R. v. J.R.R.

(Cochrane P.C. - Breach). JR was charged with breaching a recognizance. The allegation was that the accused failed to report as per conditions of a very straightforward prior peace bond resolution. The evidence of non-reporting failed to take into account reasonable efforts made by the accused to report to probation -- the party responsible for monitoring the peace bond. The accused sent a number of emails and made calls that were not returned.  The Defence had email communications in its possession.  

After obtaining disclosure, JR's Cochrane criminal lawyer contacted the Crown to advise that no breach had occurred. "Disclosure" is essentially a copy of the evidence in possession of the Crown. The Defence sought the withdrawal of the criminal charge -- the Crown agreed; for this was a case for which there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. Additionally, notwithstanding the allegation, the conditions of the peace bond were otherwise met and as such, there was no public interest in pursuing the charges. The charges were withdrawn without the accused having to shoulder the stress and financial cost of a trial.

Whenever the Crown evaluates a case to be prosecuted it must satisfy two conditions: (1) reasonable prospect of conviction and (2) public interest. Even if the Crown has a reasonable prospect of conviction, there may be no public interest in prosecuting the case. In the last decade or so, "public interest" is often overlooked by prosecutors. Prior to recent times, Alberta Crown Prosecution Services closely looked at public interest, which included considering the cost to the taxpayer to prosecute marginal extremely low level offences.  Today, cost to the taxpayer and other public interest factors tend to be resolved in favour of reasonable prospect of conviction. It seems today that if reasonable prospect of conviction exists, the case will almost assuredly be prosecuted or at the very least, resolve by way of a diversion process or peace bond.

The best criminal defence lawyers will closely evaluate the case for reasonable prospect of conviction and if none exists, argue that to the Crown before the accused has to shoulder the stress and cost of a trial. Though public interest is seemingly today a secondary factor, the best criminal lawyers will also raise public interest issues on behalf of their clients. For a free consultation with an experienced criminal defence lawyer in Alberta, call 403.452.8018.  Though David Chow conducts most of his business remotely, he has offices in both Calgary and Cochrane.