[ql06] GENERAL: `Vindictive' JP fired over conduct in court
- From: "Kenneth Campbell [QL06]" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 06:42:56 -0500
Just to make sure I am understood... it is not that I am holding the
"cops" to a higher standard, I am holding ALL parts of the courts to a
higher standard.
Same goes for lawyers, judges, JPs, etc.
Here's another story (I had considered uploading at the time but
didn't). Making judges and JPs accountable is the same thing as the
police being accountable. I have other unposted articles in my database
about lawyers abusing their power, too.
The point is the "power granted."
Ken.
--
With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.
-- Rhett Butler
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"Vindictive" JP fired over conduct in court
Convicted man for wearing headgear
Probe uncovers "irrational" abuses of judicial power
THERESA BOYLE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
TORONTO STAR
Nov. 29, 2003
The provincial government has fired a justice of the peace who convicted
a man of a traffic offence without trial because the motorist refused to
remove his headgear.
Rick Romain, 50, abused his power and acted with vindictiveness in a
number of cases, Mr. Justice Russell Otter found during an inquiry into
the Mississauga JP's conduct.
Otter recommended Romain be dismissed. Provincial cabinet accepted the
recommendation Thursday and released the decision yesterday.
One incident occurred in March last year when Michael Ross, a
Rastafarian, appeared in Romain's court on a charge of failing to stop
at a red light.
Romain ordered Ross to remove his hat. Ross replied that his headgear
was not a hat but a religious covering.
When Ross invoked the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Romain responded:
"Thank you. Finding of guilt, conviction, $155. Thank you."
In the report prepared by Otter, Ross is quoted as saying, "I was in
shock. I was dumbfounded.... I've been wrongly convicted, but I've never
been convicted without a trial."
In another instance, Romain confined a law student in his court. Romain
mistakenly believed the student, Jonathan Linden, was acting as an agent
for an accused in April, 2000. Romain refused to let Linden phone his
office for some legal advice and wouldn't even let the student go to the
washroom.
"You will sit at the table and you will listen to these proceedings or I
will order one of the officers to keep you there," Romain told the young
man, accusing him of "disrupting" the court.
In a third case, Romain convicted a defendant of a traffic offence when
he had an issue with the paralegal representing the defendant.
Otter said each incident in itself is serious, but even more so when all
three are considered cumulatively.
"They show a course of conduct of irrational, arbitrary and vindictive
abuses of judicial power, denying defendants fundamental fairness of
judicial process."
Otter acknowledged Romain admitted his handling of the incidents was
inappropriate, that he had made apologies, and that he had taken steps
to rehabilitate himself by, for example, studying race relations
But the judge went on to say that Romain has a tendency to minimize and
rationalize his conduct.
"His remedial steps are insufficient and come too late to restore public
confidence in him as a judicial officer," Otter wrote.
"For the reasons given, I find that Justice of the Peace Romain has
become incapacitated or disabled from the due execution of his office by
reason of conduct that is incompatible with the execution of the duties
of his office and I recommend that he be removed from office by order of
the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
Romain had served has a JP since 1987.
A justice of the peace is a judicial officer who performs such duties as
issuing search warrants, deciding who is freed on bail, and presiding
over offences under the Highway Traffic Act, such as speeding. They do
not have to be lawyers. They are appointed to the position by the
attorney-general, acting on the recommendation of committees made up of
a senior judge, lawyers and representatives of the community.
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