P.E.I. judge refers defence lawyer’s conduct to Law Society

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A P.E.I. man’s sexual assault conviction and sentence enchantment will go forward however not with out some attainable penalties from the Legislation Society of P.E.I. for his defence lawyer for neglecting the file.
“What am I doing right here? You’ve filed nothing, and I don’t know of your consumer’s place,” mentioned Justice Terri MacPherson to Conor Mullin – William Robert Companion’s lawyer – on April 6 in P.E.I. Supreme Court docket. On that date, the courtroom was contemplating Crown legal professional John Diamond’s movement to have the enchantment dismissed.
Mullin’s response to MacPherson was to “beg this courtroom’s forgiveness” and to “fall on my sword” for his dealing with of Companion’s enchantment and the dismissal movement.
“The failure on this matter is strictly mine. It isn’t Mr. Companion’s,” mentioned Mullin.
Companion was convicted of sexual assault in April 2021 after a trial in provincial courtroom in Summerside. The allegations had been that Companion, now 63, sexually touched a 19-year-old man sitting subsequent to him within the again seat of a automobile after leaving a home occasion in Bedeque in June 2020. Companion had been ingesting alcohol on the occasion. The younger man instructed his sister and mom in regards to the incident, and the matter was reported to the RCMP.
On June 29, 2021, Decide Krista MacKay sentenced Companion to 45 days in jail and two years of probation. Companion was additionally positioned on the nationwide intercourse offender registry for 10 years and ordered to supply a pattern of his DNA to the nationwide databank. A couple of days in a while July 2, Companion filed a discover of enchantment with the P.E.I. Supreme Court docket. He was launched from custody shortly after whereas the enchantment is earlier than the courtroom.
On March 15, Diamond filed the movement with the courtroom to have the enchantment dismissed. Within the courtroom doc, Diamond explains that the defence had 20 days after the trial transcript was filed with the P.E.I. Supreme Court docket in September to serve a factum (or memorandum) on the enchantment. That doc accommodates info from the defence such because the grounds for the enchantment. Failing to satisfy that 20-day requirement provides the courtroom discretion to dismiss the enchantment, mentioned Diamond.
In an affidavit, Diamond additionally notes that the courtroom clerk reached out to Mullin on Oct. 28, Nov. 16 and Feb. 22 to see if he was nonetheless continuing with the enchantment. Mullin indicated in a March 1 e-mail that his consumer was nonetheless planning to maneuver forward. Even so, Mullin nonetheless hadn’t filed the required doc at that time. In courtroom on April 6, Diamond additional defined that it was solely when he filed the dismissal movement that “we obtained some motion”. Diamond mentioned Mullin then tried to serve him the factum however because the dismissal movement had already been filed, he refused to be served.
Diamond mentioned Mullin ought to return Companion’s cash and inform him to discover a new lawyer. As nicely, there must be penalties for Mullin’s conduct past his apology, mentioned Diamond.
Mullin mentioned it wasn’t his intention to fail in his obligation to Companion, however as a consequence of “organizational” and “prioritization” points, the matter was uncared for. Though not an excuse, Mullin added that non-public issues that arose from the current demise of his father contributed to these points.
Mullin instructed MacPherson that the factum was ready and able to be filed and requested the courtroom to proceed with the enchantment. The doc was filed with the courtroom the next day on April 7. The factum accommodates the grounds for the enchantment, together with that the trial choose (MacKay) arrived at an unreasonable verdict and that she failed to think about the affect of alcohol consumption when assessing the reliability of the complainant’s proof. The factum additionally accommodates a abstract of the details and case regulation.
Companion was additionally given the prospect to talk in courtroom. He talked in regards to the problem he has had contacting Mullin at instances and never having messages returned. Companion offered the choose and Diamond a replica of emails to Mullin to assessment and quantities paid for authorized service. Companion mentioned he spoke to Mullin in March (previous to the dismissal movement being filed) about delays within the enchantment being heard. Companion phoned the courthouse to search out out what was occurring and realized that the factum hadn’t been filed. What adopted was “a fairly heated dialogue” with Mullin, Companion mentioned.
Companion additionally instructed MacPherson that he didn’t notice till arriving at courtroom on April 6 that he might have been taken straight into custody if the choose accepted Diamond’s movement and dismissed the enchantment. MacPherson gave Mullin and Companion 5 minutes outdoors of the courtroom to see if they might work issues out. Once they returned, Companion mentioned he was conserving Mullin as his lawyer.
“I simply wish to get this over with,” mentioned Companion, who maintains he was wrongly convicted within the sexual assault case. “What am I going to do – get one other lawyer? I don’t know every other legal professionals.”
Mullin instructed the choose that he was prepared to just accept any punishment the courtroom deemed match, together with a positive. As an alternative, MacPherson instructed Mullin that though she accepted his apology, she was referring the matter to the Legislation Society of P.E.I. for assessment and consideration. MacPherson additionally dominated in opposition to Diamond’s movement to have the enchantment dismissed and adjourned the matter for case administration.
Terrence McEachern is a justice reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island.