NEW ORDER IN THE COURT
In-person criminal trials set to resume on Monday
Bowing to the legal maxim of “justice delayed is justice denied,” lawyers and judges will begin repopulating Windsor’s courtrooms after more than 110 days of near-closure due to COVID-19.
In-person criminal trials resume Monday, but all the justice system’s players are discovering it will be a substantially different experience.
“It won’t be like before — it’s the new normal,” said Daniel Topp, president of the Windsor-essex Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
Courts remain public places and have always been open to the community, but just getting into a courtroom now will be a challenge. Whether lawyer, prosecutor, police officer, accused or witness, anyone wanting access into the courthouse must wear a face mask and will be checked and screened at the entrance. Courtroom occupancy will be limited, with seating marked to permit safe spacing.
“There’s Plexiglas all over the place now,” said Topp.
The judge will be surrounded by a Plexiglas barrier, and the witness stand, also behind Plexiglas, will be sanitized after each appearance. Plexiglas screening will also separate the Crown from the defence and the defence from the accused.
Another legal maxim is that an accused has the right to face his or her accuser at trial, but Topp said if anyone does not feel safe or comfortable due to concerns over COVID-19, arrangements can be made for that person to participate remotely.
“They’re not going to force anyone to court who doesn’t feel safe,” said Topp, who has been part of numerous discussions leading up to next week’s launching in Ontario of Phase 1 of the reopening of courts. “The courts are open for business, but it’s not business as usual.”
It will be a modest start, with many court matters — including bail hearings, pretrials, remands and guilty pleas — continuing to occur via video- or teleconferencing. All such remote proceedings are recorded. And Windsor’s Superior Court of Justice will only have two courtrooms open for criminal matters, while Ontario Court of Justice across Chatham Street will initially have only two courtrooms dealing with criminal matters and a third open for family court.
“We’re all going to try and do the best we can in very uncharted waters,” said Windsor defence lawyer
Patricia Brown.
On Friday, Brown toured Chatham’s courthouse, where she expects to be at the end of the month for the start of a lengthy murder trial for Habibullah “Danny” Ahmadi, charged with second-degree murder in the 2017 Ganatchio Trail attack of Windsor senior Sara Anne Widholm.
Given all the new requirements, “any lawyer practising should see what the new normal is,” Brown said.
Superior Court officers will spend all of next week juggling dates in assignment court for pending trials. Even before COVID-19, the local court schedule was jampacked. Topp said “for sure” some trial dates will stretch into 2022.
The resumption of jury trials won’t be considered until at least the fall, but some accused, anxious for their day in court, have re-elected so their trials are now before a judge alone.
Ahmadi, whose original March jury trial was cancelled, is one of those defendants. He had sought again this week to be released on bail pending trial, but a Windsor judge rejected his application.
Topp said Friday he’s “very happy” returning to the courthouse after more than three months, adding it’s also good news for his clients.
“It’s ground to a halt right now — at least it will begin moving,” he said.
In a news release this week, Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey said his government was “taking a careful and staged approach ... and implementing strict public health measures so that in-person matters can be heard safely.”
More courtrooms will open in September and the balance would follow by Nov. 1, he added.