STORY: "Supreme Court to look at "jury vetting," by Justice Reporter Kirk Makin published in the Globe and Mail on March 12, 2012.
GIST: "The jury system has existed longer than the country itself, yet the Supreme Court of Canada has never tackled a key question that goes to the heart of its integrity. Should the state be allowed to peer into the background of potential jurors before deciding whether to select them for a trial? In a series of five test cases this week, the Supreme Court will wrestle with the issue of whether so-called “jury-vetting” by police distorts the trial process."
PUBLISHER'S VIEW: 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 an important story 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 resulted in requests for mistrials and bids to open 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 has been monitoring developments on a regular basis. On to the Supreme Court!
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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THE ENTIRE STORY CAN BE FOUND AT:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/supreme-court-to-look-at-jury-vetting/article2366006/ PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring the jury vetting issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
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
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.