Meg's Wedding - R

In May, I was fortunate enough to have a week off and I got to go to a dear friend's wedding. Meghan is one of the few highschool buddies I have kept in touch with and it was wonderful to spend some time with her and some of my other highschool pals. She and Ian got married in Edmonton on the 15th and there were lots of friends and family there to celebrate with them.

The Ceremony




The Reception








Cheers,
Racheal

Law Unordered: PPS #1 - A

I'm going to try cram the first couple weeks with the PPS into this episode. It's all been in provincial court, which is where most offences get tried - given the volume of cases, the Crowns (prosecutors) are kept on their toes keeping the cases going from one stage to the next. Far and away the most common activity is rescheduling matters for one reason or another. Next most common is guilty pleas with joint recommendations for sentence - very very common with most offences being things like assault or shoplifting or impaired driving. By and large the sentences are quite reasonable and justified. It's also quite common for the accused to plead not guilty at first but change their plea to guilty later once they see the strength of the case against them and the recommended sentence. Usually only about 10% or so of cases go to trial for one reason or another. If you're attending out of interest, be prepared for tedium as a spectator most of the time. Also, no food or drink in the gallery so don't bother bringing popcorn or a big gulp.

To better explain what it is Scott and I do as volunteers, I'll walk you quickly through the trial process. Let's say some degenerate, maybe called Skott, is arrested and charged for drunkenly exposing himself in public. He's ordered to appear in court to answer the charges - to enter a plea of (not) guilty, and elect how to be tried (judge with optional side of jury) if applicable. Assuming he's got a lawyer or is competent enough to represent himself, the Crown gives him disclosure, which is their case against him. Should he plead not guilty, a trial date is set, at which point both sides would make their case and a verdict be reached, then sentence would be passed (if found or pled guilty) and Skott would be another statistic in the assembly line of cases. He could get a release with strict conditions of some sort, or a period of jail + probation. Most common for non-dangerous offences is a conditional release, where Skott would have to sign his compliance with a court-ordered list of required conditions, with violation meaning jail. Now, he could clean up his act and get a job, but if to keep the job would require breaching his conditions he can come to court and request a variation of the conditions - the judges and lawyers are usually reasonable, and if the request is good for the accused and not putting the public at risk, it will usually be approved. If he breaches the conditions, he's arrested and facing new charges of breaching conditions - judges don't take well to being defied, so that's big trouble for Skott.

Now, he could have hurt someone while drunkenly mooning them - he'd likely be held in police custody until his court date (by a variety of legal mechanisms), then brought up, make his first appearance, and either be remanded back into custody until trial or released on bail, depending on the charges and the situation. Assuming he's poor, like many accused are, he'd have a legal aid lawyer on Cells duty walk him through the process quickly, or if not so poor, maybe have his own private lawyer help him out. Legal aid provides Duty Counsel, which are lawyers assigned to the courtroom to keep things moving by explaining things to unrepresented people and clarifying their options. If a person's poor enough, and charged with something serious enough, they might have their application for a proper legal aid lawyer approved and get a lawyer assigned to their case. This happens a lot, but the poverty requirement is pretty amazing, so many people either try go it alone or plead guilty early and hope for a light sentence, which they might not get. Judges get itchy when facing an unrepresented person trying to plead guilty, and pretty much break out in hives if the person's on their own in a trial - judges and Crown lawyers have to bend over backwards to make sure the person understands everything going on.

So, the process involves cells, elections & pleas, trials, sentencings, variations, duty counsel, breaches, adjournments, speeches (called submissions) and paperwork. Scott and I watch and help as best we can with all of it. And that's been our first couple weeks.

A.