter was in response to one from Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, who demanded that the ministry "collect and preserve all relevant information regarding the extent and duration of the practice across the province."
Addario told the Star that he accepts Ayre's pledge at face value.
"The disclosure of what happened and where is an important ingredient to resolving the uncertainty that hangs over cases affected by the practice," Addario said.
Crown prosecutors in Barrie and Windsor have had jury panel lists with notes beside prospective jurors about minor infractions, health records and even their attitudes to police.
Ontario's privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, has ordered a probe.
In his letter, Ayre said that a number of defence counsel across the province have already been making inquiries about specific cases.
"They have been given a response, or a response is pending," Ayre said.
On May 26, Ayre issued a memo reminding Crowns that it is not acceptable to check prospective jurors for anything beyond whether they have indictable – the most serious – criminal offences.
Criminal lawyer Ben Fedunchak is raising the issue of juries vetting in the Barrie murder trail of a youth convicted of stabbing 14-year-old Brayton Bullock in 2006.
Fedunchak, who represents the youth who was about to be sentenced, last week asked Justice Alfred Stong for the verdict to be thrown out largely on the basis that the Crown secretly vetted potential jurors.
The case returns to Barrie Superior Court on Aug. 25.
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;