Law Times

April 19, 2010

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Solution Process Serving (416) 644-8867 sps@solutionps.ca First Canadian Place 100 King street west. Suite 3700 Toronto, On M5X 1C9 10 years of experience! $3.55 • Vol. 21, No. 13 olutionProcess_LT_Apr19_10.indd 1 4/13/10 11:58:49 AM 10 years of experience! Covering Ontario's Legal Scene ntitled-3 1 Courts grapple with old CPIC data 'They are about two years behind,' Crown prosecutor says BY TIM NAUMETZ For Law Times OTTAWA — An Ontario judge's ruling has disclosed what one Crown prosecutor calls a "major problem" with criminal record fi les held by the Canadian Police Information Centre that are routinely out of date and have been backlogged for periods of up to a year and a half. Th e ruling by Ontario Court Justice Da- vid Fairgrieve, highlighted in the Law Soci- ety of Upper Canada's Ontario Reports pub- lication this month, comes amid continuing controversy surrounding the pardon and criminal record status of a convicted sex of- fender. Fairgrieve's ruling reveals that records of 11 convictions and sentencing decisions for John Horne going back to October 2007 hadn't yet been entered on CPIC by the time Horne pleaded guilty to three more criminal charges last year. Th e decision in R. v. Horne also notes that the Crown attorney who prosecuted Horne would likely have proceeded by indictment instead of summary conviction on the three driving off ences he faced as well as a fourth charge of possession of a stolen vehicle follow- ing a police chase near Toronto in February 2009 had the full CPIC record been available. Th e possession charge was withdrawn after Horne entered guilty pleas on the other three charges. Fairgrieve was so outraged by the missing CPIC entries that he rejected a joint submis- sion from the prosecutor and Horne's lawyer R. v. Horne illustrates a CPIC lapse that's 'a fairly common experience among lawyers,' says Doug Baum. that would have had Horne serve one day in jail after nearly six months in pre-sentence custody. Instead, Fairgrieve gave him three consecutive sentences of six months each based on the three summary convictions and a fourth sentence of six months less a day based on a guilty plea Horne entered at the same time for a separate 2008 charge of possession of a stolen vehicle. Horne was free on bail on that charge when he tried to evade police in the second alleg- edly stolen vehicle in February 2009. Ottawa lawyer Doug Baum says the ruling illustrates a CPIC lapse that's "a fairly com- mon experience among lawyers who have been in court where, either because things have happened too fast or too recently, CPIC is not updated." But Baum, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, adds that "normally the Crowns are aware of the prior convictions through the police. . . . Th ey have a way to fi nd things out." Nevertheless, a Crown prosecutor who doesn't want to be identifi ed tells Law Times that CPIC continues to be unreliable, with outdated information among its entries. "Th is is a major problem in Toronto," he says. "Th ey are about two years behind, and we rely on TPS [Toronto Police Service] case tracking. I don't know what the problem is, but the situation impacts daily on our ability to make good decisions in bail court, in plea negotiations, and in sentencing hearings." Baum, however, isn't blaming CPIC. "Th ere's no way the RCMP could go out and data mine that information from the various provincial databases or police forces as far as I know," he says. Horne already had a record of 57 sepa- rate criminal convictions going back to 1999 aside from the 11 convictions that hadn't been See Crowns, page 3 the hereditary imam has fi led against him. Lawyer sued by Aga Khan keeping the faith A BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times Toronto lawyer says he will still follow the Aga Khan despite a lawsuit launched in the Federal Court last week. Th e Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of the Ismailis, a branch of Shia Islam to which Jiwa and his co-defendant belong. "I still follow him, absolutely, without any doubt," Jiwa tells comments now until my defence is fi led. Once I fi le it, I will set out the circumstances and an- swer the questions," he adds. Th e Aga Khan alleges in the claim that Jiwa and Montreal businessman Nagib Tajdin in- fringed his copyright and moral It'll be interesting to see from a moral rights point of view whether the defendants have said anything to which he would object and to what extent he has the right to stop the reproduction and distribution of this work solely on the basis of moral rights rather than copyright. Alnaz Jiwa, a lawyer with Jiwa & Associates, could fi nd himself facing down the spiritual leader in a Canadian court after the Aga Khan named him as a defendant in a copyright infringement case Law Times. "You will get the an- swer to this when I fi le the de- fence," he says, noting he has yet to appoint a lawyer to act on his behalf. "I don't want to make any rights by compiling a book that collected addresses delivered to Ismaili communities around the world between 1957, when he assumed his title, and 2009. Th e materials include 589 A. NEUMAN ASSOCIATES INC. Forensic Accounting & Damage Quantifi cation Specialists Turn Crisis into Opportunity IFAccountant.com (416) 223-5991 April 19, 2010 9/28/09 12:30:15 PM Inside This Issue 2 Restricted Mobility 7 Paying The Piper 9 Focus On ADR/Mediation Quote of the week "The system is defi nitely still failing women in regards to what we believe women have been promised by the attorney general compared with what we're actually seeing in the criminal court." — Debbie Zweep, program co-ordinator, Thunder Bay Women's Court Watch Program, See Courts, page 5 Farmans — addresses the Aga Khan gives as imam to his fol- lowers — and 77 Talikas, which are brief religious messages to Is- mailis in writing. Th e suit claims the Aga Khan is the sole author of those materials. According to the claim, Jiwa and Tajdin, as well as other un- known defendants, sold the book for $50 per volume in multiples of four. Buyers allegedly got 14 MP3 audio fi les featuring ex- tracts read by the Aga Khan free with the book. Th e imam is seeking punitive and exemplary damages in addi- tion to damages for the alleged infringement of his copyright and moral rights. None of the allega- tions have been proven in court. See Defendants, page 3 THERE IS A DIFFERENCE RainMaker Group 110 Yonge Street, Suite 1101 Toronto, Ontario M5C 1T4 Untitled-5 1 Tel: 416-863-9543 Fax: 416-863-9757 www.rainmakergroup.ca www.lawtimesnews.com 3/23/10 11:35:15 AM Click here to subscribe today to LAW TIMES

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