Young persons charged with assault brought an application for a stay of proceedings alleging prosecutorial misconduct by Crown counsel.
The Crown counsel engaged in three separate incidents: approaching a youth witness in the hallway and encouraging him to tell the truth; a more aggressive second encounter with the same witness during lunch recess using profanity and references to perjury; and making derogatory comments toward the accused and their fathers as he left the courtroom.
The applicants argued the conduct breached their section 7 Charter rights to a fair trial and undermined the integrity of the judicial process.
The Crown was administratively removed from the case prior to judgment.
