Judge won’t recuse himself from gun case after protest
An Ottawa judge will not recuse himself from a trial in which his son’s law firm is defending the accused, saying he’s satisfied he has no bias in the case.
Sherryl Fraser’s daughter Christina Voelzing was killed in 2016 by a bullet intended for her boyfriend, Hassan Khalid. Voelzing’s former high school boyfriend, Behnam Yaali, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.
Court heard then that Yaali and Khalid, Christina’s boyfriend at the time of her death, were fighting over Yaali’s continued contact with Voelzing. Both men were allegedly armed with guns the night Voelzing died.
Now Khalid is on trial for several gun charges related to the incident.
Ontario Court Justice Peter Doody is presiding over the judgealone trial. His son, John Doody, is a lawyer with the firm representing Khalid, Bayne Sellar Ertel Carter. Partner Mark Ertel is defending Khalid.
Doody, speaking from the bench Wednesday morning, said that when he was first appointed a provincial judge he considered whether he would hear cases involving his son’s firm. He satisfied himself then that if his son did no work on the file, “then I ought not to recuse myself.”
Doody said he believed a reasonable person, when in possession of those facts, wouldn’t conclude there was any bias. He said he would have revisited the issue had either the defence or prosecution taken a position on whether there was a reasonable apprehension of bias.
“That has not happened,” Doody said. “The trial will continue.”
Fraser learned of the relationship on Friday, at the last possible moment before the trial began on Monday. In a letter to Ottawa Crown attorney Vikki Bair, obtained by the Citizen, Fraser wrote she was “shocked and dismayed that this judge did not recuse himself from this case and that the Ministry (of the Attorney General) did not request this recusal.”
When reached for comment in his judge’s chamber Tuesday morning, Doody told the Citizen: “It would be inappropriate for me to comment.”
He then advised the trial that he had been contacted by a reporter and adjourned proceedings until the story was published. That story appeared online Tuesday night and on the front page of Wednesday’s print edition of the Ottawa Citizen.
While Bair told the court Wednesday that the Crown was not a “moving party” seeking recusal, she said the issue of apprehension of bias was “squarely before” Doody. She also said that trial dates are available in January — before the 18-month ceiling set by the Supreme Court to prevent unreasonable delays — should a new trial be required.
Defence lawyer Mark Ertel told the court that the “highest priority has to be the integrity of the process,” but disagreed that the matter of bias was even before Doody. Ertel said it wasn’t the case unless newspaper articles carry weight with the court.
Fraser didn’t question Doody’s ability to remain impartial or his ethics, but said that for the sake of optics, and for peace of mind that results from the trial would be without any blemish of prejudice, Doody ought to have recused himself.