"THE PROSECUTION WAS CONTROLLING THE INVESTIGATION OF POTENTIAL JURORS, USING A POWERFUL INFORMATION MACHINE IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICE. THE PLAYING FIELD WAS NOT LEVEL," SAID LAFONTAINE. THERE ARE AT LEAST A DOZEN OTHER OUTSTANDING APPEALS IN ONTARIO WHERE JURY VETTING TOOK PLACE, INCLUDING THE CASE OF A YOUNG MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING A POLICE OFFICER, ALL AWAITING THE OUTCOME OF THE YUMNU CASE.REPORTER SHANNON KARI: 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 is therefore monitoring developments on a regular basis;
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"A panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges was urged on Monday to order a new trial in a double murder case because of secret vetting of potential jurors by the Crown and police," reporter Shannon Kari's story, published earlier today over the Canwest News Service, begins, under the heading "Retrial urged for jury vetting: Background checks decried."
""This is a case about the Crown cheating. This is a case about the Crown breaking the law," said defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine during the appeal court hearing Monday," the story continues.
"Lafontaine was arguing on behalf of Ibrahim Yumnu, who was convicted along with two other people of first-degree murder in 2005 by a jury in Barrie, Ont., in the slaying of two people suspected of taking money from a marijuana grow operation.
Local police services in the Barrie area searched confidential databases to uncover information about hundreds of potential jurors, which was passed on to the Crown in the Yumnu prosecution and dozens of other cases.
The information was kept from the defence.
The broad background checks of potential jurors, which was contrary to the provisions of the Juries Act, was first reported by the National Post last spring. An investigation by the Ontario Privacy Commission revealed that one-in-three Crown offices engaged in improper jury vetting since 2006.
The issue of jury vetting first came to light in Windsor in the case of Richard Zoldi and Shane Huard, who were charged with first-degree murder in the August 2006 shooting death of drug dealer Troy Hutchinson.
Lafontaine stressed Monday that the state is not permitted under Canadian law to use police databases to try to gain an advantage during jury selection.
"The prosecution was controlling the investigation of potential jurors, using a powerful information machine in the hands of the police. The playing field was not level," said Lafontaine.
There are at least a dozen other outstanding appeals in Ontario where jury vetting took place, including the case of a young man convicted of killing a police officer, all awaiting the outcome of the Yumnu case.
But "the Crown was executing its responsibilities to ensure juror qualifications," writes Michal Fairburn, a senior lawyer in the Ministry of the Attorney-General.
"Jurors with criminal records are not simply an abstract concern," she adds."
The story can be found at:
http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=74aba749-064b-4c8c-bf90-12c073e2a77a
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
