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   XPost: alt.fan.john-turmel, can.politics, alt.drugs   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy   
   From: johnturmel@yahoo.com   
      
   Jct: Sarah's lawyer announced he was retiring from her case   
   and that she would be defending herself alone. So there was   
   Sarah Spottiswood, a small 110-pound high-school runner,   
   demurely-dressed, alone facing the indictable offence after   
   being thrown in jail for helping her crippled dad move some   
   bags of marijuana out to the car that the police were   
   waiting to seize. She was charged as a minor.   
      
   It's been over 2 years now and her lawyer was playing it   
   safe by getting it adjourned over and over awaiting the   
   decision in father Mike's trial. Since they only charged her   
   to extort a plea from Mike, if he's convicted, they'll let   
   her go and if he's acquitted, they have to let her go. But   
   the cloud over her head cost her her last summer's job and   
   will probably do so again so when the Crown booked her trial   
   even though they were desperately trying to delay Mike's, it   
   gave us the opportunity for Sarah to file the very same   
   self-defence kits as Mike had and present the very same   
   arguments the Crown had ducked in his case!   
      
   She had her tape recorder on so the Crown pointed it out to   
   Judge Georges always hoping they'll get a judge who doesn't   
   know the Practice Directions. Sadly, Judge George didn't   
   know them and ordered Sarah to turn it off before she could   
   give him the 1989 Practice Direction of Justice Howland   
   allowing taping with authorizing presumed to be approved.   
   Another judge who doesn't know his Practice Directions.   
   Don't they have Judges' School? (I asked Justice Rosenberg   
   of the Ontario Court of Appeal who shushed me)   
      
   Then the Crown pointed out that a court-appointed "amicus   
   curia" lawyer had been appointed and a case management   
   judge and that she wanted the same for Sarah. Sarah pointed   
   out she was ready to go and wanted to get it over with. But   
   the judge said there was no way he was starting it and just   
   put it off for 2 weeks.   
      
   Now, you have to appreciate that part of the two years of   
   delay in Mike's case was due to the Crown misleading the   
   court about having to wait for a transcript of an appeal   
   that wasn't being appealed. And now they just won another   
   adjournment of his trial that should have started Jan 21 to   
   the fall. And they want to stall Sarah's case until after   
   she's in university?   
      
   I wonder what the assembled lawyers were thought as the   
   Crown detailed their requests for court-appointed lawyers   
   and case management judges for these two self-defender   
   cases! If this isn't making the rounds of the court-house   
   lunch-rooms, nothing would be.   
      
   Anyway, it was just such an appropriate vision, little high-   
   school student facing jail standing before the tribunal of   
   justice in the war of Cops and Gardeners.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)