The applicant sought a Rowbotham Order to conditionally stay 40 criminal charges across Ottawa, Pembroke, and Belleville until the Attorney General for Ontario funded his defence counsel, and a Peterman Order for travel/accommodation costs for his counsel.
The court applied the three-part Rowbotham test: legal aid ineligibility, indigence, and seriousness/complexity compromising fair trial.
The applicant was found indigent.
The Rowbotham application was granted for the Ottawa charges due to their seriousness and complexity (robbery with a firearm, co-accused, forensic disclosure).
However, it was dismissed for the Belleville charges because the applicant had not exhausted legal aid appeals and the trial was far off, allowing time for re-application and potential change in financial status.
The application was also dismissed for the Pembroke charges, as despite indigence and effective legal aid denial, the 30 charges (mostly fraud, theft) were deemed fact-based and not legally complex enough to materially compromise a fair trial without state-funded counsel.
