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LAW

Confessed Calgary killer one-step closer to her sentencing hearing

Confessed killer Megan Elizabeth Springstead has finally reached the front of the line at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre, court was told Thursday.

A sentencing date for Springstead has been delayed several times, as doctors at the psychiatric center had deemed her a low priority for a risk assessment. Springstead has been convicted of manslaughter for helping her then-boyfriend kill their roommate.

But defense lawyer Kirstin Lancee said counsel have received a letter from Dr. Yuri Metelitsa indicating “Ms. Springstead has finally been entered into the program.”

Lancee asked Justice Pat Sullivan to adjourn the case to Aug. 19, to set a sentencing date once they have the court-ordered risk assessment done.

When Springstead’s case was in court two weeks ago, Crown prosecutor Doug Taylor said the admitted killer remained a low priority at the medical facility.

At the time Taylor said it was the third time the case had been called in criminal appearance court to set a sentencing date since Springstead pleaded guilty last November to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the killing of Mahmoud Ahmed Aburashed.

The prosecutor suggested he and Springstead’s lawyers might come to an agreement on a suitable sentence for Springstead, alleviating the need for the report, but Lancee said no consensus has been reached.

Springstead, 35, had been charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 13, 2019, killing of Aburashed. She admitted helping Allen James McCabe, who plead guilty to second-degree murder, tape the victim‘s arms and legs after he’d been assaulted by her boyfriend in a dispute over a $450 drug debt.

Aburashed died of asphyxia either through manual strangulation or pressure being applied to his neck with an object, such as a crowbar.

McCabe, who was originally charged with first-degree murder

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LAW

Lawyer seeks justification for COVID mandates that trample rights

“No Canadian government has ever sought to publish the confidential personal health information of a group of persons, with respect to communicable diseases …”

Publishing date:

Jul 07, 2022 • July 7, 2022 • 4 minute read • 49 Comments

Peter Gall says:
Peter Gall says: “Indeed, to the complainants’ knowledge, no Canadian government has ever sought to publish the confidential personal health information of a group of persons, with respect to communicable diseases…” Photo by Jonathan Hayward /THE CANADIAN PRESS

The continuation of COVID public health orders cannot be defended by claiming a health emergency continues to exist given the relaxation of mandates and the return to normalcy, insists respected Vancouver lawyer Peter Gall.

In the last month, he has filed three petitions on behalf of health care professionals in BC Supreme Court and with the privacy commissioner demanding the province and the public health officer justify continuing orders that trample the rights of nurses and doctors.

“We have asked the public health office repeatedly to discuss with our clients any contrary scientific or other evidence they may have to justify the continuation of the vaccination mandate or the public disclosure of the private medical information of health care professionals, but up until now, the government has declined to do so,” Gall said.

He added the orders were premised on “an immediate and significant risk to public health throughout a region or the province” that no longer exists “given the reduced severity of the virus and changing government responses to it.”

“I know the government doesn’t want to get into exceptions but

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LAW

Peter McKnight: Naturopath’s lawyer offers unusual defense

Opinion: Lawyer argues naturopaths not ‘bound by science’ so lack of evidence for his client’s treatments for autism shouldn’t prevent him from offering the service

When your lawyer defends your job by attacking your profession, you know there’s a problem with your vocation.

The College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia has been cracking down on its members in the past few years, and naturopath Jason Klop is the latest to find he’s in its crosshairs. But Klop and his lawyer are fighting back, and in a most unusual way.

At issue is Klop’s use of fecal microbiota transplants — yes, that means exactly what you think it means — to “treat” autism in children. Klop manufactured the pills and enemas in a lab in his nephews’ apartment because his nephews provide the, um, raw materials for Klop’s products.

Once the College got wind of this, it demanded Klop cease manufacturing and selling the pills and enemas tout de suite. Klop is fighting back, however, and has asked a court to order the College to lift the ban.

According to the CBCKlop’s lawyer, Jason Gratl, questioned what it would take to act in a manner unbecoming a naturopath given that naturopathy “is so broad and open to interpretation.”

And he followed that shot by arguing that a lack of scientific evidence for Klop’s treatments shouldn’t prevent him from offering the service because naturopaths “are not bound by science,” as they sometimes rely on historical or anecdotal evidence.

This portrait of naturopathy as a freewheeling, unscientific, undisciplined discipline raised the hackles of the College, which countered that naturopathy isn’t an “anything goes” profession.

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LAW

Ohio police officers shot fleeing Black man dozens of times, lawyer says

Reuters

Jason Lange and Jonathan Landy

Police killed Jayland Walker, a Black man in Ohio, by shooting him dozens of times as he ran from officers following a traffic stop, a lawyer for his family said, citing a review of police body-worn camera footage due to be made public on Sundays.

In comments published on Saturday by the Akron Beacon Journal, attorney Bobby DiCello described the video as “brutal,” and said Walker’s relatives worried that protests this weekend could turn violent.

The shooting was the latest in a spate of killings of Black men by law enforcement in the United States that critics say are unjustified, including the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that ignited global protests against police brutality and racial injustice.

“We’re all bracing for the community’s response, and the one message that we have is the family does not need any more violence,” DiCello said.

Akron police have said Walker, 25, fired a gun at officers who were pursuing him. They plan to release their body camera footage following a news conference on Sunday, hours before a protest march is scheduled.

“Protest is a way of crying,” Roderick Pounds Sr., pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Akron, said during a prayer rally there on Saturday after he was permitted to see the video prior to its being made public.

Pounds declined to describe in detail “the graphic video the world is about to see,” but he called the footage “shocking,” saying it showed Walker posed no threat when he was shot down in a manner the pastor liked to a “massacre. ”

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LAW

Howard Levitt: Why a good lawyer never ignores the court of public opinion

If you ignore media inquiries, be prepared for the media to define your case and your client to the public

Johnny Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez departs the courthouse after a day of deliberations in the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial in Fairfax Virginia, US, May 31, 2022.
Johnny Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez departs the courthouse after a day of deliberations in the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial in Fairfax Virginia, US, May 31, 2022. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

What role can the media play in courtroom strategy play? Or, to put it differently, how best can counsel advocate outside of the courtroom, particularly in publicly prominent trials?

Having had the good fortune of acting as counsel on many high-profile Canadian cases during my career, starting conspicuously with acting for the chief prosecution witness before the Patti Starr Commission of Inquiry, aka the Houlden Commission, in 1989, I have had a front -row seat to the interplay between media and counsel in such disputes.

Ignoring the media is not an option. Not a good one anyway. Choosing to not respond to media inquiries should be a deliberate decision rather than one of invariable policy. Otherwise, the media will define your case and your client to the public. That other court — the court of public opinion — must always be kept in mind.

Dan Abrams, the chief legal analyst for ABC News, once told a story about a friend working on a high-profile case who was concerned about being seen as a “media whore.” Abrams joked in response that, “There’s got to be something between whoring and abstinence.”

Judges, however skilled and neutral, are not immune to arguments that are made about a case outside of the courtroom, particularly

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