TURMEL: Bad day for Mike Spottiswood's Crown Attorneys

[KingofthePaupers]

JCT: Yesterday was the last pre-trial case management
conference before Ontario Superior Court Justice Goodman
with Crowns Kim Johnson and Myfanwy Smith, the court-
appointed Amicus Curia lawyer Robert Sheppard and Mike
Spottiswood.

1) Mr. Sheppard advised the court Mike wanted to tape record
the hearing and the judge said fine. I'll bet it's a
precedent in the London Courthouse with their "no tape
recorders allowed" sign posted outside the courtroom.

2) The Crown was really rocked when Justice Goodman decided
to send all the issues to trial. In earlier case management
discussions, he had indicated that half of the issues the
Crown had objected to might not be relevant and could be
stricken. But in the end, Judge Goodman decided to let the
trial judge do the striking, if any, and send all of the
issues to trial. Har har har. The Crown thought they'd
already cut their workload in half and were hoping to cut it
further and now find they're all alive again! Har har har.
Bad news for them that upon revisitation, the judge found
none of the issues was bad enough to strike beforehand.

3) As for the 55 witnesses, the judge had asked that more
details should be be provided of what medical evidence the
witnesses "will say" than the simple grid of issues they had
all ticked off for topics they wanted to complain about.
That really would have been too much work and the grid
really did lay out what they "will say" so we just left it
at that and the judge decided to let Mike have all the
witnesses he could fit into 3 days of hearings. Then the
Crown gets 2 days for rebuttal.

So we won't use that many witnesses but will use many
doctors.
I think there's a good chance that every issue can be
covered by most witnesses in 3 days and we really don't need
everyone since there is overlap. We always knew the judge
could say: I've heard enough on "no doctors," and we then
stick to witnesses with testimony on other issues. When the
judge has heard enough on each issue, it gets pared down
until exactly the right few witnesses are left for exactly
the remaining rare issues.

4) So the Crown asked for a publication ban on Mike's pre-
trial motions! What are they afraid of? DENIED!!!

While the judge had to handle another case, they broke for a
conference between Mike, Amicus, 2 Crowns. They offered Mike
1 year probation for a guilty plea to S.7(1) production with
the S.5(2) trafficking charge and the charges against his
daughter Sarah gone. That Sarah's conviction would ruin her
for life fell on Mike's deaf ears because we know her former
lawyer Michael Barry had explained that they'd have to let
her go if Mike won and would let her go if Mike lost! So she
was never in any danger and was only being used as a pawn to
coerce a plea. And Mike wasn't falling for it. Sarah's safe.

Mike countered that if Mike MacDonald could get a discharge
and no criminal record and all his stuff back, Mike wanted
at least the same deal! What a great card added to our hand
from out East. What could they say? Why should Mike S. end
up with a criminal record and Mike M. not? What perfect
timing.

So the Crown knows that a discharge is the only deal. No
record. No win. People on my team get criminal records only
after they've been sustained by the Supreme Court of Canada!
The MacDonald discharge is the best they're going to get.
Stand-off is the best they can get.

And to finally add a little rain to the Crown's day, Mike
filed my Expert Witness Report which, on each issue, says:
Witnesses will testify that this or that policy hurt or
threatened them and my opinion is that the harm reduces
their chances of good health and survival. On every issue,
my expert opinion is that the tort caused by the flaw in the
MMAR reduces the chances of life. I just need the witnesses
to provide the facts upon which my expert opinion on the
odds of survival are based and it's cinched.

So I'd expect the Crown to take the plea for the discharge
and avoid the nightmare trial of the decade. Why they're
waiting, I don't know. Things change. Once Mike walks in to
order subpoenas sent to some of our recalcitrant doctors,
then the shit hits the fan and they'll be too late to avoid
the inconvenience of explaining to all these doctors why
they've been called to explain their refusals. (As the Court
of Appeal told Mernagh he should have!) Har har har.

Anyway, I hope Mike's tape-recorder precedent makes the
London courthouse grapevine. You have to admit, for the past
25 years, lawyers could have been taping every hearing to
upload every night so they would never have to wait for
transcripts with instantaneous access to perfect recall at
home like I did. I wonder how long it takes for the first
young lawyer to wise up and start advising the courts that
he's taping his hearings for better notes. But now Mike's
going to have his whole show taped which he'll be able to
listen to for the rest of his life!

Mike has until May 10 to file anything, the Crown has until
June 7 to respond, June 12 to file a motion challenging the
relativity of our medical witnesses' material to the motion
challenging the MMAR! Har har har har har har. I'll wipe
that out with a 1-liner and it had better be on their time.

The trial starts with the pre-plea Quash motion and pre-
trial constitutional motion from June 17-19 for Mike; the
Crown has 20-21 for its witnesses and evidence with respect
to the MMAR. Keep in mind, there are no witnesses on the
Quash Application, that's pure POLCOA-BENO law and the
decision will probably be reserved.
The motion on whether the law is dead should be decided before we
waste time on the motion whether it should be dead! But it's
not necessary.
After that's over, if no win, jury trial.