City Hall reporter for the Toronto Star (formerly courts). Tell me your stories. she/her. ahasham@thestar.ca
Jan 17, 2023 • 132 tweets • 20 min read
Good morning! I am watching public deputations to the City of Toronto's budget committee today. It starts this am at City Hall and this afternoon in North York.
Councillors Crawford, Bravo and Moise are at City Hall committee, Nunziata, Thompson and Crisanti at North York
First budget-related deputation is a call for a seniors hub in Oakridge.
Jan 10, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
It’s budget unveiling day where we find out what’s in the $16 billion budget.
Updates will be posted here through the day: thestar.com/news/gta/2023/…
Jan 9, 2023 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Good morning Toronto. Here is @BenSpurr with what you need to know ahead of Toronto’s 2023 budget proposal which is being unveiled tomorrow: thestar.com/news/gta/2023/… via @torontostar
Last week we got an unusual preview of the budget starting with a nearly $50M increase in the police budget in part going to hiring 200 more officers: thestar.com/news/city_hall…
Oct 20, 2022 • 40 tweets • 6 min read
I am at the sentencing decision for Jacob Hoggard this morning. Everyone is in court now. As always, difficult content. Resources are available here: ontario.ca/page/sexual-vi…
You can follow my updates here or at this link: thestar.com/news/gta/2022/…
Jun 3, 2022 • 105 tweets • 13 min read
The jury deciding the case of Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard continues to be deadlocked on "some counts."
The judge and lawyers are discussing whether to ask them to continue to deliberate.
The defence lawyer is arguing they should be asked to continue.
The Crown also wants them to continue. Notes they broke before dinner on Wednesday and Thursday.
The judge isn't so sure. She thinks they've been working hard and it may not be worth it.
May 5, 2022 • 38 tweets • 5 min read
"It was that fangirl moment," she said when Hoggard gave his number to her dad and gave them tickets and backstage passes to an upcoming show. (The court heard earlier the band would often give out tickets/passes in this way).
The jury is seeing photos of the girl (now in her early twenties) and her family with Hoggard along with photos of ticket stubs.
May 5, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Two women, one of whom was 15 at the time of the first alleged sexual assault, are expected to testify at the trial of Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard. Here is what the Crown says the jury can expect to hear: thestar.com/news/gta/2022/…
Hoggard is charged with sexual touching of a person under the age of 16 and two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The allegations date back to 2016.
Mar 3, 2021 • 52 tweets • 9 min read
For those planning to watch the verdict on YouTube, it's absolutely not allowed to take photos/screenshots/recordings of the video. Media has been told not rebroadcast or even embed the livestream.
thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
I will be tweeting (though not exhaustively because the live-stream is so easily available, in a real win for open courts and public information) and you can follow that on here or in the story below, which will be updated through the day: thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
Feb 10, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In March, the province said the jail population had been reduced by around 30 per cent and all jails were undercapacity.
Even as the second wave began, that was changing. The jail pop has crept up (a 15 per cent reduction from pre-pandemic). thestar.com/news/canada/20…
Last month 5 jails were over-capacity. Two, Maplehurst and Thunder Bay jail, are still battling major outbreaks.
Between March and Nov there were 169 cases, 91 from the big OCI outbreak in April.
Since Dec there have been 562 cases and 10 outbreaks
Including the 91 cases from the April OCI outbreak, there were 169 COVID cases in Ontario jails from March to November. Since Dec. there have been at least ten outbreaks. A key difference is a rising jail population. thestar.com/content/thesta…
An initial drop of up to 32 percent is now around 15 percent. And last month at least five jails were running overcapacity. Two of them, Maplehurst and Thunder Bay jail, are still in major outbreaks.
Feb 1, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
JAIL COVID UPDATE: The case numbers from the weekend are not yet available online but I understand that there is now an outbreak at Vanier Centre for Women, with 9 inmate cases. Meanwhile, Maplehurst has had 116 inmate cases (including 1 who works in the kitchen), 62 staff cases
According to a memo, the union is concerned about the Maplehurst cases being linked to continued audio/video court appearances. They want those to be stopped for 14 days, or at least stopped for inmates who are positive. (I can imagine the response to this).
Dec 18, 2020 • 139 tweets • 19 min read
The Crown's closing arguments begin today (they were supposed to start at 9:30 but we haven't yet). For the defence arguments yesterday, my thread is here:
Okay looks like we are close to starting. For a preview of where the Crown is likely going, here is what their key expert said: thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
Dec 17, 2020 • 164 tweets • 23 min read
Good morning. We are back for the final two days of Alek Minassian's trial for the first-degree murder of Ji Hun Kim, So He Chung, Anne Marie D’Amico, Andrea Bradden, Chul Min (Eddie) Kang, Renuka Amarasingha, Dorothy Sewell, Geraldine Brady, Munir Najjar, and Betty Forsyth.
Today we will be hearing closing arguments from the defence, led by Boris Bytensky. He will be arguing Minassian should be found not criminally responsible because his form of autism spectrum disorder rendered him unable to know what he did was morally wrong.
Dec 15, 2020 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
Back at what is looking like the tail end of evidence at Alek Minassian's trial for the Toronto van attack. The defence has a couple more questions for Dr. Scott Woodside then he'll be done cross.
Defence says Woodside didn't make recordings of his interviews with Minassian, but did anyone else?
Woodside says no.
Dec 14, 2020 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
Woodside said Minassian did say he wanted to kill more women, though he knew it would be random.
Defence: He saw the group of people at Yonge and Finch and started the attack.
Woodside: He thought 20 kills would be high.
Defence: We don't know when he was thinking that
Woodside said it was part of his account of what he was thinking at the time. Doesn't think he prompted it with a question.
Defence: He was in the second lane from the right. When the light turned green he "floored it" and drove into the people.
Dec 14, 2020 • 108 tweets • 13 min read
Cross-examination of Dr. Scott Woodside, the Crown's forensic psychiatrist who doesn't think Alek Minassian is not criminally responsible, has begun. Starts with the defence asking about the process of the assessment.
Defence: It's a back and forth conversation?
Woodside: Within certain limits. He could answer as he chose, would ask follow up questions. Let him take the time to say what is important to him. There is structure and areas they need to cover but he has "fair bit of freedom"
Dec 11, 2020 • 108 tweets • 14 min read
Crown prosecutor John Rinaldi is continuing his examination-in-chief of Dr. Scott Woodside today. Here is where you can follow along with a summary of Woodside's from yesterday: thestar.com/content/thesta…
We start off today with the judge suggesting the lawyers can make oral arguments on the facts and written submissions on the law (one way to save time). The trial was set to end on Dec. 18 but it's looking like we may go into the week of the 21st which creates staffing issues
Dec 10, 2020 • 139 tweets • 19 min read
We are back up today, and still talking about the Vineland-3 test of adaptive function which we went through in excruciating detail yesterday. Crown expert, forensic psychologist Dr. Percy Wright, said the test doesn't provide an accurate view of Minassian's function as an adult
(This is Alek Minassian's trial for 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. He is seeking to be found not criminally responsible for running down pedestrians in a rented van on Yonge St. on April 23, 2018).
Dec 9, 2020 • 84 tweets • 11 min read
The defence has started cross-examination of Dr. Percy Wright, whose testimony yesterday is summarized here: thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
The questions start with asking how Dr. Wright chooses what to include in the report. He says it's guided by his clinical understanding. Defence says it's at his discretion, sometimes uses quotes, sometimes summarizes. He agrees.
Dec 8, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Also happening now is the sentencing hearing for Richard Isaac. 13 people are giving victim impacts for Victoria Selby-Readman. Crown seeking a life with no parole for 18 years.
thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
"This crime is truly beyond anyone's comprehension. It is just unbelievable," said Selby-Readman's mother. The violent murder of her daughter has been soul-destroying for her.
Dec 8, 2020 • 126 tweets • 16 min read
We are starting with the defence re-examination of Dr Westphal (day 7 on the stand). First the judge has a q. Follow along here or at the link below: thestar.com/content/thesta…
Justice Molloy wanted to know how many people in the population have autism spectrum disorder (what the best estimate is). Westphal said it's currently considered to be 1 in 60 people.
