Secret trial only discovered once it was appealed

[dapaterson]

Crown prosecutors (names redacted), defence counsel (names redacted), the accused (name redacted) and a judge (name redacted) held a trial in Quebec (time and place redacted) that wouldn't exist, had the defendant not appealed.

The case was conducted covertly with the approval of the Crown prosecutors involved, the presiding judge and defence counsel.

Where and when the trial took place, along with the names of the defendant and the presiding judge, have been deliberately excluded from the public record.

No witnesses were called to the stand: they were interviewed outside the courtroom, and a transcript of their testimony was presented in court.

The case had no case number and was never filed in the province's judicial archives. On paper, it never happened.

The trial only came to light because the defendant chose to appeal the verdict, flagging the case to Quebec's Court of Appeal, which in turn rendered its decision public.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/secret-trial-quebec-1.6397857

 

[Brad Sallows]

I do so love a country in which the fundamentals of law are as fluid as our betters need them to be.

 

[brihard]

What in the actual hell?

So far as I can tell it has to do with a police informant involved in an offence for which they contend they were offered immunity and police said they weren't. Protecting informant identity is super essential in criminal procedure, so I could see some major efforts being taken to safeguard that... But nothing close to this extent.

To my eye, off the limited info we have, this reads like a 'rogue trial' where crown, defense, and the trial judge all agreed to something grossly outside the norm, probably in a good faith effort to protect the life of an informant who nonetheless needed to be tried for a crime. But the larger impact on 'the system' of such things cannot be ignored. It sounds like the provincial Court of Appeal agreed. That's the system working as it should- appeals courts correct errors in law and protect the integrity of the justice system.

But still. Just wow.

 

[Haggis]

I can understand the need to protect the identity of the informant, but, on the whole, this is very disturbing. This is reminiscent of someone's "admired basic dictatorship" in action.

 

[OldSolduer]

WTF???

 

[KevinB]

Odd, usually those sorts of things are recorded as Crown A, Judge B, Defence C and D etc

Several have been done that way since the early 90’s as Canada took a page from the British book.

 

[lenaitch]

Well, that's interesting. It used to be (half jokingly) said that the Charter is just a suggestion in Quebec and Windsor.

One wonders if the various officers of the court involved in this little adventure had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they took their oaths. If I was the accused, I would be shredding the bill from my lawyer.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Well, that's interesting. It used to be (half jokingly) said that the Charter is just a suggestion in Quebec and Windsor.

One wonders if the various officers of the court involved in this little adventure had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they took their oaths. If I was the accused, I would be shredding the bill from my lawyer.

No one expects the Quebec Inquisition

Inquisitorial system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Booter]

Well, that's interesting. It used to be (half jokingly) said that the Charter is just a suggestion in Quebec and Windsor.

One wonders if the various officers of the court involved in this little adventure had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they took their oaths. If I was the accused, I would be shredding the bill from my lawyer.

He was fine with it until he was convicted I’m sure.

 

[Haggis]

He was fine with it until he was convicted I’m sure.

When I saw the headline, that was my first thought. But reading deeper makes me think there were layers of shady dealings running concurrently here.

 

[KevinB]

I got a kick out of "We don't even see cases like this when it comes to national security, terrorism, and so on and so forth," she said.

Well that’s the idea, you don’t see them…

When I saw the headline, that was my first thought. But reading deeper makes me think there were layers of shady dealings running concurrently here.

Certainly a little odd, I’m more curious about the others in the care who no doubt where charged and convicted - wonder where they are…

 

[dapaterson]

And bound for the Supreme Court. Probably will end up filed as "R v Not Allowed To Tell You".

La Cour suprême se penchera sur le procès secret

La Cour suprême du Canada accepte d’entendre la demande d’un groupe d’organisations journalistiques, dont La Presse, qui souhaite pouvoir contester les ordonnances de confidentialité émises dans l’affaire du mystérieux procès criminel secret tenu au Québec récemment.

www.lapresse.ca

 

[brihard]

I got a kick out of "We don't even see cases like this when it comes to national security, terrorism, and so on and so forth," she said.

Well that’s the idea, you don’t see them…



Certainly a little odd, I’m more curious about the others in the care who no doubt where charged and convicted - wonder where they are…

I missed this reply when originally made, but even our sensitive national security cases are tried openly in normal courts. My understanding is there are certain special procedures around protecting certain information from being used as evidence that’s all hammered out before trial.

 

[ueo]

I do so love a country in which the fundamentals of law are as fluid as our betters need them to be.

Betters... my aching back.

 

[brihard]

Here’s the SCC docket summary for this one. This’ll be super interesting.

Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Summary - 40371

www.scc-csc.ca

 

[Kat Stevens]

"Tie me kangaroo down, in court
Tie me kangaroo down..."

 

[Rifleman62]

Reading the first post, I was hoping the secret trial was for an accused named Trudeau.

 

[Haggis]

Here’s the SCC docket summary for this one. This’ll be super interesting.

Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Summary - 40371

www.scc-csc.ca

Government funded media versus the government?

 

[brihard]

Government funded media versus the government?

Why not? The actual criminal trial itself sounds like pretty small potatoes. The legal strangeness of this comes from the way the court and judge have handled the secrecy of it because it’s a police informant who made subsequent dumb choices.

 

[Haggis]

Why not? The actual criminal trial itself sounds like pretty small potatoes. The legal strangeness of this comes from the way the court and judge have handled the secrecy of it because it’s a police informant who made subsequent dumb choices.

Nothing is wrong with it, as there are several outlets involved in this, not just the CBC. I just find it amusing.