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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-11-28, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1990. Opinion Justice delayed? After the Supreme Court ruling that says delaying the trial of an accused too long means the accused can’t get justice and the case should be dropped, a new peassure is going to be put on crown attornies and judges to make sure the system keeps moving. There is no doubt cases often take a ridiculously long time to come to trial. Sometimes the problem is that in the large urban centres there is a traffic jam in the court houses just as there is in the streets. But even in Huron county, many cases often take a year and more to be resolved. Take, for example, the case of fraud against Klaus Henschel, the former owner of Brussels Stockyards Limited. Sentencing in the case finally took place last Feb. 5, 1990, 17 months after Mr. Henschel first cleared out the company safe and booked his family on a flight to West Germany, and 16 months after Mr. Henschel returned to Canada and surrendered to police inNovember 1988. Why the delay? Well, immediately after he was arrested Mr. Henschel faced a bail hearing and was allowed out of jail on bail to appear again in Wingham Provincial Court on Jan. 25, 1989. There the duty counsel, acting on behalf of lawyers for Mr. Henschel and his wife asked for the case to be remanded until March 22 because it appeared more charges would be laid. On April 19 the duty counsel again asked that the case be adjourned until May to hear pleas from the accused but Judge R. G. E. Hunter insisted the pleas would be heard April 19 instead. On April 19 another duty counsel said he had been asked by lawyers for the couple to seek a further adjournment to May 17. Judge Hunter questioned the delay but allowed it anyway since, with the couple’s lawyers not present, they wouldn’t have legal advice for their pleas. Finally on May 17 the couple entered pleas, pleading not guilty and seeking trial by judge and jury. Since jury trials are heard by a different court, they were to appear in Goderich June 5 to set the date for the trial. On June 5 the case was remanded until July 5 when finally a date for a judge and jury trial was set for Dec. 19. Those around the court house knew what was happening. It’s called plea bargaining. The defence knows its client will eventually plead guilty but wants to up the stakes as high as possible to be able to negotiate a deal with the crown attorney’s office. Trials by judge and jury take a long time to arrange, cost a lot of money and tie up the court and the Crown Attorney for lengthy periods of time. It’s often worth it to give some sort of reduced sentence for the accused in order to get a guilty plea and get the case over with. That’s what happened in the Henschel case. Before the Dec. 19 date an agreement was reached. Charges against Mrs. Henschel were dropped. Eventually Klaus received an 18-month sentence. Most of the delay in the case seems to have come from the defence attorneys “upping the ante’’ to make the Crown want to settle. Now there will be even morepressure on the Crown. If the defence attorneys can delay the case long enough the courts may say the defendent has been denied his rights and throw the case out entirely. There is provision in the Supreme Court judgement to prevent cases delayed by the accused from being thrown out but the burden is on the Crown to prove it was the defence that is responsible. Given that burden, Crown Attorneys may be tempted to plea bargain more. It will be up to judges and Crown Attorney’s to not allow delaying tactics to undermine justice. Peace or appeasement The peace movement against possible military action in the Kuwait to drive out Saddam Hussein seems to be picking up steam. For many peace activists there is no circumstance that could justify war in Kuwait. While most people would agree that diplomacy and the economic blockade must be given their chance to bring about a peaceful solution one wonders if negotiations can really work if the Iraqi leader thinks the rest of the world won’t attack. Secretly he may be hoping the peace movement takes away the will for battle in the U.S. particularly. The problem is, when does negotiation become appeasement? Neville Chamberlain thought he had negotiated “peace in our time’ ’ with Hitler, only to find out he had shown weakness. Everybody wants peace but there comes a time that only by being prepared for war can you negotiate peace. Reflection Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel 's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [zfnot in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: Ward Black said he didn’t know if he’d want to be one of those Canadian M.P.’s who are in Iraq trying to negotiate the release of Canadian hostages. “Af­ ter all, Saddam Hussein doesn’t exactly play fair. What’s to stop him from figuring three more high-profile hostages might help his bargaining power?’’ “Maybe he reads the Canadian papers and sees nobody would care much if he did take a few MPs,’’ Hank Stokes said. “Matter of fact, we just might call up and ask if he’d like about 200 more.’’ TUESDAY: Billie Bean said he can just see the beer ads that would be on television if a new report for the federal government had its way. The report complains that beer ads make it look like people are having too much fun so that young people equate beer with fun and want to drink more. “So what do they expect the beer companies to show? Can you imagine them paying money to show people throwing up at the side of the road or hung over the next morning?’’ WEDNESDAY: Tim O’Grady said listening to the radio this morning for a minute he thought it was Christmas morning. Everybody was commenting on the Throne Speech of the new NDP govern­ ment and this one was complaining there was nothing in it for them, and that one was complaining there was nothing for their group. “They sound just like a bunch of kids on Christmas morning who didn’t get Continued on Page 6 The Citizen P.O. Box 429. BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19.00/yr. [$40.00 Foreign]. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisment will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. 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