"The announcement pointed to Dr. Porter's pending retirement this fall as the reason for the abrupt move.
Due to the expected length of the inquest, "Dr. Porter, who is scheduled to retire in November, would have been unable to complete the inquest when it resumes in the fall," the release said.
But a line in the announcement hints at another significant reason for the mid-race switch to a new horse -Dr. Carlisle is not only a medical doctor, but also a lawyer and veteran law professor.
If ever an inquest illustrated the need to have a lawyer or judge in the driver's seat, as some other provinces do, it was this one."
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD; THE NATIONAL POST;
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/06/child-cases-guilty-until-proven.html
GUIDE TO THE NPR/FRONTLINE/PROPUBLICA INVESTIGATION:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/06/child-cases-guilty-until-proven.html
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BACKGROUND: Ashley Smith, 19, died in her prison cell at Grand Valley Institution near Kitchener, Ont., in October 2007 from self-strangulation. She had been transferred between federal institutions 17 times during her final 11 months, most of that time kept in segregation and often on suicide watch dressed in a highly restrictive gown. Jailed at age 13 for a crab apple-throwing incident in New Brunswick, Smith was eventually transferred to an adult facility after she kept getting into trouble behind bars by constantly kicking, grabbing and spitting at guards. Lawyer's for her family and the media have been fighting Coroner Dr. Bonita Porter's efforts to limit the scope and evidence to be called at the inquest which had been placed on hold. The inquest is of interest to this Blog because it relates to the openness of public death investigations - and the necessity to ensure that deaths warranting inquests get full scrutiny.
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"The Ashley Smith inquest has a new coroner at the helm," the National Post story by Christie Blatchford published earlier today under the heading, "Coroner replaced in prison death inquest: Oral arguments presented to coroner Bonita Porter willnow have to be repeated, Smith's lawyer says," begins.
"Dr. Bonita Porter, who had presided over the oft-delayed and troubled inquest into the strangulation prison death of the mentally ill teenager, has been replaced by Dr. John Carlisle," the story continues.
"The Ontario government made the announcement in a brief press release Wednesday.
The announcement pointed to Dr. Porter's pending retirement this fall as the reason for the abrupt move.
Due to the expected length of the inquest, "Dr. Porter, who is scheduled to retire in November, would have been unable to complete the inquest when it resumes in the fall," the release said.
But a line in the announcement hints at another significant reason for the mid-race switch to a new horse -Dr. Carlisle is not only a medical doctor, but also a lawyer and veteran law professor.
If ever an inquest illustrated the need to have a lawyer or judge in the driver's seat, as some other provinces do, it was this one.
Dr. Porter had formally granted "standing" to about a dozen groups and individuals -meaning these parties are entitled to cross-examine witnesses -some of them represented by some of the fiercest advocates in the Ontario bar.
Almost daily, she faced procedural and evidentiary challenges from these lawyers, and from those representing the press, and was often clearly out of her depth.
Several times, lawyers appealed one or another of her decisions to the Ontario Divisional Court, most famously when Dr. Porter ruled that prison videos, showing Ms. Smith being forcibly injected with anti-psychotics and subjected to other harsh treatment at Quebec's Joliette Institution, weren't relevant to her state of mind.
Ms. Smith, then 19, strangled herself with a ligature in her cell at Kitchener's Grand Valley Institute for Women on Oct. 19, 2007, about three months after she had been repeatedly strapped to a stretcher and drugged at Joliette.
Last month, the court called Dr. Porter's decision not to seize the videos confusing, overturned her and told her to re-think the matter.
Neither did it appear Dr. Porter was getting particularly good advice from her own legal team, made up of three lawyers from the provincial attorney-general and a fourth who appeared occasionally to argue particular issues.
If originally coroner's inquests were medical investigations into a death, the high profile ones, particularly those involving matters that have captured the public's attention, have long since morphed into contests that are much more legal in nature than medical.
Dr. Porter adjourned the inquest late last month, and about a week ago, with her key decision about the Joliette videos and two others still pending, announced the proceeding would resume in September.
She promised at that time to deliver her rulings -critical to the scope and openness of the inquest -this week.
Instead, Dr. Carlisle will now "review and decide" on these issues.
Before joining the coroner's office in 2004, Dr. Carlisle served as a medical officer with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and as a professor at York University, where he taught a course in law and medicine for more than 25 years. These credentials appear to make him almost uniquely well-qualified to steer the inquest back on the right course.
When the proceeding adjourned last month, the five member jury had heard only part of the evidence from only one witness.
Julian Falconer, lawyer for Ms. Smith's family, was furious at the announcement, calling the inquest "a colossal waste, a mess."
He said he and other lawyers have "wasted weeks and weeks" of oral argument on the three motions that were before Dr. Porter, and pointed out that now these will have to be reargued because Dr. Carlisle has heard none of what they have to say.
"It begs the question of what's going on at that office," Mr. Falconer snapped. "And remember what this delay does to the family."
Ms. Smith, originally sent to a youth facility in her home province of New Brunswick for throwing crabapples at a mailman, ended up spending most of the last three years of her life in isolation, or segregation, units of youth and adult facilities, provincial and federal prisons, and several hospitals.
She was transferred among these various facilities no fewer than 17 times in less than a year, once being strapped to her airplane seat in the process."
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The story can be found at:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Coroner+replaced+prison+death+inquest/5027238/story.html
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
