Ontario justice of the peace displays unjust impatience

Justice delayed is justice denied. But Ontario Justice of the Peace Alfred “Bud” Johnston appears to have taken that foundational legal principle to its absurd extreme.

Johnston threw out more than 60 charges one day last December because the prosecutor was two minutes late, potentially costing the city thousands of dollars in revenue and letting dozens of accused off the hook without due process.

It’s a ruling too unfathomable for Toronto’s legal department to accept. Though the Crown won’t pursue any of the dismissed charges, most of which were for traffic violations, it has filed some appeals on a point of law. “We feel it was an incorrect decision by the justice of the peace,” the city’s director of prosecutions, George Bartlett, told the Star.

No kidding. When approached for a justification, Johnston offered only an abortive reply before having a Star reporter escorted from the courthouse where we had found him. (He refused to confirm that he is the A. Johnston who dismissed the cases, though there is only one justice of the peace by that name in Toronto.)

The Provincial Offences Act states that “where the defendant appears for a hearing and the prosecutor, having had due notice, does not appear, the court may dismiss the charge or may adjourn the hearing.” It’s a law that trusts magistrates to use good judgment to ensure that justice is not unfairly delayed. In this case, if the court had simply sent someone into the hall, they would have found the prosecutor there, apparently unable to hear the intercom over the din of the busy courthouse. Neither the spirit of the law nor the public good was served by Johnston’s capricious ruling.

One might be tempted to chalk this bewildering decision up to the legal amateurism of a justice of the peace — a position that requires no particular formal education. Except that last March an Ontario judge, Justice Howard Chisvin, threw out 10 criminal cases, including charges of assault, robbery and fraud, because the prosecutor involved was 87 seconds late.

Johnston should acknowledge his mistake and the Ontario judicial council should reprimand him, as it did Justice Chisvin. It’s about time all Ontario magistrates understood that justice delayed two minutes is generally justice still — no matter the imposition on their busy worships.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Editorial