Keeping up appearances
Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer Const. Joe Smyth was charged under the Criminal Code of Canada on July 11, 2018 with obstruction of justice.
Smyth was released on a promise to appear on Aug. 23 at 9:30 am in provincial court in St. John’s.
But Smyth’s court date was moved up to Aug. 10. I was disappointed as I had planned to be at Atlantic Place on Water Street in St. John’s on the morning of the 23rd as an interested spectator in the public gallery.
Smyth did not appear in court and was represented there by criminal lawyer Jerome Kennedy.
A not guilty plea to the allegation was entered on Smyth’s behalf and he elected to stand trial by judge alone.
The trial is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2019. (Note to self: The first Monday in 2019. Must attend, if possible.)
A legitimate question to be posed is: will the trial proceed? Might Smyth’s court date be
I think any police officer to whom our society gives extraordinary powers and rightly expects much of in return in the way of probity and propriety, and who has been charged with a crime allegedly committed while on duty, should be compelled by the chief of police to appear in full dress uniform at all court proceedings concerning his alleged conduct.
moved up to sometime around, say, Christmas — oops! I beg your pardon. Pardon me. I meant “The Holidays.” You know, the time when people, baptized Christians mostly, are over-indulging in the Festival of ME-ME-ME and are too busy caroling and carousing to take the least notice of a prominent trial.
With a trial by judge alone, I don’t expect lawyer Kennedy to request a change of venue to some remote outport courthouse away from the pesky news media, or seek out a dimly lit backroom for use in the small hours of the night as a makeshift provincial courtroom.
In The Telegram’s report of the proceedings of Aug. 10, readers were told Smyth did not appear in court. He is not compelled to by law, but should he have?
I think any police officer to whom our society gives extraordinary powers and rightly expects much of in return in the way of probity and propriety, and who has been charged with a crime allegedly committed while on duty, should be compelled by the chief of police to appear in full dress uniform at all court proceedings concerning his alleged conduct.
Tom Careen Placentia