The accused brought a mid-trial mistrial application in a jury trial, alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel after his own cross-examination had gone badly.
The court held that although a trial judge has jurisdiction to entertain such an application, the appellate ineffective-assistance framework must be modified in the trial context because there is no verdict and defence strategy is still unfolding.
The accused bore the onus of proving the factual foundation for the allegations and establishing that counsel's incompetence had irrevocably compromised trial fairness such that any eventual verdict would likely be unreliable.
On the evidence, the allegations were found speculative, unsupported, and in several respects dishonest, while trial counsel's performance appeared prepared, focused, and competent.
The application was dismissed.
