Hamilton justice of the peace accused of misconduct

A Hamilton justice of the peace is facing a judicial misconduct hearing after an error made in criminal court nearly four years ago led to a man’s wrongful arrest.

Paul Welsh is scheduled to appear for a Justices of the Peace Review Council hearing starting Dec. 4, where high-profile lawyer Marie Henein is the presenting counsel.

The case centres on Welsh’s actions in Hamilton court Oct. 16, 2013, where he’s accused of “unilaterally changing the return date on a court matter without taking steps to notify the accused, counsel of record, or the Crown of the new return date,” according to the notice of hearing.

Without anyone knowing of the changed court date the accused — identified in court documents as Ian Silverthorne — failed to show and a bench warrant was issued. He was later arrested and charged with failing to appear in court.

The complaint was not made until April 2016.

“We’re looking forward to a full public inquiry ... a full explanation of what happened,” said Welsh’s lawyer, Eugene Bhattacharya.

There will be a “complete accounting of what happened,” he said, including the “context” of what happened that day.

Welsh has received a lot of support from Hamilton’s legal community.

“My client is very grateful of the support that he has been shown ... his reputation speaks for itself,” Bhattacharya said.

According to the court transcript from Oct. 16, 2013, Silverthorne was in court, with his lawyer Carl Robertson, facing a marijuana possession charge. They agreed the next court appearance would be Nov. 30 and left. Later that day the clerk registrar told Welsh that Nov. 30 is a Saturday and Welsh replied “Well, we can change that.”

He later said “Well clearly that was supposed to be the 30th of October, so we’ll just change that.”

According to court records when Silverthorne failed to show in court he was arrested and held for a bail hearing Nov. 29, where his lawyer, Robertson, explained the mixup and said “the administration of justice (was) brought into disrepute” by the error.

Robertson did not return a call requesting comment.

What remains unclear is why Silverthorne or Robertson were not notified of the date change, including whether Welsh had intended to notify them but simply forgot.

This isn’t the first time Welsh has faced discipline. In 2009 he admitted to judicial misconduct and also pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of obstructing justice after he reduced an Ontario court judge’s $180 traffic ticket by half.

In the criminal case he was given an absolute discharge, and in the disciplinary case he was ordered to take remedial education on judicial independence and impartiality.

Hamilton lawyer Asgar Manek was one of two attorneys who represented Welsh during the 2009 case, but is not representing Welsh now. Manek said he’s written a letter of support and has offered to be called as a character witness for Welsh.

The hearing before a three-person panel is scheduled for Dec. 4 to 7 in Toronto.