R. v. J.D.D.

(Alberta Court of Justice, Calgary - Assault).  JDD is an accused who suffers from serous mental health issues. In this case, the accused self admitted to the hospital and was observed to be psychologically unstable.  While at the hospital, the accused was instructed by nursing staff to take some oral medication. The accused was not amenable with the medication. The accused was passed a small-size paper pill cup container water. The accused waved the pill cup at the nurse, splashing the nurse with a small amount of water. The nurse pressed charges. The accused was charged with assault.

Assault is defined as any non-consensual touching of a person and by its definition, does not require any degree of force. Therefore, as absurd as it sounds, splashing a small amount of water on another person could by the strict definition of the law, be construed as assault.

In this case, the accused pled "not guilty" to the assault and scheduled the case for trial. The accused had two defences: (1) self defence against taking medication that the accused did not consent to and (2) de minimus.  A "de minimus" assault is one which meets the technical definition for assault but is so trivial that it does not justify criminal sanction.  The case was "stayed" by the prosecution just prior to the start of trial. 

The lesson from this case is that it while rare, it is still not uncommon for criminal defence lawyers in Calgary to see borderline ridiculous, even absurd charges. In theory, the process of "charge approval" by the Prosecutor's office should identify these types of cases to stop them before they happen. In JDD's case, a Crown Prosecutor asked this Calgary criminal assault lawyer whether he brought the issues with this case to the attention of the docket prosecutor prior to pleading not guilty and scheduling the case for trial. The answer was that the defence brought these issues to light at first instance and the offer to resolve by the Crown was simply not acceptable. Happily, the trial prosecutor stayed the charges and the accused avoided the risk of a criminal record.

There are cases where the only option is to plead not guilty and press the prosecution to trial. JDD's case is a good example of this. 

If you have been charged with a criminal offence (such as assault), it is very important to choose your defence lawyer carefully. There are a lot of lawyers in Calgary claiming to be the best Calgary criminal lawyers. Remember, anybody can advertise. Anybody can make claims lauding their skills and accomplishments. Many criminal lawyers in Calgary and throughout Alberta advertise as being successful and might even present as having a massive number of 5 star Google reviews. Remember, in the online world it seems that the only numerical options are 5 star are 1 star -- there does not seem to be any in-between. I can tell you that no lawyer has practiced perfectly in their career. I can also tell you that a lot of lawyers having no reviews and no website are very capable lawyers. Therefore, don't look only to a website or reviews. Website information can be false; just a Google review can be false. Also remember, a 1 Star review could reflect a number of things that were not the lawyers fault, so don't discount a criminal defence simply because he or she has the occasional bad review. Also, don't be excessive weight on 5 Star reviews. David Chow is one of many Calgary criminal lawyers with a website and over a hundred Google reviews. All of my advice applies as equally to me as it does to every other lawyer. Good luck in your search.