Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jan 2013
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Don Plant

CRIMINALS CAN MOVE TO ESCAPE LAW: NDP

Bad guys can move to parts of the province with the longest court
delays knowing they may get off if they're caught, says the NDP.

A trial delay has led a Kelowna judge to dismiss charges against
another suspected marijuana grower because his day in court was
delayed too long.

The problem is so widespread, a criminal can choose where to operate,
said Leonard Krog, the Opposition's Attorney General critic.

"(He can) go out and commit the offence with impunity knowing full
well there's a reasonable possibility that if you can squeeze it past
the 18 months, which is the mark, you may avoid successful prosecution
even if you're as guilty as sin," Krog said Monday.

Mark Yanko was charged in December 2010 with growing 341 pot plants in
a Lake Country house dedicated to the operation. His trial, set for
last June, was bumped because the Kelowna courtroom was overbooked
with two other trials.

The trial was rescheduled to last week - 25 months after Yanko was
charged and 21.5 months after he pleaded not guilty. In a Dec. 27
decision, Judge Robin Smith agreed with Yanko's lawyer Stan Tessmer
that the delay breached his charter right to a timely trial.

Smith stayed the charges of production and possession for the purpose
of trafficking. He blamed a shortage of judges, which forced staff to
triple-book the courtroom and compelled him to cancel the trial.

"There were insufficient judicial resources to have the matter heard
on the first trial date," he said. "The parties are ready for trial
but the system cannot accommodate them."

The standard time-line for trials to begin, based on rulings by the
Supreme Court of Canada, is 15 to 24 months.

The court found the government "has a constitutional obligation to
commit sufficient resources to prevent unreasonable delay."

The government has appointed new judges to help relieve the backlog,
but critics argue they haven't kept pace with older judges retiring or
cutting their hours. As of two weeks ago, the province employed 124.8
full-time equivalents - 18 fewer than in 2005.

In the Okanagan, five senior judges and nine full-time judges are
running courtrooms. One full-time judge will step down in April to a
senior's position, which requires less than half the hours. The Valley
will have 11.2 judges.

Courthouse sources say the Okanagan needs at least 12 full-time
equivalents to reduce the delays. Krog predicts judges will stay more
criminal cases. "The Liberals created this backlog and say 'we don't
understand why,'" he said. "Even though the crime rate is dropping,
we're still seeing these cases dismissed."

When delays force a trial's cancellation, thousands of taxpayers'
dollars are wasted - police resources, lawyers' time, work by court
staff as well as the money spent by the accused on legal fees with no
acquittal if he's innocent, Krog said.

Yanko told the court he lost 70 per cent of his work after his charges
and he couldn't sleep normally. But if guilty, he got away with it,
said Krog.

"The law may have been broken and the person found guilty, and no
punishment. This is not good enough for a justice system where people
need to have confidence that it's functioning effectively."

Judge Smith stayed charges against a pair of suspected marijuana
growers a year ago for the same reason. Say Lin To and her brother,
Say Quo To, were charged in 2008 after police found nearly 1,300
mature pot plants in a Peachland home. Their trial was delayed twice.
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