Have an upcoming court date? Call (416) 493-1655
Have an upcoming court date? Call (416) 493-1655
For criminal defence lawyers in and around the Greater Toronto Area the Internet broke yesterday. As word spread that their colleague Laura Liscio had been arrested in court and led out of the Brampton courthouse handcuffed and in her barrister’s…
I just read this article which suggests ways courts could “better handle sexual assault cases,” and with apologies to Elliotte Friedman, here are my 17 thoughts. Criminal law deals with society’s denunciation of individual conduct. Crimes are against the State not just…
Being a criminal defence lawyer is not for the faint of heart. If you can’t handle hearing about misery and the gritty details of broken lives, this job is not for you. Unlike television, client matters don’t neatly wrap up…
Canadian photographer Donald Weber took the photo above. He befriended Russian and Ukrainian police officers and in earning their trust they allowed him to photograph their interrogations. Detainees had guns pointed at their heads. Weber said, “[t]his is standard practice,…
Does Canada’s Minister of Justice Peter MacKay know the difference between a restitution order and the victim surcharge? Peter MacKay was asked for his thoughts on an Ottawa judge who ruled that the new mandatory victim surcharge was unconstitutional. MacKay…
Yesterday Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino admonished Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for not supporting mandatory minimum sentences. “Shameful” MacKay thundered. A recipe for decreasing community safety chimed in Fantino. All in a day’s work for…
When fire breathing tough-on-crimers like Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford start speaking the language of compassion, understanding and “the past is in the past” and hoping that “nobody has to go through what I have gone through” we continue to see…
Clients often ask me, “Why do they want to go after me?” They can’t understand why the spotlight is on them. Their charges are small potatoes compared to the real crimes that take place in the country. “Why don’t they…
Much like bacon everything is better with bail. While out on bail, the food tastes better and the flowers smell sweeter. Bail is a game changer. It is the physical manifestation of the presumption of innocence. You get to work,…
An amazing thing occurred in the House of Commons during Question Period yesterday. Thomas Mulcair the NDP Leader of the Opposition asked the Prime Minister why hasn’t the government amended the Criminal Code to allow “random breath testing” of drivers. …
