Jurors at trials that involve gang violence need experts to help them appreciate how gangs scare the public out of co-operating with police, Ontario’s top court ruled Monday.
In upholding the use of a police expert at a 2003 murder trial, the Ontario Court of Appeal judgment opened the door to the broad use of expert evidence about gangs.
Police were buoyant about the ruling’s potential to aid in future prosecutions. They said that it will help persuade people in high crime areas to ignore gang intimidation tactics aimed at ensuring their silence.
“This gives the system credibility for people who are intimidated within a community that is plagued by violence, or where someone may have evidence about a crime of violence,” Toronto Police Superintendent Greg Getty said in an interview. “They will possibly have faith in the system to put somebody away.”
Leon Boswell was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 in the shooting death of Wayne Reid. The Crown’s case revolved around eyewitness testimony from a close friend of the victim, Shaun Sharp.
The main weakness in the prosecution case was that in his first three interviews with police, Mr. Sharp had denied seeing the shooter. Later, after Mr. Reid succumbed to his injuries, Mr. Sharp had changed his story and identified Mr. Boswell as being the killer.
In his trial testimony, Mr. Sharp cited the code of silence to explain his behaviour. “We don’t talk to the police,” he said. “We don’t tell the police what happened. We just take care of our own justice.”
Mr. Sharp also told the jury that out of concern for his safety, he had left the Jamestown area after the incident and never returned.
The Crown argued that it was vital for it to put a police gang expert in the witness box to explain that Mr. Sharp’s community, Jamestown, was pervaded with skepticism about police.
“The average person might well be ignorant of the fact that in high-crime, high-density areas, a code of silence exists based on fear of retaliation that is much more powerful than the average person would appreciate,” Mr. Justice David McCombs concluded, ruling that police experts could testify.
On appeal, Crown prosecutors Susan Magotiaux and Joanne Stuart argued that the jury could not have made sense of Mr. Sharp’s actions without hearing from gang experts. They said that Judge McCombs placed tight limitations on the testimony and on how the jury could use what they heard.
The Court of Appeal judges agreed. “As the trial judge observed, knowledge of the existence of such a cultural phenomenon and of its implications are not matters within the everyday experience of the average person, even in Toronto,” Madam Justice Eleanore Cronk said, writing on behalf of Madam Justice Susan Lang and Mr. Justice David Watt.
“The fact that Sharp ultimately decided to identify the shooter for the police does not mean that a code of silence did not operate to prevent him from doing so immediately after the shooting,” she added.
Supt. Getty said that since the Reid murder, police have succeeded in flushing the two main gangs out of Jamestown.
“Once those groups were removed from that community, the intimidation was no longer there,” he said. “When we are able to remove groups or individuals who are instilling fear, it allows a community to step back out and take control.”
Across Toronto, Supt. Getty said, codes of silence are cracking. “The lines of co-operation between police and our communities has opened up exponentially,” he said. “Still, receiving information and having somebody step up to testify are two different things.”
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
X is an unknown quantity and a Spert can be anything liquid in a teaspoon,
all of which can be purchased.
Take a Well Known Ottawa psychologist who is the Rolls Royce when it comes to
getting an expert to make a family court assessment.
Just one problem, one of Ottawa's most famous feminist judges, correctly,
identified him as a no impartial or objective and going where the money is,
having abused his absolute power, judicial like power from binding arbitration.
That same expert, is still sought after , demands and gets $10,000 "up front" to
'start' an assessment.
The Crown can pull out any expert and pay extremely high rates, not so the
defense which is government paid for and government restricted in how much it
can spend.
The problem is, once experts are pulled in, the evidence can be, coloured. Any
Expert evidence is increasingly "Paid for" by mercenaries.
www.OttawaMensCentre.com
The worst Criminal Gangs in Canada are, primarily, the Judiciary and the Legal Cartel who operate with impunity and immunity from civil and criminal liability.
The WORST abusers in society are those with "absolute Power", the worst of the worst" as the legal profession refer to are well known. In Ottawa, the very worst is Justice Allan Sheffield, well known for being corrupt, taking orders for motions, making decisions for his friends that are pure fabrications contrary to the evidence to "get revenge" for speaking out about the judiciary.
Second on the line up of Judicial Criminals is Justice Denis POWER, former brilliant civil litigator now Criminal Obstructor of Justice, professional child abuser who leaves a trail of destroyed lives.
The UNDERBELLY of the Judiciary see themselves as gods, with the power, absolute power to abuse, the dispense billions of dollars to their friends against those they don't like, they play god and its outside the rules of civil procedure, contrary to the fundamental principles of justice not to mention criminal in nature.
Denis Power and Sheffield are just two judges, amongst many, who bring the administration of justice in illrepute to the point that that many other judges will have NOTHING to do with them.
They act as enforcers to get revenge on anyone who dares criticize them. They get to do this because there is NO police for the Judiciary , the "Underbelly" of which operate with Blatant Impunity and habitually, flagrantly make decisions that terrorize and criminalize anyone they don't like without any legal justificat ion whatsoever.
You can find these "underbelly" examples (as opposed to the saints) of the judiciary 161 Elgin Street Ottawa.
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
The worst Criminal Gangs in Canada are, primarily, the Judiciary and the
Legal Cartel who operate with impunity and immunity from civil and criminal
liability.
The WORST abusers in society are those with "absolute Power", the worst of the
worst" as the legal profession refer to are well known. In Ottawa, the very
worst is Justice Allan Sheffield, well known for being corrupt, taking orders
for motions, making decisions for his friends that are pure fabrications
contrary to the evidence to "get revenge" for speaking out about the judiciary.
Second on the line up of Judicial Criminals is Justice Denis POWER, former
brilliant civil litigator now Criminal Obstruct-or of Justice, professional
child abuser who leaves a trail of destroyed lives.
The UNDERBELLY of the Judiciary see themselves as gods, with the power, absolute
power to abuse, the dispense billions of dollars to their friends against those
they don't like, they play god and its outside the rules of civil procedure,
contrary to the fundamental principles of justice not to mention criminal in
nature.
Denis Power and Sheffield are just two judges, amongst many, who bring the
administration of justice in ill-repute to the point that that many other judges
will have NOTHING to do with them.
They act as enforcers to get revenge on anyone who dares criticize them. They
get to do this because there is NO police for the Judiciary , the "Underbelly"
of which operate with Blatant Impunity and habitually, flagrantly make decisions
that terrorize and criminalize anyone they don't like without any legal
justification whatsoever.
You can find these "underbelly" examples (as opposed to the saints) of the
judiciary 161 Elgin Street Ottawa.
www.OttawaMensCentre.com
Notice the double negative by Justice Lang?
“The fact that Sharp ultimately decided to identify the shooter for the police
does not mean that a code of silence did not operate to prevent him from doing
so immediately after the shooting,”
The reality is the Judiciary operate in a "code of silence" the very worst
offenders of fundamental justice, or more bluntly, professional obstructors of
justice mascaraed as Judges of the Ontario Superior Court or the "provincial"
Ontario Court of Justice.
At the Court of Appeal, its a cess pool of abuse, virtually any dirty deed by a
judge is hushed up and whitewashed, the fact that most other judges would have
decided differently is in their view, not sufficient to make a change in an
order.
That gives "absolute power" to the underbelly of the judiciary by the
Underbelly" the very worst of whom get to be on the Court of Appeal by
demonstrating their political correctness.
Take Catherine Feldman, she left a trail of destroyed men in Superior Court then
went to the Court of Appeal, rumour has it that because she has continued her
War on Men, she will make it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Court of Appeal is a court of INjustice, its a primary weapon in the War on
Men, take COSTS, even if men win appeals, they get costs against them. If women
loose, they still get costs and when it comes to spousal support its unheard of
for a man to actually get spousal support from a woman.
Such is the "Code of Silence" by the Criminals mascaraing as Judges and who
operate with impunity due to Parliament failing to ensure that there is a real
police, a real authority to keep in check abuses by the Judiciary.
www.OttawaMensCentre.com