Law Times

JAILED EMPLOYERS FRAUD PREVENTION Keen eye stops mortgage scam Follow LAW TIMES on www.twitter.com/lawtimes $4.00 ��� Vol. 24, No. 7 P2 FOCUS ON Prison inappropriate for ESA breaches P6 L aw TIMEs Labour & Employment Law CO V E R I N G O N TA R I O ��� S L E G A L S C E N E ��� W W W. L AW T I M E S N E W S . CO M ntitled-4 1 P9 February 25, 2013 12-03-20 10:44 A Judge wants action on sentencing delays Comments follow 11-month wait for dangerous offender hearing BY CHARLOTTE SANTRY Law Times A Superior Court judge is calling on the government to amend the Criminal Code to prevent ���unacceptable��� delays in sentencing dangerous offenders. Justice Michael Code made the comments in R. v. Gibson, in which pedophile Paul Gibson received an indeterminate sentence after sexually abusing two boys aged seven and four. The hearing to decide whether the court should label Gibson a dangerous offender took place in early January at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. That was 11 months after his conviction last year. ���This kind of extraordinary delay, between conviction and sentence, is unacceptable,��� wrote Code. ���It is harmful to Gibson and it is harmful to confidence in the administration of justice as it leaves the impression with the public that the justice system is slow and inefficient.��� Code also called for Criminal Code amendments to ensure hearings take place more quickly. Code blamed the Ministry of the Attorney General for taking too long in deciding whether to proceed, forensic psychiatrists for delays in carrying out assessments, and Legal Aid Ontario for failing to make ���realistic compromises and agreements.��� Nathan Gorham, a criminal lawyer at Rusonik O���Connor Robbins Ross Gorham & Angelini LLP, says delays of up to two years are common and risk prejudicing cases. ���By the time you get to a conviction, the quality of evidence for prior criminal conduct not related to the index ���It may to the public seem as if the justice system is slow and inefficient, but the parties involved in the justice system are trying to deal with it efficiently,��� says Jonathan Bliss. Photo: Laura Pedersen case could deteriorate and degrade,��� he says. Attempting to speed up the process is therefore ���an excellent suggestion,��� he adds. Courts must sentence dangerous offenders to indeterminate detention unless evidence produced in the hearing shows a sentence of two years or more plus long-term supervision would adequately protect the public. Assessments by forensic psychiatrists form a substantial part of the hearing and must be ready within 120 days. But existing statutory time limitations and the complex nature of the work make an amendment to the Criminal Code unnecessary, says Toronto criminal lawyer Jonathan Bliss. ���A lot of the work���s done behind the scenes,��� he says. ���It may to the public seem as if the justice system is slow and inefficient, but the parties involved in the justice system are trying to deal with it efficiently. It���s just that sometimes the amount of material is voluminous.��� Delays are often due to difficulties in finding a forensic psychiatrist, he notes. Dr. Scott Woodside, clinical head of the sexual behaviours clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says there are relatively few specialists and ���not all are comfortable working with people with significant histories of violence and sexual offending.��� Crown prosecutors often approach psychiatrists only a few weeks before a hearing, he adds. ���I book up three to four months in advance. There���s definitely a gap between reality and expectations.��� A Ministry of the Attorney General spokesman wouldn���t comment on the case last week. Legal Aid Ontario said it couldn���t comment on individual cases last week. LT Prof touts ���happy ending to the saddest case I know��� Law Times O David Moran spoke animatedly last week about the scourge of wrongful convictions to students at Osgoode Hall Law School. Photo: Yamri Taddese n a balmy summer���s day last year, David Moran and his team of criminal lawyers helped David Gavitt push a white plastic cart carrying all of his possessions from jail. Gavitt, 54, had spent the previous 27 years at the Carson City��Correctional Facility in Michigan following his conviction in a 1985 arson that killed his wife and two young daughters. But on July 6, 2012, Moran and his team were ushering Gavitt to freedom. They had just convinced the Ionia County prosecutor that there wasn���t a single piece of evidence that proved him guilty. Moran, who co-founded the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, spoke to Osgoode Hall Law School students this month about the exoneration of Gavitt, a victim of faulty forensic science. ���We asked him, ���David, where do you want to go?������ Moran told the audience about the day Gavitt walked free. ���David���s answer was very clear: ���I want to go to the cemetery.������ On March 9, 1985, Gavitt and his wife Angela had put the kids to bed, had a few smokes, and retired to their bedroom. It was a Saturday night and there was a snowstorm, Moran told the students. The Gavitts��� dog then scratched their bedroom door, alerting them to a fire that was quickly engulfing their home. Gavitt told Angela to get the kids from the nursery as he went to smash the window of the guest bedroom for their escape. He then returned for Angela and the girls. But overwhelmed by the heat, Gavitt ran to the window and escaped on his own with severe burns, said Moran. His family never made it out. Police arrested Gavitt upon his discharge from the hospital for killing his family before he had a chance to visit their gravesite. ���The prosecution had a difficult case to begin with because there was zero motive,��� said Moran. There was no insurance on the house owned by Gavitt���s mother. There was also no life insurance PM #40762529 BY YAMRI TADDESE See Chance, page 4 Recruiting? Post your position on Great rates. Great reach. Great results. Contact Sandy Shutt at sandra.shutt@thomsonreuters.com for details. JobsInLaw 1-8 pg 5X.indd 1 2/15/11 4:12:27 PM

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