Inefficient filing at Oshawa courthouse blamed for delays in bail hearing
Oct 11, 2008 - 06:55 AM
Peter Edwards
Domestic assault charges against an Oakville man have been dropped
after his lawyer argued it took too long for him to have a bail hearing.
"He's
presumed to be innocent and charges are going to be stayed," Mr.
Justice Joseph De Filippis of the Ontario Court of Justice said
yesterday in an Oshawa court.
The charges against Daniel Jevons,
59, had included being unlawfully in a dwelling and criminal harassment
for an alleged incident in August 2007.
In yesterday's case,
defence lawyer Boris Bytensky had argued that the charges should be
dropped because his client spent a week in custody awaiting a bail
hearing.
Under the Criminal Code, accused people must appear
before a judicial officer within 24 hours and have a bail hearing
within three days thereafter, unless they consent to a delay.
De Filippis said he would later release written reasons for dismissing the charges.
The Crown office is considering an appeal, a spokesperson for the attorney-general's ministry said.
"We
continue to work with the judiciary and our justice partners to
increase the number of bail court sittings, when necessary," Brendan
Crawley said. "We have introduced a bail initiative in some of the
province's busiest courthouses."
Part of this initiative involves pre-screening potential sureties before court sittings, Crawley said.
Bail delays are "a province-wide problem that affects many jurisdictions, not just this one," Bytensky said in an interview.
Before
making his ruling, the judge had ordered transcripts from other
courtrooms in the Oshawa courthouse for the week in August 2007 when
Jevons sought a bail hearing. There had been a dispute between Bytensky
and the Crown on how many people didn't have timely bail hearings that
week. The Crown argued there were 14, while Bytensky said it was closer
to 60.
Bytensky said in an interview he thought inefficient
filing, not bad faith, was behind the discrepancy. It's not the first
time in the past 18 months a bail hearing delay in the GTA has led to
dropped charges.
In June 2007, Superior Court Judge Ian
Nordheimer blasted the Crown for delays in bail hearings for nine
accused street gang members in the Project Kryptic sweep.
Nordheimer
called the delay an unacceptable breach of fundamental rights, and
ordered their hearings be held within a week and other provincial court
proceedings be delayed, if necessary, to make way.
Those
accused had been arrested in a massive raid and faced charges from
cocaine possession to participating in a criminal organization and
trafficking in firearms.
The Crown had argued that after arrests
of this magnitude, some delays are inevitable, but Nordheimer said such
a large police sweep necessitates adequate corresponding resources be
provided in the courts.
Nordheimer ordered that the Crown pay each defendant's court costs of $3,000.
In
October 2007, Davood Zarinchang of Markham was freed by a Newmarket
judge because he waited 24 days for a bail hearing to face four charges
of assault, three threatening charges and two mischief charges.
As
he set Zarinchang free, Justice Howard Chisvin of the Superior Court of
Ontario said, "Individuals have been allowed to languish in custody
awaiting show-cause hearings. ... This matter can only be remedied by
... a stay of the charges."
-- Peter Edwards is a reporter for the Toronto Star
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