HA Judge Peter Leask Catches Yet Another Break

[Greg Carr]

A UBC law professor who filed a formal complaint against B.C. Supreme
Court Justice Peter Leask over remarks the judge made at the start of
a Kamloops sexual-assault trial has withdrawn his complaint and
apologized to Leask.

Benjamin Perrin withdrew his complaint to the Canadian Judicial
Council on Tuesday after The Province published a column by editorial
pages editor Gordon Clark that demonstrated that news reports upon
which Perrin based his complaint contained errors and mischaracterized
Leask’s comments.

Clark came to his conclusions after obtaining the transcript of the
March 20 court proceedings and was critical of Perrin for not doing
the same before accusing Leask of misconduct and for laying the
complaint when he wasn’t involved in the case, which involved
allegations of sexual assault by a man on his step-daughter 40 years
ago.

“I made a complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council on March 23,
2017, concerning Justice Leask’s remarks during a sexual assault trial
over which he presided,” Perrin wrote in a letter to The Province. “I
considered at the time that there were proper grounds for the
complaint and I made public statements to that effect.”

“I have since learned the full context for the remarks and concluded
that they do not support the claims I made in the complaint or my
public statements,” Perrin wrote. “I have therefore formally withdrawn
my complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council in its entirety.”


“I wish to offer my full and unreserved apology to Justice Leask. I
regret both the issuing of the complaint and the public comments I
made at the time.”

A Kamloops This Week article, and subsequent stories by other media,
left the impression that Leask was trying to rush the trial so that he
could get back to his home in Vancouver because “I like sleeping in my
own bed.”

But Clark argued that the transcript showed “Leask having routine
discussions … not telling anyone how to proceed, but simply spelling
out options and clarifying legal issues that had emerged from the
preliminary hearing.”

Far from being insensitive to the complainant or sexual assault, the
basis of the complaint, Clark wrote “the transcript reveals Leask as
being gentle with the complainant.”

The Crown stayed the proceedings on the second day of the trial,
saying that the evidence no longer met the charge-approval standard
that there was a substantial likelihood of conviction.

The victim in the trial had also said she intended to lay a complaint,
but it is not known if that occurred or whether her complaint is still
proceeding.

Perrin’s academic work, according to his UBC webpage, is focussed on
how victims of crime are treated by the justice system. His book,
Victim Law: The Law of Victims of Crime in Canada, was recently
published.

Perrin was a legal adviser in the office of former prime minister
Stephen Harper during the payment scandal involving Sen. Mike Duffy.
He testified at Duffy’s trial that he believed Harper had approved the
plan for former chief of staff Nigel Wright to pay back $90,000 of
Duffy’s allegedly improper living expenses that had been charged to
taxpayers.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/ubc-law-prof-withdraws-formal-complaint-over-judges-comments

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/van.general/Peter$20Leask%7Csort:relevance/van.general/q_VECwSvBuI/-PH18DYmPvIJ

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/van.general/Peter$20Leask%7Csort:relevance/van.general/Jn3y_-gCfuM/wCjK5qzLORgJ

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/van.general/Peter$20Leask%7Csort:relevance/van.general/fyXwKz9W3b4/YAzJHjlFAcwJ

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