Pubdate: Sat, 22 Feb 2014
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Sean Fine

ABUSIVE TACTICS DON'T JUSTIFY STAY, JUDGES RULE

Throwing out serious criminal charges because of abusive prosecution 
tactics should happen only in rare, shocking cases, the Supreme Court 
said in ordering a new trial for two Quebec men accused of 22 gun, 
drug and organized-crime offences.

Antal Babos and Sergio Piccirilli were arrested in 2006 as part of 
Project Cleopatra, an RCMP investigation into marijuana trafficking 
linking individuals in the aboriginal community of Kanesatake to 
Hells Angels in Montreal and Trois-Rivieres.

The most serious abuse they faced, Justice Michael Moldaver said, was 
from a Crown attorney who threatened to lay more charges against them 
unless they pleaded guilty. This was not, he said, proper 
plea-bargaining - the prosecution had not disclosed its case yet to 
the men, as it is required to do - but it was far from being enough 
to justify throwing out such serious charges.

"The Crown's threatening conduct, while reprehensible, did not 
approximate the type of shocking conduct needed to justify a stay," 
Justice Moldaver wrote for the majority in the 6-1 ruling. "Society 
has a profound interest in seeing justice done by having the guilt or 
innocence of [Mr. Babos and Mr. Piccirilli] determined through a full 
trial on the merits."

Justice Rosalie Abella, in a stinging dissent, said the prosecutor 
who threatened to lay more charges unless the two men pleaded guilty 
put the public's faith in the justice system at risk.

The judge at the men's trial found that two separate prosecutors had 
abused their rights, one with threats and another by improperly 
obtaining medical records of Mr. Piccirilli. The judge also found 
that two police officers had improperly discussed their testimony on 
a key point involving a firearm ahead of time.

Justice Moldaver doubted the police officers colluded, but said if 
they had, the judge could simply have excluded the evidence about the 
firearm at issue. He said the prosecutor who had obtained medical 
records had apparently received them from Mr. Piccirilli's doctor, 
and had promptly informed Mr. Piccirilli's lawyer about this.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom