{"id":10110,"date":"2014-08-01T06:52:42","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T06:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:81\/wordpress\/?p=10110"},"modified":"2014-08-01T06:52:42","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T06:52:42","slug":"supporters-say-racial-bias-a-factor-in-conviction-of-halifax-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/supporters-say-racial-bias-a-factor-in-conviction-of-halifax-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporters say racial bias a factor in conviction of Halifax lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The conviction of a Halifax lawyer accused of sexual assault continues to be a controversy. The Crown argued that the 29-year-old defence lawyer sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman while she was too impaired to consent to sex. The accused, however, said that the pair had consensual sex. A victim impact statement was apparently not filed by the woman.<\/p>\n

The man was charged with sexual assault and administering a stupefying substance, but the jury found him guilty only of sexual assault. He was acquitted of the other charge.<\/p>\n

The verdict sparked protests in June. For his recent sentencing, a crowd of the lawyer’s supporters, including family members, filled the courtroom. The lawyer is black, and his supporters believe that racial bias was a factor in his conviction. Those present at the sentencing shouted their disapproval as the lawyer was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

The Crown and the man’s defence recommended a three-year prison sentence, and that was the punishment handed down. He will also have to file as a sexual offender, and he is prohibited from owning a firearm for 25 years.<\/p>\n

The lawyer, who expressed embarrassment and remorse at the sentencing, indicated that he intends to appeal the conviction. His supporters called for a retrial in another province.<\/p>\n

A sexual assault conviction, even if successfully appealed, can have long-term repercussions. Generally, the strongest defence in these cases begins with early intervention in the pretrial phase. An effective\u00a0criminal defence<\/a>\u00a0also requires a custom strategy that is appropriate for the specific circumstances of the case. Not every person accused of a sex offence is guilty, and everyone facing criminal charges has a right to challenge the evidence presented by the prosecution.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Toronto Sun, “Halifax lawyer gets three years for sexual assault<\/a>,” Kris Sims, July 30, 2014<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Toronto Star, “Halifax lawyer gets 3-year jail term in race-tinged sex assault case,” July 30, 2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conviction of a Halifax lawyer accused of sexual assault continues to be a controversy. The Crown argued that the 29-year-old defence lawyer sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman while she was too impaired to consent to sex. The accused, however, said that the pair had consensual sex. A victim impact statement was apparently not filed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[43,12,24],"class_list":["post-10110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sexual-assault","tag-criminal-defence","tag-sexual-assault","tag-violent-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}