Thread by @N88TE

The last few years of COVID protests have exposed many more Canadians to the criminal justice system.

Apparently the JCCF is one of those groups as their statement raises issues that are mostly status quo in the early stages of criminal matters.

A few things 👇 #abpoli #mbpoli

https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1609694228975697920

1. "This charge is wholly unexpected and inexplicable." Well, no. Any kind of tampering with a judge HEARING YOUR OWN CASE is hugely aggravating and will almost always attract criminal consequences, especially when you admit you did it.

1a. Cooperating with the Law Society is well and good but they are not the police, who have charging discretion. Turns out they decided this was serious enough to lay charges.

Messing with a judge is the epitome of "fuck around, find out" and Mr. Carpay found out.

1b. Being really really sorry you did it does not absolve you of criminal responsibility, but it might help in sentencing should the issue get to that point. Being charged does not entail guilt so Mr. Carpay's cooperation thus far should serve him well.

2. "The events took place over 17 months ago." There are legitimate questions that could be asked about why it took so long but there could also be many acceptable reasons as to why (evidence, consultation with stakeholders given the sensitivity).

Unusual but not outrageous.

3. "JCCF took steps to strengthen oversight and governance of the organization." Great, but still has nothing to do with the public interest in laying charges. Once again, this may serve Mr. Carpay well when he goes through the criminal process but it's unrelated at this point.

4. "Already being dealt with appropriately." Sorry, again you don't get to decide this! That's why we have a criminal code, police charging discretion and prosecutorial discretion. Maybe prosecutors will decide not to pursue further but that's their prerogative, not yours.

4a. This division of responsibilities is important and creates checks and balances throughout the early stages of criminal proceedings.

This part of the JCCF's statement really shows their arrogance and disregard/lack of understanding of the system.

5. "It is doubly disappointing that these actions should take place during the holiday season." Sure but when there's enough evidence to charge you with something you don't get to decide. You're not the only case going through the system.

6. "On NYE, he was held in jail for 23 hours." Welcome to first instance bail. Legally you must be brought before a Justice of the Peace (or equivalent depending on province) within 24 hours of arrest which happened here.

6a. If they had received decent criminal advice then they would have waited until after a statutory holiday/closer to when courts reopen to do this. Christmas/NYE is a terrible choice b/c you're going to be forced to wait longer due to court closures.

6b. Who knows why they chose to do this but maybe they didn't receive adequate advice or did and chose to ignore (only speculating here). Certainly after 17 months the police weren't getting ready to break down his door if he didn't do this immediately.

7. Isolated cell/no sleeping stuff. Yeah arrest processing sucks but it's only designed for people to be held for 24 hours or less. You're not going to a hotel. Police have discretion to release but spying on a judge hearing your case is hugely aggravating. This is serious.

8. "His sole bail condition was to refrain from contacting Chief Justice Joyal." I mean, lucky you. Given this was at the heart of the alleged offence this makes sense. This is a fair release position. Could have potentially been worse given the aggravating factors.

9. Overall this is kind of silly. JCCF is staffed by lawyers, they should know better. This is an unusual case but what they're describing as part of the process is not unusual. It's clear they expected different treatment because of their position in society.

Also, there may have been justification to take him to the jurisdiction where this happened (Manitoba). So he's very luck that:

1. Police had the courtesy to call him and give a heads up about the warrant.

2. They allowed him to remain in the jurisdiction where he resides.