Back a couple years ago, Scott and I were going down a hallway in the Crown office when we heard a lawyer yell out indignantly "oh for f@*#'s sake!" Scott turned to me then and said "I think we're going to like it here." As it happens, we both did, and when I finally started my PPS rotation during my articles, my prosecutor principal summed up my feelings in two words: "welcome home." I have the princely total of 9 weeks of my articling year to spend in PPS, and I'm making an effort to make the most of each minute. The office is still as boisterous and ribald as ever, rated at least 14A, and it's unlikely Jonathan will make an appearance on any "take your kid to work" days in the near future.
My prosecutor principal is a busy person, and not always able to give me files to prepare in court. I haven't done as much as I'd like in court, but so far I've handled a bunch of first appearances (mainly adjournments to let the accused get their disclosure and talk to a lawyer) and a couple sentencings. I was supposed to run a trial but the guy pled guilty and we went straight to sentencing. Now. Preparing a file is important (and yes, expect to spend 12+ hours preparing files for 6 hours in court, not counting witness preparation for trial) since at any stage in the game the accused can plead guilty and go straight to sentencing - if you don't have a plan you'd better be good at improvising. Actually, given how unpredictable court can be, even after diligent preparation you can still end up flying by the seat of your pants. Only very veteran Crowns can do a morning in court without preparing files in advance and not faceplant. And that's if they're lucky and have a favourable judge.
The first sentencing I got to do was for a drunk driver. First offence, no criminal record, no injury or damage. I recommended the minimum sentence and it was accepted. Racheal wasn't impressed when I told her, until she found out what the mandatory minimum sentence is: a $1000 fine and 1 year driving prohibition, nationwide. There seems to have been a cluster of drunk drivers since, one hitting a parked car and driving off, and another running a stop sign and causing an accident. You can bet they won't be getting the minimum! Another driver was asleep in her car at a stop sign. A cop pulled up behind her, hit the lights and siren for a second, and she jerked awake. She ran a red light and sped off down a main road just at the start of rush hour. The chase was on, and soon going too fast to be safe. The cop backed off and lost her, but saw a fresh set of skid marks and soon found the car parked and her running across a field. He chased her down, got her on the ground to handcuff her, when she crapped herself. Copiously. In his field notes he wrote "I could smell alcohol on her breath heavily mingled with the smell of fresh feces." She didn't cause an accident but the Crown is seeking a heavier sentence, likely a good chunk of prison time, for drunk driving and the police chase. I suspect the poopy pants will be their own punishment.
My prosecutor principal is a veteran Crown who knows the judges well enough. There was a bail hearing with a cute girl as a possible witness. The judge was in a cranky mood, and has a reputation as one who enjoys female scenery. My principal was *this close* to calling the girl as a witness, and having her go sit beside the judge in the witness box, to cheer him up. Given the circumstances of the case it would have been suspicious of her to actually do so, but she told me later that knowing your judges can save a lot of headache in court.
Sometimes we'll get a rash of similar charges - 4 or 5 drunk drivers, 7 shoplifters, even recently 3 cases of domestic violence, 2 of which had both parties facing criminal charges. The first case involved the guy strangling the girl with a belt for a while, then when his back was turned she pushed him headfirst down a flight of stairs. Both of them injured, so both of them face charges. Me, I wouldn't charge her with anything serious if I could avoid it as he likely had it coming. But a different case had the girl gouge the guy's face and draw blood, then the next day he picked her up and bodyslammed her to the ground in a theatre lobby. Some would call it a tie, and not worth pursuing (especially since they're estranged and in the process of divorcing) except both events were done in front of their kids. Nova Scotia law says that exposing kids to domestic violence can be grounds to take the kids into protective care - seeing as both partners are seeking sole custody of the kids, it might be fitting for them both to lose custody, at least for a while, to teach them a lesson. Cases like that have no winner - the kids have already lost, no matter who goes to jail. There were also a couple murder verdicts that came down - talk about a situation with no winners! A young man goes to jail for 25+ years, breaking his mother's heart, while the victim's daughter grows up without a father for no good reason. There's a certain satisfaction as a prosecutor in putting away a murderer, and getting the victory, but sometimes it's a very hollow victory. Law, like life, is much more often messy rather than glamorous. There's nothing to celebrate in broken lives.
A young Crown has taken me under her wing, and is a feisty little thing. She was supposed to run a sentencing hearing in Supreme Court for a domestic violence case (boyfriend broke into girlfriend's house, choked her to brief unconsciousness, and fought off her father trying to protect her. Why the father, who was at a distinct size disadvantage, didn't use a frying pan or rolling pin to intervene is beyond me). Thankfully no lasting physical harm, but rather traumatic emotional harm for sure. Defence counsel (a certain legal aid lawyer with hair as disorganized as her practise) knew the Crown's position on sentence since January, and got a half-assed presentence report done out of province that didn't include a risk assessment of the offender. Defence came to court seeking a delay for the risk assessment. Crown was, shall we say, very forcefully ready to proceed. On the record, but before the judge came in Crown told defence that deliberate stalling tactics wouldn't work. Defence lawyer smirked - she has a reputation for delays. Crown told defence "You're coming up on retirement soon and I'm just getting started. I believe in holding grudges, and if you f@*$ with me I will make your remaining years a living hell any time we meet in court." Again, a rather smug look in reply. Judge comes in, the two sides state their positions, Crown emphasizing that the victim doesn't feel safe with the accused running free waiting for a risk assessment to be done. The judge said "I can take care of that" rather dismissively (this is unusual, and not often a good omen for either side). It turns out the judge's wife had been a victim of domestic violence some years back, and he had taken the issue to heart, being personally aware of the trauma. Defence gets the adjournment, but the offender got remanded in custody for six weeks, to allow for a thorough risk assessment to be done. This way the accused can't conveniently forget any appointments, the victim and her family are safe, and defence lawyer isn't rewarded for her shenanigans. Well, as he said "remanded" it was like a baseball bat to the defence lawyer's gut. She flapped her mouth wordlessly like a goldfish for a while, "uh, er, um, what, uh, my lord??" and got a rather stern look. He offered to give the psychiatrist more time to do a thorough risk assessment, which defence declined. The Crown came back to me to discuss what happened, including her threat to defence counsel, and I have to admit I was a little bit scared of that little spitfire, and told her as much. Apparently I'm on her good side, and am thankful for that. So the offender cools his heels and gets an early taste of the (likely) 3+ years of prison he'll be getting, thanks to his lawyer's deviousness. Too bad this result won't hurt her too much!
So, the lesson so far: know your judge, know your opposing counsel, and know your files!
Until next time,
A.
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